Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Bourbon County panel to seek consultant for comprehensive plan and explore moratorium on large industrial development
Loading...
Summary
A Bourbon County planning committee voted to schedule a Dec. 10 special meeting and to invite planning administrator Mel Haas to advise on drafting an RFP for a state-required comprehensive plan and on whether a temporary moratorium could block large-scale solar and data centers while zoning is completed.
The Bourbon County planning committee on Dec. 3 agreed to recruit outside help to write a state-required comprehensive plan and to ask an invited planner for guidance on drafting a moratorium to limit large-scale industrial development while zoning is established. Committee members scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 10 to meet with Mel Haas, a planning administrator the committee has asked to advise on an RFP and draft zoning language.
The committee’s discussion centered on how quickly the county can produce a comprehensive plan, how much it will cost and whether a short-term moratorium could legally pause large projects while a new zoning framework is developed. “So it was a $100 k for the comprehensive plan and an additional 40 k for the zoning,” said Speaker 1, summarizing bids the committee had heard referenced from neighboring counties. The committee heard examples from Cherokee and Labette counties, where consultants produced plans and codes in multi-month timelines.
Why it matters: the comprehensive plan will set development priorities, maps and the baseline for zoning rules that determine where conditional-use permits — including for solar farms and other industrial uses — can be approved. Committee members cited recent interest from solar companies, an ongoing arbitration that involves at least one developer, and a separate, existing moratorium on Bitcoin mining operations as reasons to act quickly.
What the committee agreed. Members emphasized that the county should hire an outside firm to prepare the plan and RFP, both to provide technical capacity and to ensure impartial community engagement. Speaker 3 told the group that Mel Haas could help draft an RFP and has contacts with firms that handle comprehensive plans and zoning code updates. Haas’s examples from other counties set a likely timeline of roughly six to eight months for a full plan and zoning rewrite, though members raised the possibility of a phased approach to speed critical parts of the work.
Legal limits and the moratorium option. Speaker 3 told members there is legal precedent for a county to adopt a temporary moratorium while working on zoning rules, but cautioned it must be crafted to show progress toward completing the plan so it cannot be extended indefinitely without legal risk. The speaker cited a recent example in Douglas County that reached the state court level as an illustration of precedent the committee can draw on.
Public comment and related items. During public comment participants asked why the committee could not immediately block new projects; the committee replied that a map or isolated language alone would not hold up in court without complementary regulations. Members also discussed where to find the current agreements and contracts the county has signed with solar developers; a committee member said those contracts (for example, Hinton Creek) are on the county website and could serve as a starting point for conditional-use language.
Next steps. The committee set a special meeting for Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. to meet with Mel Haas, review sample RFPs and consider draft moratorium language. Committee members said they may ask Haas to produce a proposed moratorium to send to the full county commission for consideration if it will stand up legally. No final moratorium or zoning change was adopted at this meeting.
The committee adjourned after scheduling the follow-up meeting; members said they expect to review Haas’s advice and proposed language before voting on any formal recommendation to the county commission.
