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Mayor pitches ordinance to ban gas-fired turbine power plants in Commercial Point Village
Summary
Commercial Point Village’s mayor introduced Ordinance 20-26-03 in a first reading to prohibit gas-fired electric generation facilities using turbines after a developer inquiry to site capacity for a nearby data center; council debated whether to extend restrictions to ground-mounted solar and whether to add emergency language to make the ban effective immediately.
The mayor introduced Ordinance 20-26-03 for a first reading, proposing a ban on gas-fired electric generation facilities that use turbine engines within Commercial Point Village. The mayor said the ordinance was drafted after “a phone call we received from [a party] looking for property down by us to put in one of these … to serve a data center near Westfall,” and urged the council to refine the language as needed.
Council members used the discussion to press on related energy-generation policies. One member called out wind-energy conversion systems and ground-mounted solar farms as items the draft does not clearly address and proposed explicitly excluding windmills from the ordinance’s scope. Other council members noted the village’s existing solar code (cited in the meeting as “section 1188 1.06”) permits some ground-mounted solar in limited manufacturing and planned industrial districts and cautioned against overbroad prohibitions that would block rooftop residential systems.
Several members favored handling large ground-mounted solar arrays as an accessory use or through a variance process instead of a blanket ban, and asked staff to review whether the draft would allow an industrial user to install a solar field simply by qualifying under permitted zoning. The clerk noted that, as drafted, an industrial applicant could read current zoning to allow ground-mounted generation for facility power unless the ordinance specifically restricts that use.
Procedural timing was a point of contention. One council member urged emergency language so the ordinance would take effect immediately, citing a 30-day waiting period otherwise; another warned emergency declarations can be challenged in court and noted that courts may stay emergency measures even if a council invokes health, safety or welfare as justification.
No final vote was taken. The ordinance remains at first reading with council members asking staff to refine language on solar and wind inclusions/exclusions and to return the ordinance for the next meeting’s consideration. If the council retains emergency language, members indicated they would discuss that clause as part of the next reading.
