photo by: Courtesy: Johnson County Planning

This map shows the general boundaries of a potential solar farm project for southeast Douglas and southwest Johnson counties. The dotted blue line is the county line, with Douglas County shown on the left and Johnson County shown on the right.

If big solar energy projects come to Douglas County, will they impact the quality of the groundwater that rural residents rely on?

That’s what at least one rural resident is wondering, and he wants the county to require solar energy companies to have a plan for testing groundwater near their projects for contaminants like lead, cadmium and zinc. The commission is scheduled to have its first discussion about his proposed code amendment at its meeting Wednesday.

The rural resident, Dan Fuller, is the owner of White Tail Run Winery and Vineyard in southeastern Douglas County, near the border with Johnson County. While Fuller doesn’t work in environmental remediation or the energy industry, he’s concerned about the structures that support solar panels — called piers — which he says are often coated with harmful metals that can corrode and eventually get into the groundwater.

“If you look at your code enforcement in buildings, they don’t allow galvanized water pipes in houses anymore, because people are getting zinc and lead poisoning from those pipes,” Fuller said in an interview with the Journal-World. “So kind of the same aspect with this galvanized metal when it’s put into the ground.”

Douglas County’s staff hasn’t done a thorough study to determine whether this would be a problem in future solar developments, according to a memo from planner Mary Miller to the Douglas County Commission. If the commission were to move forward with the amendment process, the memo said such a study would be carried out.

The proposed code amendment would require tests for the harmful metals to be conducted once per year at wells dug specifically for that purpose. It also would require those tests to be processed by a lab certified by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and send the results to the county “by certified mail with chain of custody from the lab.”

If contaminants were found, the amendment would require the company to develop a remediation plan to bring the contaminants back down to the acceptable levels spelled out in KDHE’s regulations.

One thing driving Fuller’s request is his concern about the proposed West Gardner Solar Project that Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources hopes to develop in southeastern Douglas and southwestern Johnson counties.

Earlier this summer, the County Commission granted NextEra permission to conduct solar testing activities in the area. The company faced criticism from some residents last year after it and its engineering consulting firm conducted testing without the county’s approval, sometimes late into the evening. Fuller told the Journal-World he was disappointed in the commission’s decision and that he was concerned about putting too much trust in the company to police itself.

“(The county’s zoning department is) relying on the company to say ‘Oh, everything is fine,'” Fuller told the Journal-World.

If commissioners vote Wednesday to move forward on the code amendment process, the amendment would go to the Planning Commission, which would conduct a public hearing and make a recommendation. It would then come back to the County Commission for a final vote.

In other business, commissioners will consider approving:

• $10,000 in matching funds for Midco if the internet provider is selected for the Kansas Office of Broadband Development’s Broadband Acceleration Grant. Midco says it’s seeking the grant to connect 160 homes and businesses in the Lecompton, Kanwaka and Wakarusa townships with high-speed broadband internet.

• A site plan for a well-control building at the intersection of North 1900 and East 1600 roads, east of the Lawrence airport.

• A request to rezone approximately 33.5 acres at 1577 North 1550 Road for transitional agricultural uses. The land is currently zoned as general industrial and agricultural.

The commission’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse and can also be streamed via Zoom.