photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Douglas County Commission held their meeting at the Douglas County Public Works building, 3755 E 25th St., on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.

After several requests from energy storage companies curious about expanding to Douglas County, the county’s Zoning and Codes division will start the process of drawing up specific rules for those kinds of uses — as well as high-tech operations that store data and mine cryptocurrencies.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the County Commission voted 2-0, with Commissioner Shannon Reid absent, to initiate a text amendment to the zoning and land use regulations to add battery energy storage systems, data centers and digital asset retrieval facilities — such as those using extensive computer systems for cryptocurrency mining — as conditional uses in certain zoning districts.

There won’t be any changes to the code for quite a while, but County Planner Karl Bauer said it was important to start the process, because the county had gotten inquiries from energy storage companies interested in possibly locating in Douglas County, including one the county received in May.

“Right now, it’s not clear in the zoning code if they’re permitted or not,” Bauer said. “They may be permitted as a major utility, but we don’t have any new specific standards related to these energy batteries and energy storage systems.”

Battery energy storage systems — similar to those used by solar and wind farms — data centers, and cryptocurrency mining operations are becoming more and more common across the country, especially in unincorporated areas. Bauer mentioned that one such development was proposed last year in Jefferson County. As Kansas Reflector reported, Crypto Colo Center Corp. wanted to construct cryptocurrency mining centers just north of McLouth. That plan, however, fell apart amid opposition from energy companies, the Sierra Club, the McLouth City Council, the Jefferson County Redevelopment Office and numerous local residents.

Any specific changes to the regulations will have to be approved by the County Commission at a later date, once the proposed changes are formally crafted. But Bauer said the planning staff was not intending to write a text amendment right away. Rather, they were hoping to launch a community conversation about whether these activities should be permitted as conditional uses in designated zoning districts with specific standards, or whether they should be banned entirely. Douglas County Zoning and Codes expect to hold a work session at a future date after staff has done some more research on the topic.

Douglas County Commissioner Karen Willey said there was much that needed to be examined about these types of projects.

“I have a big learning curve on some of these uses,” Willey said. “I also don’t have a lot of love (for them), but I realized that I have a lot yet to learn about this.”

In other business, county commissioners:

• Approved the Lawrence chamber of commerce’s request to release $105,000 for a program that provides loans to minority-owned startups.

As the Journal-World reported, in 2023, county leaders had questions about how the loan program worked, and they decided to delay releasing the funding so that the program could be examined in more detail first. Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, the Chamber said in its request that it believed it had provided all the information the commission was looking for.

Commissioner Patrick Kelly said that after speaking with members of the Diversify Douglas County team, he thought this was a program he would like to see expand and grow. Kelly said he appreciated the work being done and wanted the program to be more well-known across the community.

• Authorized the county administrator to sign an amended Outside Agency Funding Agreement with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health for $57,833 to fund two positions.

The contract allocates $27,500 to fund a Zero Suicide coordinator and $27,333 for an advanced practice registered nurse position. As the Journal-World reported, the County Commission approved additional funding for the Zero Suicide coordinator on June 12, with further support also included in the 2025 county budget.

The nurse position will be a full-time role within Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. It will support the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical Mobile Integrated Health program, the City-County Homeless Response Team, and the LDCPH clinic and mobile clinics, including the Lawrence Community Shelter.

• Initiated a text amendment process to revise regulations about home-based businesses. The Douglas County Zoning and Codes department wants to make some updates to those regulations, including a review of the existing fee system, enhanced standards for equipment and supply storage and automotive repair language, a “permitted-by-right” provision for certain business types, and new rules allowing very-low-impact home businesses in accessory buildings.

Any specific changes to the regulations will have to be approved by the County Commission at a later date, once the proposed changes are formally crafted.

• Approved a special event permit request from The Burning Barrel to allow an outdoor concert, known as “The Prairie Crawl” on Sept. 7 from 2 to 11 p.m at 292 North 2100 Road, about 3 miles west of Lecompton. The concert will include live music, food and alcoholic beverage vendors and a craft market. Some neighbors to the property expressed concerns about the event during public comments, including one who was worried the nearby event might aggravate a medical condition she had.

• Signed a proclamation for National Health Center Week in Douglas County. According to a memo, National Health Center Week is intended to recognize more than 1,400 Community Health Center organizations across the nation.