As several residents continued to voice concerns, the Linn County Board of Supervisors voted Monday morning to approve the fourth, and final, reading of a new ordinance that will govern the siting of gas-fired electrical generating stations in the county’s rural areas.
The zoning ordinance adds gas-fired power plants as an allowable use in the county’s new EU-2 zoning designation – which also governs the siting of nuclear power plants – while adding a series of zoning conditions. It’s intended to create specific standards for the proposed locations of natural gas power plant projects in rural Linn County. It will not apply to power plants located within cities or population centers.
In addition to a range of setback requirements from neighboring properties, the ordinance also adds standards for noise, airport safety areas, air quality, impacts on roads, and the information that must be included in applications for new plants.
The new ordinance, which has been in the works since October, comes as Alliant Energy considers siting a new, 720-megawatt natural gas power plant at a rural site northwest of Fairfax.
Alliant officials say they’ve “secured purchase options” on a site up to 160 acres south of Highway 30 and east of Linn-Benton Road to build the new gas-fired power plant.
However, Linn County officials say Alliant hasn’t yet submitted an application for a power plant near Fairfax, and that the new ordinance isn’t intended to address any specific project, including Alliant’s.
The ordinance was amended four times over its first, second and third readings:
- A requirement for a waste management plan during construction;
- Clarifying language regarding requirements for host community agreements;
- Adding the ability for adjacent property owners to reduce their applicable setbacks; and
- Allowing reductions of up to 50% on the ordinance’s 2.25-mile setback requirement from population centers, to provide more flexibility on specific proposals.
That final amendment garnered the most criticism from members of the public at Monday’s meeting.
Fairfax Mayor Jo Ann Beer said Fairfax officials had requested that the 2.25-mile setback clause be modified to include distance from city limits, not just population centers – a request that wasn’t formally addressed by supervisors – and that the potential of a 50% waiver could allow a gas-fired power plant just over a mile from Fairfax.
“A setback of only a little more than a mile would have a negative impact on Fairfax residents, quality of life and the city’s future economic development,” Ms. Beer said.
Jeffry Howington, who lives on Linn-Benton Road near the proposed Alliant power plant site, said the emissions from a gas-fired power plant would directly impact his health, as they did when his family lived near steel mills in Birmingham, Alabama decades ago.
“Now, decades later, I find myself fighting the same battle from another angle – different industry, same risk,” he said. “I ask that you look at this issue not as a boundary line, a zoning line, but as a matter of human health, dignity and justice, because when it comes to our air, there can be no second class citizens.”
John Zakrasek of Cedar Rapids, a founding member and director of the Linn Clean Energy District, asked that the ordinance, or any projects being considered for approval, include a requirement for an energy study to address their impact on the overall energy grid and their potential for added emissions, at a time when governments and companies alike are seeking to reduce their overall emissions.
“That’s something we can do for transparency to our citizens,” Mr. Zakrasek said. “Let’s look at options. Could we reduce peak loads? Could we use solar and wind and maybe just add some transmission? I want to see those options that would give us an opportunity to hit our emission targets. All the data centers want it. Alliant Energy wants it. Let’s get that energy study in place and see what the options could be.”
Before the supervisors voted to approve the ordinance’s final reading, supervisor Sami Scheetz noted that the Iowa Legislature approved a new provision in 2023 that make it impossible for local governments to impose stricter emission standards than those imposed by the state and federal governments.
“I was very, very against that provision,” he said. “I wish it wasn’t the case, but that’sthe state law that we’re working with.”
He also said the ordinance does “an excellent job” with the 2.25-mile setback requirement “in protecting economic concerns and thinking through what potential community growth, whether it’s Fairfax or any other Linn County city, wants to do in terms of growth. I think it does a good job of keeping resident concerns related to property values. I think this is one of the best ordinances, if not the best ordinance, that a local government in our region has passed when it comes to protecting residents.”
Supervisor Brandy Z. Meisheid said she had heard comments both in favor and opposed to the 2.25-mile setback requirement, and noted that the board decided not to adopt a reduced, one-mile setback suggested by the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
“It did open up the opportunity for me to consider, why are (some) residents saying one mile is enough (and) other residents saying 2.25 isn’t enough?” she said. “I think everybody has valid concerns … during that, I did suggest the 50% setback. I understand that may not be a favorable position for the majority of people in this room. However, I think county wide, it does have support, and I do stand by the fact that it does allow us to consider projects in the future. I’m not up here to give the farm away. I’m a rural resident myself. I want to have strong protections in place for our people. But as we consider all of the optics, as we consider an ordinance that is adapted county-wide, I want to make sure we have the flexibility to look at all the projects that come forward.”
Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said she was “disappointed” that the board approved potential reductions to the 2.25-mile setback, “but there are other protections in here for the residents.”
“The ordinance before us today, it’s not perfect,” she said.
She also pushed back against the notion expressed by some residents that the process was “rushed.”
“We did take our time,” she said. ”Staff put a lot of work into it. We’ve had a lot of discussions, maybe some arguments. It’s a really tough thing to do, but it is something that I am going to be supporting with the protections that are in place. Do I wish there was more? Yes, but I do believe that we are at the place where we can put protections in (place).”
