EL DORADO ? A Butler County district judge has thrown out the County Commission’s approval of a proposed wind farm near Beaumont and ordered a new vote.

Commissioners had approved an 8,000-acre wind farm proposed by Elk River Windfarm LLC. But David Murfin and Steve Trent, who own land near the proposed wind farm site, combined their lawsuits challenging January’s vote.

The lawsuits said Murfin was not properly notified of official meetings about the wind farm proposal.

They also said Commissioner Bill Shriver had a conflict of interest because he leased some of his land to another wind farm company that withdrew its proposal.

On Monday, Judge Ronald Innes disagreed with those contentions but agreed with the landowners’ charge that the commission paid too much attention to the money that Elk River proposed to pay the county.

Assuming the project generates enough energy, Elk River pledged a yearly contribution of $175,000 for each of the project’s first 10 years to be shared among school districts, Butler County Community College and the county government.

The payments would be in lieu of property taxes, from which wind farms are exempt in Kansas.

Innes said in voting on the issue again, the commission must ignore the potential financial gain.

Murfin’s lawyer, Patrick Hughes, applauded the ruling.

“It was the correct thing to do,” he said. “It sends a general message to wind farm companies.”

The commissioners, who are out of town at the Kansas Association of Counties Conference, could not be reached for comment.

Their lawyer, Norman Manley, said the matter could come to a new vote as soon as early December.