County Commissioners to consider wind energy regulations on May 1

The Board of County Commissioners will consider a text amendment to the Zoning and Land Use regulations for the unincorporated areas of Douglas County at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, during the business meeting. The text amendment - TA-22-00031 - is regarding Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) standards.

The meeting will be in the Public Works/Zoning and Codes Building, 3755 E. 25th St., in the training room. The meeting will also be available by Zoom. For the Zoom link and meeting information, click here.

Written public comments can be submitted at https://www.dgcoks.gov/county-commission/contact or by emailing publiccomment@dgcoks.gov. They must be provided by 5 p.m. Monday, April 29, to be included with agenda materials.

Commissioners will hear public comment, discuss the regulations, and consider action on the item.

The regulation changes were initiated by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission in January 2022. This came from an interest in better aligning the wind regulations with the recently adopted solar regulations. The Planning Commission voted to form an ad-hoc committee at its meeting on March 20, 2023, to create Draft No. 2 which was published on Sept. 26, 2023.

The revised regulations were reviewed by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission during two meetings: Oct. 23, 2023, and Jan. 22, 2024. On a 6-3 vote, the Planning Commission passed a recommendation of approval to the Board of County Commissioners for the revised Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) regulations with one key modification: the setback distances from non-participating property owners be set at 2,500 feet from the property line.

County Commissioners had a work session on April 24 about the revised Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) regulations. To listen to the work session, click here on the county's YouTube channel.