The Reno County Commission began its meeting Tuesday advising proponents of restrictions on wind development in the county that they could no longer speak during the public comment period at the beginning of commission meetings, at least until resolution of the NextEra application.
Commissioner Bob Bush, who’d been absent from the commission for the past several weeks for health reasons, brought up the issue and asked County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan to explain why.
“For almost three months the public comment session of the agenda has been dominated by the wind energy conversion system issue, particularly the prospective NextEra project,” O’Sullivan noted. “The majority of that time, the issue before you was whether or not a moratorium on wind production should be put in place.”
But since it has decided the moratorium question, the commission should no longer consider anything the public offers about wind, pro or con, pending receipt of a recommendation from the Reno County Planning Commission on NextEra’s application for a conditional use permit (CUP), he said.
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)