Lee County plans ordinance on open burning; committee refined language to exclude prescribed burns from some rules

The county board discussed a proposed ordinance establishing regulations for open burning in unincorporated Lee County and reported a staff revision to clarify the treatment of prescribed burns. According to the county chair and staff, the draft ordinance had been revised after conversations with stakeholders to exclude prescribed burns from certain requirements in the ordinance. One example discussed was language about having water available within a specified distance; the board said that requirement had been reconsidered in the context of prescribed burns so they would not be unintentionally precluded by the general open-burning regulations. A meeting attendee said he received a guidance sheet from a representative of the Manachuca Grasslands about control burns; the board indicated that prescribed-burn operations would be treated differently in the ordinance. County officials said, aside from that tweak related to prescribed burns, the proposed ordinance was otherwise ready to be presented on the board agenda. The discussion was informational; no final ordinance vote was recorded at the meeting.