Ogle County committee backs Constellation’s rezoning request

OREGON — Constellation Energy Generation’s request to rezone 524 acres of land around the Byron Generating Station on Tuesday earned a third split vote from the Ogle County bodies considering the petition.

Constellation is asking that 10 land parcels in Rockvale and Marion townships be rezoned from AG-1 Agricultural to I-1 Industrial. Nine of the parcels are to the east of the nuclear plant and are contiguous; the final parcel, which is only 1.3 acres in size, is southwest of the plant and surrounded by I-1 Industrial-zoned land.

The company also is asking for a text amendment to the Ogle County Zoning Code that would add data centers as a special-use in I-1 Industrial districts.

Supervisor of Assessments and Planning and Zoning Committee members voted 5-1-1 Tuesday to support Constellation’s petition during the third and final vote needed to be taken prior to the matter being sent to the Ogle County Board for final consideration.

The Ogle County Regional Planning Commission on June 27 voted 3-2 to recommend the Ogle County Board deny Constellation’s petition to rezone 596.33 acres. Seven parcels were removed from the request after the RPC expressed concern about the number of acres being considered for rezoning. On July 25, Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals members voted 3-2 to approve Constellation’s revised petition.

“Constellation and Ogle County are competing with other counties and nuclear reactors to attract co-located customers,” said Ryan Tozer, Constellation local government affairs manager. “By doing the hard work of rezoning land parcels, Constellation is making the buying of clean energy more attractive to customers. We do not have a customer, but it’s easier for us to sign an agreement with a potential customer who the community is open for business development.”

Committee Chairman Dan Janes and members Stan Asp, Rick Fritz, Lyle Hopkins and Tom Smith voted in favor of the petition Tuesday; member Ryan Reeverts voted no.

Committee Vice Chairman Ben Youman abstained because he works for Constellation. Youman did not participate in committee members’ discussion prior to the vote.

“We do have a very important role in walking a fine line between private property rights and compatible uses for our land,” Reeverts said. “It might not be the best [agricultural] ground out there, … but soil types there are close to the average in the county for our productivity index.”

Voting against the petition was not a decision he took lightly, Reeverts said, but having spoken about the request to many of the adjacent landowners who opposed it and being a fifth-generation farmer himself, there are too many concerns.

“At this time, with the amount of acres that are being looked to rezone, I personally cannot support this,” he said.

The votes of the RPC, ZBA and Supervisor of Assessments and Planning and Zoning Committee will be sent to the full Ogle County Board, which is set to vote on the matter at its Aug. 28 meeting in the third-floor county board room of the Old Ogle County Courthouse, 105 S. Fifth St., Oregon.