Vandalia Zoning Board Of Adjustments Holds Meeting
DEBORAH SIMCOX
Correspondent
An especially emotional meeting of the City of Vandalia Zoning Board of Adjustments was held Wednesday, August 7 at the City Hall. The room was nearly filled with 24 in the audience plus four of the seven Zoning Board members, attorney for the City Ryan Connor, Mayor Ricky Gottman (to facilitate), and City Clerk Carla Huhn (to take notes). An independent Court Reporter was also in attendance. The meeting ran two hours, including a closed executive session with the voting Zoning Board members and the Building & Zoning Official Andy Vaughn.
The purpose of the hearing was to review and vote on a “Special Use Permit for electric generation at real property located outside of the City of Vandalia but zoned by the City within its 1.5 mile extra-territorial jurisdiction at parcel number 02-13-14-400-004.”
Pike Solar LLC, St. Louis, applied for the permit for a commercial solar energy facility to be generally located on real estate northeast, southwest, and southeast of I-70 and North 425 Street, west of Vandalia. It is currently agricultural land.
The criteria for reviewing applications are:
•Consistency with the City of Vandalia’s comprehensive plan, not to obstruct development of the neighborhood,
•Compatibility with nearby uses and neighborhood, including considerable influence of property values,
•Comparative relationship, in terms of size, mass, floor area and appearance, with the structures in the area,
•Traffic movement generated and the ability of the area to absorb the increase in traffic,
•Noise level,
•Effect of night lighting,
•Effect of landscaping,
•Consideration to remain permanent and not become vacated or unused, and
•Consideration of any nearby facilities, such as schools or hospitals that necessitate distinctive protection.
Two of the most often expressed objections to the solar project were the appearance of the solar panels from the windows of current and proposed homes and the projects using land which could be used for agricultural.
After the Executive session, the four attending Zoning members voted: Two “YES” votes from Dean Black and Michael Davis, and two “NO” votes from Kyle Barker and Kim Shanks. This resulted in a FAILURE of the Special Use Permit to pass.
The next related meeting is a work session for the Comprehensive Solar Ordinance, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, August 12 at the City Hall. A Planning Commission meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 13 at the City Hall. The public is welcome at both meetings.
