The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1222437
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, March 18, 2020 B-5 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday Planning Commission meets to discuss zoning By Janice Barniak Gibson County Area Planning Commission met to hear the po- sition of South Gibson schools on wind turbines and to look at what measures they could decide on in anticipation of the meeting March 19 at the Gibson County Fair- grounds' Toyota Events Center— a meeting that as of this printing is still planned and is predicted to draw a large crowd to get the first look at the new zoning maps and zoning ordinance. Janet McBee, member of the South Gibson School Corp., pre- sented to the board on behalf of Supt. Stacey Humbaugh and Asst. Supt. Tim Armstrong Thursday at the regular meeting of the Area Planning Commission. The school board has not met to discuss the topic; McBee said administrators were concerned about the safety of children on the playground, for example. A fter re- searching, McBee said they had difficulty substantiating some of the negative information. "That said, we do have con- cerns," she said. The size, for exam- ple, is very large. "We don't know what debris could be knocked off them in the wintertime." As a rural school, she said they hesitate to encroach on the rights of the farmers around them. "The health and safety is of ut- most importance," she said. When asked by board president Steve Obert, she said the board al- so hasn't discussed how the addi- tional tax revenue, should there be any, would benefit them. She added Haubstadt Communi- ty School has a small wind turbine built through an educational grant. "But it's very small," she said. Some changes the board has made to the ordinance includes adding nieces and nephews to those who can occupy an addi- tional residence on a farm, previ- ously limited to sons, daughters and grandchildren, as well as al- lowing up to four other people to also live on-site if they're working on the farm. "If a watermelon operation needs eight workers, they can ask for a variance," APC Attorney Mike Schopmeyer said. Board member Greg Reising said he'd been asked whether neighbors can stop a farmer from creating a subdivision, and the an- swer was yes; the farmer would have to petition to change the ar- ea from agricultural to residential use, and that would mean petition- ing the APC for re-zoning, and the neighbors would be able to come to a hearing to protest that. "You can't just cut in roads and put on lots, that's what this ordi- nance stops," said Board Member Mike Stilwell. According to Schopmeyer, it would also prohibit a farmer from creating a campground. "Which could be just as offen- sive as a subdivision," he said. The board voted next on an in- tention to provide the strongest right-to-farm language possible in the ordinance. "Well-funded regional activists are coming in from outside the county to create division," Obert said. The board also discussed wheth- er to require Purdue Extension Of- fice's site scoring plan, with no de- cision. "What we don't want is that every time someone wants to do something for their family, it be- comes a county-wide fight," Ob- ert said. Commissioner Mary Key agreed. "If Joe wants to buy two 4-H hogs to put beside his barn and that's all the livestock he has, we don't want to get involved in that," she said. Obert said attempts to get farm- er's input on zoning has been mixed because some he's reached out to don't want zoning at all. As for wind turbines, board member Mike Stilwell said after listening to the reports, he be- lieves the Gibson County project is unique. "I'm as much about renewable resources as anyone out there," he said; Stilwell is recycling direc- tor in Gibson County. Commissioner Mary Key said a GIS map showing the zones com- pared to where doppler, schools and more lay out did help her see the situation more clearly. Board member Ken Beckerman said that in weighing the pros and cons, the $ 90 million estimate over 30 years was not enough to sway him, and the promise of 25 jobs didn't line up with the number of other jobs he saw other counties receiving, nor did he feel that was many. He drives from Hazleton to Ev- ansville every day. "I can see the Owensville water tower," he said, and turbines are much larger. "I don't know how I'd feel if I'd been responsible for putting them in." When Beckerman asked about a ban or moratorium, Schopmeyer said it was unlikely to stand. Board member Greg Reising said he wants to make the deci- sion not just for now, but also for the future. "It looks like coal powered plants are on the way out," he said. Gib- son County has excellent infra- structure for the opportunity, but if the county waits and then ener- gy gets more expensive, the coun- ty will be billed the cost of bringing power in from elsewhere. "It goes back to the point I made that there are landowners who want to do this," he said. "You're telling the other side no, for the first time ever you're going to put limits on what the landowner can do." He said all energy carries an el- ement of risk; natural gas, for ex- ample, has a pipeline blow up once every few years. "You've got to look forward to the future once in awhile," he said. The board did agree they were comfortable taking out the provi- sion that the wind energy compa- ny guarantee land values. "We're not asking anyone else to do that," said board member April Graper. Stilwell said he also had some discomfort with the clause, and Key agreed. "You look at land values all across the board, and it's—" she motioned in an up and down wave like a roller coaster. "I don't see how we can justify putting a land value on something. I wouldn't want anyone to ask me to guaran- tee it." The board unanimously voted to eliminate the land value stipu- lation. Board member Mike McConnell said size was his primary concern. "They're twice as big as any- thing we have. These things are monstrous. A ffecting that doppler radar is my big concern," he said, adding they can be seen from 20 miles away. The group was split on other stipulations like height, shadow flicker and decibels. Obert asked, "are there things we can easily agree on today? " The board laughed. They did all agree on a two-mile setback from school property; how- ever, churches, hospitals and nurs- ing homes, for example, do not have those setbacks. The board also discussed sig- nage, especially moving illumi- nated signs. In Evansville, giant signs are mostly on churches. "I wouldn't have ever thought that the churches would look like Las Vegas," he said. "Farmers want the income, on the other hand, peo- ple live there." The board agreed signs would be off from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for il- luminated flashing signs. The board considered canceling the meeting March 19, but at this time, has decided to move forward. "Threat is small that we know of at the moment...Unfortunately, there's no answers," said Key. The meeting will open at 5 p.m., with six grids for people to find where they live. Commentary will be limited to three minutes. The next working meeting is set for 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 31, with another from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 7. Wind farm restrictions in the current zoning draft The current draft of the zoning ordinance has several pages of re- quirements for wind farms. The Star-Times has summa- rized them: Wind farms will require a spe- cial use application to the Board of Zoning Appeals, as well as two public hearings before the Advi- sory Plan Commission, one pre- liminary approval and the second, at least 28 day later, for final ap- proval. Applications will include scope of the project, equipment used, maps, the visual impact evalua- tion, noise evaluation study, shad- ow flicker report, wireless sig- nals report, natural resource im- pact study, cost reimbursement bond for any school district, coun- ty or municipal expenses due to the turbines, transportation plan for roads/bridges/etc that might be damaged due to construction, drainage plan, safety/security plan, and a decommissioning plan and other reports. Wind farms will be required to have insurance policies covering injury, property damage and envi- ronmental contamination, and to have a 24-hour toll free hotline for registering complaints and con- cerns, with signs posted with the number at intersections near the project. If concerns are not rem- edied within 48 hours, the county can have expenses incurred reim- bursed by the wind farm. Location permit fees will have to be paid, a National Telecom- munications and Information Administration Analysis submit- ted, weekly construction plans approved, braking systems in- stalled, towers painted in non-re- flective white or gray, with fea- tures to deter climbing and warn- ing lights. The noise from the wind farms would be required to be 45 dec- ibels or less at any non-partic- ipating landowner's residen- tial lot, public school, public li- brary, or recreational area with- in one-quarter mile of the project boundaries. As it is written now, zero shad- ow flicker will be allowed to be observed at non-participating homes (homes, not property lines). "If shadow flicker exists, then a shadow flicker mitigation plan must be submitted for each af- fected non-participating dwell- ing, which shall provide for ze- ro shadow flicker for the affected non-participating dwelling," is the wording in the plan. The plan goes on to say wind turbines should be designed to not interfere with public safety or emergency management com- munications. The turbines will be required to be set back 2.5 times the height of the blade at the highest point or to the manufacturer's recom- mended setback as determined by a certified professional engi- neer studying blade throwing, from non-participating landown- er's property lines. No turbine can be less than 1.5 times the height of the turbine to a meteorological tower, roadway, railroad right-of-way or overhead electrical lines. Turbines would have to be at least a mile from any municipal or school boundary line. To get a variance requires the approval of non-participating landowners. The project will have to have a plan for decommissioning and re- moving waste. If the turbine tower is declared unsafe after construction be- cause of inadequate maintenance, it is required to be repaired within a year or it will be deemed aban- doned. The wind company must pro- vide a property value guarantee in the current draft, but that is to be taken out before the next meet- ing, set for March 19. The turbine operators are cur- rently required to agree to a cur- tailment agreement to shut off the turbines when they might inter- fere with doppler radar. ¬ « 41 ¬ « 64 ¬ « 41 ¬ « 65 ¬ « 56 ¬ « 65 ¬ « 68 ¬ « 165 ¬ « 168 C/I ¬ « 57 ¬ « 68 § ¨¦ 69 § ¨¦ 69 § ¨¦ 69 HAZLETON PATOKA FR ANCISCO MACKEY HAUBSTADT OWEN SVILLE FORT BRANCH SOMERVILLE OAK LA ND CITY PRINC ETON HAZLETON PATOKA FRA NCISCO MACKEY HAUBSTADT OWENSVILLE FORT BRANCH SOMERVILLE OAKLAND CITY PRINCETON Ê Date: 3/11/2020 PRE-EXISTING USES ARE EXEMPT FROM ZONING Sources: 2009 County Plan 2020 Parcel Use Classes 2018 Aerial Photo County GIS Data For General Planning Purposes Detailed planning may require additional data. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY The product is provided "AS IS" No warranty is provided or implied. Land Use Zones Agriculture Commercial Manufacturing Residential 2020 Parcel Boundaries Interstate 69 2020 Incorporated Areas County Boundary Aerial Photo: NAIP 2018 0 2.5 1.25 Miles DRAFT Gibson County, IN Gibson County, Indiana Land Use Zones DRAFT Outsiders opens this weekend By Janice Barniak Broadway Players are scheduled to present "The Outsiders" to audi- ences at Princeton Community The- atre at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, with a reprise of performances at 7 p.m. April 3-4, though the cast will not know until Wednesday whether, if in the face of COVID-19, the show will go on. Based on the S.E. Hinton novel, the play follows 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis as he struggles with right, wrong and what it means to be an outsider against the backdrop of the 1950s and 1960s. For director Sidney Shripka, of Evansville, this is the second time she's directed the show, and she said what she enjoys is how relata- ble the characters are. "There's a character for every- one," she said. The most challeng- ing part of directing, however, is the heavy stage combat. "Setting up that animosity between the Greas- ers and the Socials. "There have been great moments, and everyone got along very well from the beginning," she said. The cast has a wide variety of ages, from middle-school student Tom Whaley playing Ponyboy, to 30 -something Sheriff's Dept. mem- ber Bruce Vanoven performing as the doctor. Whaley, as the lead, is in his first named role. "I like how it (the play) feels very real," he said, adding his mom, Cin- dy, first got him into acting. Gibson Southern grad Tricia Fitzsimmons plays Cherry, and said the large cast is a challenge. Her character, while a Social, has relationships with each character. "She's sympathetic to people's struggles and wants to keep the peace. She's born a Soc, but thinks the Greasers are treated unfairly." The play teases out class tensions that people still struggle with, mak- ing it relatable and relevant even to- day. "They talk about the boys strug- gling with poverty, and we still see a lot of that today," she said. "It's a classic. We want to do it justice."