January 27, 2010

9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m.

Washington County Operations and Maintenance Center

Conference Room

2615 Brink Drive

Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72701

1. ROLL CALL:

Roll call was taken. The members of the Wind Subcommittee are: Bob Daugherty (Chair), Cheryl West, and Jim Gallagher. However all Board Members and any members of the public are welcome to attend. The press will be notified of all meeting times and dates. These subcommittee meetings will be conducted like any other public meeting.

Members present include: James F. Gallagher, Randy Laney, Cheryl West, and Robert Daugherty. Absent: None

2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA:

Robert Daugherty made a motion to approve the agenda. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

3. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION:

a. Staff will present a draft outline of topics to be discussed by the wind subcommittee over the next six- seven months. This document is open to discussion and amendment by the subcommittee members.

Juliet Richey, Washington County Planning Director, stated, “We will have the first meeting today. We will discuss terminology and conditions that could be considered.” Future meetings will generally follow this order:

Second meeting: A meeting with utility companies. Ozarks Electric and Arkansas Co-op. Richey would like to discuss with their staff what this would entail.

Third meeting: need to discuss environmental issues. Richey mentioned she recently had a discussion with a person at the federal/state level. She thought he would be very helpful. George Butler, Washington County Attorney, asked if he was only making recommendations? Juliet said, “yes.” This person is with US Fish and Wildlife. He also works with people in Forestry and Arkansas Game and Fish. Richey and Butler spoke of local types of endangered species that have to be considered in this wind development study.

Fourth meeting: the wind subcommittee will need to visit a wind farm. The nearest ones are in northern Texas, and another in central Oklahoma. Cheryl West asked, “When these visits are made, will we be talking with people?” Richey said “yes.” Richey said she had been talking to Randy Laney and he also knew of a wind farm in Kansas that they could go visit.

Fifth meeting: we will be having in-depth discussions regarding our draft ordinance. Staff will be adding things to the ordinance, like the utilities and environmental issues, and as a group we can discuss what changes need to be made to our draft ordinance at that time. Randy Laney mentioned someone that might be good to talk to would be former Mayor Coody. James Gallagher mentioned, someone else that would be good to talk with, or have come in would be Mike Smith with Smith Radio.

The Sixth and Seventh meetings: will consist of further discussion of the wind ordinance as well as Zoning and Conditional Use Permits.

Richey went on to talk about when each of the meeting’s should be. Richey stated, “The next meeting is will tentatively be February 9, or 10^th, 2010.”

b. Broad overview of commercial wind development by staff (based on research completed over the past year). Please see appendix “A” for a copy of the full presentation.

Courtney McNair went into detail and presented a slide presentation about commercial wind turbines, and of what they entail. Wind turbines will need to be installed on a large acreage. They would probably be a height of 300’ feet to 500’feet tall, and approximately 750’feet (minimum) apart.

Courtney McNair went on to describe the appearance of the wind turbine and explain each separate tower: Rotor, Hubs, Blades, also how the overall turbine works. Staff and Planning Board members spoke of towers located in other areas and of some differences of appearance. McNair spoke of lighting on these towers for FAA visibility, and for security. Some type of information would need to be posted on substations for emergency situations. There would also have to be locks on doors. Richey mentioned that normally Washington County does not regulate substations. Staff and planning members discussed briefly how utility substations are regulated.

c. Discussion of differences between a base wind development ordinance and the use of a CUP process to govern wind development.

d. Question and Answer session:

The use of roads was discussed. That discussion included how these wind turbines would be brought in and set up as well as the maintenance of the turbine. Someone asked what the life of a turbine was estimated to be. In addition, it was discussed that we should encourage this type of development for the growth of our community and for job opportunities.

4. ADJOURN:

Robert Daugherty moved to adjourn. Cheryl West seconded. Motion passes.

Planning Board adjourned.

Minutes submitted by: Janie Parker

Approved by the Planning Board on:

___________________________________ Date: __________

Randy Laney, Planning Board Chairman