Butler County Planning Commission adopts moratoriums on several commercial land uses, adopts Resolution 2026-04

DAVID CITY, Neb. — The Butler County Planning Commission on Feb. 25 voted to impose temporary moratoriums on several commercial land uses, adopting a resolution that the commission will present to the Butler County Board on March 2, 2026.

The commission adopted Resolution 2026-04 after a series of roll-call votes that placed moratoriums on Commercial Wind Farm Energy Systems, Commercial Solar Farm Energy Systems, Battery Energy Storage Systems, Data Processing Centers and Landfill use. Commissioners also voted to exempt projects where "physical construction has already commenced" from the moratorium, following legal guidance from County Attorney Julie Reiter.

"If they want projects to be excluded, it must be spelled out in the resolution," County Attorney Julie Reiter advised during the discussion. Commissioner Will Reiter said the commission should use a construction-based test rather than permitting or engineering milestones: "physical construction, not just planning or engineering, should be the standard for determining if a project has begun." That exclusion motion passed on a 6–1 roll-call vote (Aye: Reiter, Hough, Barlean, Hotovy, Jakub, Topil; Nay: Kobza).

Votes on the individual moratoriums were recorded as follows. The moratorium on commercial wind farms passed 5–2 (Aye: Reiter, Jakub, Hotovy, Barlean, Topil; Nay: Hough, Kobza). The commercial solar farms moratorium passed 5–2 (Aye: Reiter, Barlean, Hotovy, Jakub, Topil; Nay: Kobza, Hough). The battery energy storage systems moratorium passed 5–2 (Aye: Hotovy, Jakub, Reiter, Barlean, Topil; Nay: Kobza, Hough). The moratorium on data processing centers passed 5–2 (Aye: Reiter, Jakub, Hotovy, Barlean, Topil; Nay: Hough, Kobza). The landfill moratorium passed 5–2 (Aye: Reiter, Barlean, Hotovy, Jakub, Topil; Nay: Kobza, Hough).

A separate motion to impose a moratorium on Agricultural Use — Chicken/Bird Confinement failed. Commissioner Steve Barlean cited survey results, saying "many comments in the survey dealt with concerns about poultry barns." Commissioner Kevin Hotovy warned that a blanket moratorium could harm family farms and deter the next generation from returning to the farm; that motion failed 3–4 (Aye: Barlean, Reiter, Topil; Nay: Hotovy, Jakub, Kobza, Hough).

After voting on the individual land uses, commissioners moved to forgo imposing moratoria on the remaining categories considered—Heavy Industrial Uses, Hog Confinement, Cattle Confinement, Planned Rural Residential Subdivisions, and Individual Residential Acreage Developments—which passed unanimously.

The commission then approved edits to a draft resolution presented by County Attorney Julie Reiter to reflect the construction-exclusion language and to add findings related to the public outreach process and the county's lack of existing zoning regulations. The commission adopted Resolution 2026-04 with a 5–2 roll-call vote (Aye: Barlean, Hotovy, Jakub, Reiter, Topil; Nay: Kobza, Hough).

County Clerk Lori Aschoff will print the finalized resolution for Chairman Roger Topil to sign; Topil will present the resolution to the Butler County Board at its March 2 meeting. The Planning Commission adjourned at 7:54 p.m. The next meeting was initially set for March 11, 2026, but was subsequently rescheduled to March 18, 2026.

What this means: The moratoriums temporarily halt new permitting or approvals for the named commercial uses in Butler County while county officials draft regulatory language, study potential impacts and present findings to the County Board. Projects with physical construction already underway were explicitly excluded from the pause.