To the editor:

I am dismayed and depressed to learn that the City Council of Great Bend has decided to forgo having any regulations pertaining to solar complexes in the three-mile municipal zone outside the city. The Barton County planning and zoning committee spent many hours and weeks crafting sensible baseline regulations for the county as a whole: they held public meetings, solicited input from county residents, landowners, and environmental experts. They made careful choices about managing these potentially enormous complexes, balancing safety for people, their properties, their agriculture, wildlife and the irreplaceable Cheyenne Bottoms. The Council could have – and some members did, for which I thank them – voted to simply adopt the regulations that the county has already approved. But they decided it was better to have no regulations in place to protect these areas outside the city limits. People who live in this zone cannot vote in city elections or run for office. What recourse do those folks have if they don’t want 2,000 acres of solar panels at the end of their driveway, posing risks of fire, contamination, damage, undermining agricultural use, and dangers to wildlife? At the will of an international corporation who will sell off the energy produced out of state, and owe no taxes for ten years? Council members who decided it was better to have no regulations on such activity should be ashamed. And be ready for every proposed project to be protested and litigated from scratch. That ought to keep them busy.

Julie Stielstra

Ellinwood