Planning commission backs rezoning and conditional-use permits for two substations on Clare Road

The City of Gardner Planning Commission on March 24 recommended rezoning about 10.20 acres along Clare Road from County Rural Residential (RUR) to Planned Agricultural (AP) and approved final development plans and separate conditional-use permits for two adjacent electrical substations — Gardner Electric’s Substation No. 4 and Evergy’s Emerald Substation. The commission took four separate votes — rezoning/preliminary development plan, final development plan, Evergy conditional-use permit and Gardner conditional-use permit — and recorded unanimous favorable votes on each motion (vote tallies reported as 5–0).

The approvals followed presentations from the city’s consultant team, a Gardner Electric representative and Jessica Keck of Evergy. The city’s consultant said the city purchased roughly 10.8 acres for a substation after a site-selection study that began in 2019; preliminary design work was completed in September 2023. Gardner Electric described the project as intended to serve future residential, commercial and industrial development southeast of the city. Keck said the Evergy Emerald Substation would sit immediately east of Gardner’s proposed substation and be sited to tie into Evergy transmission infrastructure. “This proposed substation will be located immediately east of Gardner’s proposed substation,” Keck said.

Staff and applicants described the project in two parcels: Evergy’s…