Atchison County holds public forum on planning and zoning after quarry and lease concerns

Atchison County commissioners held a special public forum on May 28 to explain how county planning and zoning would work and to gather resident feedback after neighbors raised concerns about a quarry lease and mapped commercial renewable-energy leases in the county.

The meeting, called by the Board of County Commissioners and attended by dozens of residents, included a short procedural vote to approve the evening’s agenda (motion approved, 3–0). County officials and the county counselor described the legal pathway for creating zoning — appointing a citizen planning commission, conducting a comprehensive study and adopting regulations under Kansas zoning statutes — and answered questions about whether targeted resolutions, moratoria or other tools could address specific threats without countywide zoning.

Why it matters: zoning changes would create a new local regulatory framework affecting property use across Atchison County. Residents and business owners said that could mean higher fees, administrative costs and limits on how people use or improve their land; others argued limited land uses such as commercial quarries or large-scale solar or wind farms pose risks that current resolutions may not be able to stop.

Most speakers at the forum urged commissioners not to adopt countywide zoning. Monica Bion, a property and small-business owner, told the commission that zoning would “bring a loss of property rights and the potential for overregulation,” and that…