photo by: Brian Grimmett/Kansas News Service

Turbines at the Gray County Wind Farm near Montezuma, Kansas.

Members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission’s subcommittee formed to tackle revisions to the county’s regulations for wind farms are hosting a listening session with environmental health and noise experts Friday, and they’re inviting the public to attend.

The planning commission’s ad hoc committee will participate in a Q&A session with acoustical engineer Mark Bastasch and environmental health scientist Christopher Ollson at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the City Commission meeting room at Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. According to the web page dedicated to updates about the planning commission’s work on wind regulations, there won’t be opportunities for public comment or questions at the meeting.

Notably, the page says the experts were introduced to the committee by Florida-based energy firm NextEra Energy Resources. The company has been exploring whether a wind energy project would be viable in southwest Douglas County for some time now, and it recently offered dozens of recommendations on the first draft of the revised wind regulations.

The ad hoc committee is still developing its calendar for public engagement and future public meetings, and it’s encouraging folks to check the web page frequently for any updates.

For now, the next time the full planning commission will discuss the wind regulations will be at its Monday, May 22, meeting. Planning staff anticipates that discussion will focus on the first few sections of the draft regulations, but the agenda has yet to be set, so that focus is subject to change.