(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors this (Tues.) morning voted 4-1 to approve a six month moratorium on the issuance of zoning permits for data collection, bit coin, solar and battery installations.
The action followed a public hearing, with the majority of those speaking out in favor of the moratorium. Several, like Deb Garrett, said the six months being proposed isn’t long enough…
“And you see all these citizens here. They’re not going to go home and just go back to their daily routines. These folks are interested, they’re concerned, and each in their own way is going to be looking into this.”
Not all were in favor of the moratorium resolution, however. Josh Nelson owns a small data center just east of Lake Park, which he’s trying to sell. He’s concerned a moratorium would impact that…
“I am in the process of trying to find a buyer for my data center and I’d hate to see that this somehow puts a damper on that in some way.”
Supervisor Kim Wermersen, who earlier expressed opposition to a moratorium, said this (Tues.) morning he’s had a change of heart…
“I know we talked about hopefully not using a moratorium. In this case, though, it’s different than what the wind energy was when we talked about that because we had wind turbines in our county for 20 years. As I’ve really given this more thought, I too believe that a six month pause would take the pressure off of our P & Z Board and put it more on us, which is where it should be.”
Supervisor Steve Clark addressed the six month time frame for the moratorium…
“It can be extended if the Planning and Zoning Board and the zoning administrator feel like they’re ready for applications after six months, it can be done then.”
Supervisor Chairman Bill Leupold cast the lone no vote…
“I’ve never liked moratoriums because basically they’re saying no. We can extend it. Okay. How long? When? Oh, well when we have all of the information. What I found out was every week somebody brought up something new. It’s never ending. And so that’s why even though this is six months, I’m against it.”
When asked by Zoning Administrator Megan Kardell for further direction, the supervisors expressed interest in having separate ordinances for each.
A member of the P & Z commission who was at today’s (Tues.) meeting said she and other commission members want more specific direction from the supervisors.
