Many property owners in Northeast Missouri are concerned about private power companies encroaching in their space and the answer may not be something they want to hear.
Audrain County …
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Many property owners in Northeast Missouri are concerned about private power companies encroaching in their space and the answer may not be something they want to hear.
Audrain County commissioners held a somewhat impromptu meeting with Callaway County commissioners at the Audrain County Courthouse on Dec. 11, mainly to hear grievances from property owners concerning the Tiger Connector project along with some other concerns about wind and solar projects.
Some officials believe planning and zoning may be the answer for rural counties, which is a non-starter for most. Callaway County Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann said it’s a question people are going to have to revisit.
“The question we’re all going to have to ask ourselves at some point is ‘Are we ready for planning and zoning?’ Because that’s where all of this potentially comes into play,” Jungermann said. “You can have certain restrictions then. Right now if you don’t have it the landowners can do as they wish with their property whether it’s windmills or junkyards.”
Audrain County Eastern District Commissioner Leslie Meyer told the Ledger after the meeting the county put the question up to a countywide vote 20 years ago and it failed in a landslide. Audrain County Presiding Commissioner Alan Winders said during the meeting while addressing a question that he’s skeptical planning and zoning will be something people have an appetite for.
“We are a property rights county in a property rights state,” Winders added. “Because we do not have planning and zoning if it’s legal for you to do on your property then that’s the answer. It’s legal or it’s not legal. We are an agra-ready county, so we’re not going to make rules that make it more difficult for agriculture than the state. That’s where we are with all of this. If you own your property and want to cover it with solar panels, so be it. There are a lot of implications that we see that are not positive, but that does not give me the right. If we collectively say we want planning and zoning then the animal is altogether different.”
Jungermann said he understands not wanting planning and zoning but also thinks it’s inevitable.
“I firmly feel that some of what’s going on right now it’s going to push the envelope and we’re all going to have planning and zoning at some point,” Jungermann said. “It doesn’t do away with it all but it will help county commissions into the future control to some degree how much there is.”
