The Lyon County Planning and Appeals Board has a full agenda Wednesday night including an application by Westar Energy to rezone a piece of land to heavy industrial for a peaking power plant it plans to build starting next year.
The planning board will meet starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Lyon County commission chambers of the Lyon County Courthouse.
Westar’s announcement to build a $333 million power plant northeast of Emporia came in August. The natural gas-fired combustion turbine peaking power plant will be built near the company’s Lang substation, which is about six miles northeast of Emporia, off Road 200, east of Road S. The first phase of the plant, which will be on a 160-acre plot, is scheduled to begin generating electricity in the summer of 2008.
Steve Samuelson, Lyon County Zoning director and flood plain manager said he has called other counties with the same type of peaking power plants. Reno and Sedgwick Counties have the plants.
“I had good reports on both counties,” Samuelson said. “There have been no reports of noise, no problems with the community. They’ve been good neighbors.”
Before Westar can start building the plant, it must get zoning approval for the land. The planning board will make its recommendation to Lyon County commissioners, who will have the final say in the zoning decision.
Also on Wednesday’s agenda:
• An application request for rezoning from agriculture special use to church by Muffler Centers Inc. and Floyd McCracken at 1505 Road 175. The tract size is about two acres. Samuelson said the site is the former Wild Rose Antique Building.
• An application request for rezoning to agriculture special use target range by Roger Proehl at 1511 Road 170. Proehl, a detective with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, started his own business, Concealed Carry LLC, where he and his wife, Angela, have teamed up to prepare people to get their conceal and carry license. They’ve built a shooting range just for the course near Americus and are now seeking rezoning of the property.