Waushara County Planning and Zoning approves Alliant Energy’s conditional use

After a lengthy meeting with discussions, presentations, and residents speaking for and against the project, the Waushara County Planning and Zoning Committee approved the Alliant Energy Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a solar farm in the Town of Dakota with over a dozen added conditions.   The meeting was held on Sept. 16 at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma.  It was originally presented to the committee two months ago but was tabled to give Alliant Energy ample time to present more information to the Town of Dakota residents.

The CUP was approved for Alliant Energy to establish a 99 megawatt solar energy farm on 624 operational acres of an approximately 1,283.5 acre development project area in the A-G (General Agricultural) zone.  The property is generally south of State Highway 21 and west of State Highway 22 in Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. 10. 15 & 16 in the Town of Dakota.

Andy Ehlert, Alliant Energy, gave the presentation on the project and said that if approved, they would like to break ground in the second quarter of 2022 and be operational late in 2023.   The land is being leased for the project for 30 years.   He said the 3’x6’ solar panels will follow the sun east to west and will be 85 percent efficient after the 30 years.  He said following the meetings with land owners, Alliant Energy will work with each one individually to provide buffers if they have an inhabited dwelling within 500 ft. of the solar panels. He also added that if there were existing buffers they would use them and keep them in place.

As for protecting the trout fishery habitat, Ehlert said that because the land would be in solar farms, the water quality will improve because they are keeping the run off of fertilizer and weed control out of the streams and ground water.  It will give the soil a rest, improve the air quality, and the solar energy farm will generate power for 25,700 homes. “It is the most cost effective way to produce electric power in the US,” Ehlert said.

The county and township will split $396,000 in tax revenue, there will be approximately 100 to 200 workers at peak construction putting money into the Waushara County area in the way of lodging, food, fuel, etc., Ehlert concluded.

Speaking in favor of the project was Tommy Bohler, Administrator for the City of Wautoma. Bohler said if the plans were approved and the area selected it would bring dramatically increased revenue for a 30-year period with absolutely no cost to taxpayers.  This would mean that the residents in Wautoma and across the county would benefit from projects that could be completed without using tax dollars.  It would be a game changer, Bohler said.

Paul Jarvis, a farmer, and owner of one of the parcels that is proposed for the solar farm said that he was in favor of it and one of the benefits of solar panel farms is that they do no need any high pressure wells.

Dan Sperberg,  Training Director of Operating Engineers 139 Training Center, said they put thousands of members through the Operating Engineers location near Coloma.  He believes this will be a benefit to Local 139 and the entire area.

Many Dakota residents including Robert Semrow are opposed to the project and  Semrow said he is the third generation on the farm where he lives and he loves the recreation, ample water supply, high food source, etc. that is provided by these lands. He says the project is putting neighbors against neighbors.

Mark Haumscchild said we are losing 175 acres an hour in ag land, wildlife, wetlands, etc. He said that solar farms will impact wildlife and wetlands and also added that he did not believe this area has adequate sunshine to provide for solar panels.

Maxine Jannette is concerned about the geese, cranes, deer, etc. that call this area home and she showed a video displaying the wildlife that live in the area.  She believes the project is detrimental to the wildlife in the area.

Julie Eger said that she believes this will have a long term environmental impact on the area, and worried it will harm streams.  She added that she wanted to make sure that there were sufficient studies done on the long term impact.  Also in question is the 30% tax credit that Alliant will receive.   She said that is still funded by taxpayer money.

Tony Peterson who lives on 15th Avenue said that he is a licensed landscaper and no one is running short of water in Waushara County.  He asked if there could extended setbacks. Edna Reilly who also lives on 15th asked if the landowners would be consulted about buffers before the project begins.

Gordon Siefelt, Witters Lake, said his concerns were the natural trees and shrubs, annual water quality testing, radiation detectors, and he would like to see 1,000 ft. setbacks, and 12 ft. high berms around the substation.

Elaine Wedell, State Rd. 21, said she would like to see certain solar areas located next to her home moved to alternate sites.  Gary and Ellen Kiiskila, property owners, said that Waushara County has some of the best water in the state with over 150 miles of pristine trout streams.  Ellen added that there are three watersheds in the Town of Dakota and it is a real concern.

Nancy Anderson, State Rd. 22, said that through this process they have met many new neighbors, she loves the country feel and that the Town of Dakota is a hidden gem.  Her husband, Glenn Anderson, said they moved from the city to Wautoma and loves the countryside.  He questioned getting the solar panels from China and if Alliant had looked into getting those made in the US.  Alliant responded and said they had checked into the US solar panels, but the panels they proposed were not cost effective.  They also  were assured that there was no child labor in the factories where they were getting their solar panels from.

John Tucker from the Trout Unlimited Central WI Chapter said he was concerned about the West Branch of the White River, 8 miles long, and is the only trout stream in the area that is considered a Blue Ribbon Trout Stream has it has all three species of trout, Brooks, Browns, and Rainbows.  He assured Alliant and the Planning and Zoning Committee and the audience that TU would be monitoring the Silver Brook/Mud Creek area once a month for clarity, oxygen, bugs, and flowage.

Mike McClay, Richford, said that he believes coal to natural gas is much more efficient than solar.  Jim Wiesenberger, County Rd. GG, said the board is the stewards of the public, the stewards of our money and maybe this is not a good fit for the county.

Following the input from the citizens, Todd Wahler, Zoning Administrator, said that Alliant Energy had submitted a detailed plan, and they had met the criteria.  Robert Wedell asked Alliant if they could switch to US made panels and they said at this time they could not as the Certificate of Authority application had been submitted to the State Public Commission.  Therefore the budget matrix was completed.

A motion by committee member Jerry Lauer was seconded and received unanimous approval by the committee with the following conditions added:

1. The development must be in substantial compliance with the site plan and testimony provided at the public hearing.

2. All other required setbacks and all other codes must be complied with.

3. All permits must be obtained including land use, building, and sanitary if needed.

4. Prior to the issuance of a land Use Permit, the project must obtain all necessary state and federal approvals. Copies of which must be submitted to the Zoning Office.

5. Should the project infringe upon or directly impact wetlands, individual wetland delineations will need to be conducted and/or approvals from the Department of Natural Resources will need to be obtained. Copies of which shall be submitted to the Zoning Office prior to the issuance of a Land Use Permit.

6. Prior to the issuance of a Land Use Permit, the Applicant shall submit a certified survey map for the proposed substation on 16th Drive. Based upon the preliminary configuration of the parcel(s), a variance to the County Subdivision Code will be necessary.

7. Prior to the issuance of a Land Use Permit, the Applicant must submit an Off-Site Plan to the County Emergency Management Office for any and all hazardous material (if applicable).

8. The applicant shall work with the adjacent landowners to create a landowner specific visual buffer plan per the following: Applicant shall meet with all landowners with an inhabited dwelling within 500 feet of any Wautoma Solar commercial operation – area, PV solar panel array area and within 650 feet of the project substation. The meeting with individual landowners will include an evaluation of existing visual buffers that may include, but not limited to existing wooded areas, trees, tree-lines, shrubs, outbuildings, solid fencing, and any offsite structures to determine additional visual barrier needs. From this evaluation the Applicant and the landowners will work to create an individual visual buffer plan. Said buffer shall be consistent in design, at a minimum, with that depicted on Exhibit A (attached).

9. Prior to the issuance of a Land Use Permit, the Applicant shall submit a detailed Site Plan which clearly depicts or identifies all residences subject to the proposed Visual Buffer Plan.

10. The Applicant shall work with the local snowmobile club trail managers and in coordination with the participating landowners to re-establish any mapped snowmobile trails that require relocation due to the final operational project area of the Wautoma Solar Project.

11. The Applicant shall work with the Central Wisconsin Trout Unlimited Club to protect the local fisheries in and amongst the project areas to limit any impact of the fisheries during the project construction and the operational phases of the solar project.

12. The Applicant shall, as part of the project design and construction maintain to the extent practicable existing visual barriers including existing tree-lines, hedgerows, fences, or other visual barriers that don’t have direct impact to the project layout and power collection efficiency. Additionally, the Applicant shall meet all required setbacks established by the County and the self-defined setbacks which were proposed in the Certificate of Authority (CA) application to the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Waushara County CUP application.

13. The Applicant acknowledges that due to construction work, the integrity of local Town and County roads adjacent to and leading towards the Project area to be used as construction access routes, may be compromised. The Applicant shall take ownership by ensuring that the conditions of the local town and county roads proposed to be used for construction access will be restored to, as good, if not better condition than of preconstruction baseline levels. Pre-construction conditions of the roads proposed as construction access roads (“haul roads”) will be determined through a coordinated effort between a 3rd party engineering firm and Waushara County to establish a road condition baseline. During construction if roads require repair, the County will repair the damage and the Applicant will reimburse the County for the repair effort. At the completion of construction, post-construction conditions of the roads used as construction haul roads will be determined by a coordinated effort between the same 3rd party engineering firm and Waushara County. From this post-construction assessment, Waushara County will make the required repairs to bring the integrity to baseline or better conditions and the Applicant will reimburse the County for the effort.

14. All driveways shall meet all required codes, including fire and access code requirements to provide for access by emergency vehicles. In addition, the driveway(s) shall provide good visibility and a turnaround area to prevent backing onto the road.

15. The applicant will allow agents of Waushara County access to the property to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations.

16. The closure shall be done in accordance with the Decommissioning Plan which has been reviewed by the County Zoning Department.

17. Financial assurances in an amount acceptable to the County and Corporate Counsel shall be provided, and must be filed with the County Zoning Office prior to issuance of a Land Use Permit.

18. Open type/security fencing shall not exceed 10 feet in height.

19. The applicant shall make every effort to relocate panels from the southwest quadrant off of the hill onto the airport property.