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Logan County Board
Logan County Board Hears Arguments for Pike Creek Windfarm
[September 16, 2026]
The Logan County Board held a
special regular meeting in the rotunda of the Logan County
Courthouse on September 14th starting at 7 p.m. The delayed start
time was due to it following the Building and Grounds Committee
meeting. This meeting was the second special regular meeting held
this month.
Newly appointed Chairman Lance Conahan led the meeting. All members
of the board were in attendance with the exception of former
Chairman JR Glenn. Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Dale Nelson, Gil
Turner, Kathy Schmidt, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Bob Sanders, and Jim
Wessbecher were among those in attendance. Schmidt and Kuhlman were
present remotely.
Turner gave a short invocation, followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance. Public comments were next, which all pertained to the
Pike Creek wind farm. The agenda item was to approve a building
permit and/or change permit conditions language. It was revealed
later in the meeting that, should the board vote down this item, the
project would die.
Every comment was in support of the project, with many citing the
tax benefits as the primary reason. School superintendents,
including Lincoln Community High School superintendent Dwight
Stricklin, made comments. They shared information on how the tax
money would benefit their schools and students.
Josh Gasperini, Chief of the Middletown Fire Protection District,
spoke on how the tax money would benefit his firefighters and
community. He said that the $36,000 per year could help them afford
CPR devices, cardiac monitors, airpacs, and training.
Another commenter spoke on the importance of the jobs that would be
created. He argued that, for those traveling from out of town, they
would be spending money in the local communities for food and
lodging.
Other commenters spoke on the legality of the matter. These
commenters pointed out that, to them, there seemed to be nothing in
the ordinance preventing the county from issuing the permit Pike
Creek was seeking.
Following public comments, the board made a motion to discuss the
item, and Conahan opened the floor. Leesman started by stating this
project had been originally approved in 2022. He asked for a
timeline of the project from then until now.
Carolyn Hiebert of Pike Creek spoke, painting a picture of the
timeline. According to her, the first few years were filled with
environmental studies, applying for FAA permits, and other things
that are a part of the process of getting a wind farm built. The FAA
permits expire after three years, and this is what was causing Pike
Creek’s current predicament. In 2025, Hiebert shared, some of the
earlier FAA permits they applied to were set to expire, so they
applied for renewal. They are still waiting on these renewals due to
the FAA having a backlog. This being the case, the FAA permits they
applied for a little later are expected to expire before the older
ones get renewed.
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Hiebert told the board that they
want to move forward with the turbines they have non-expired FAA
permits for. In order for Pike Creek to start building the turbines,
they need a building permit for an operations and maintenance (O&M)
building. While they have most of what they need for this permit,
the road to the site they will be building the O&M building at is
not finished.
A long discussion followed over whether the board could or should
change their conditions. Wessbecher argued that this is not the
responsibility of the board, so they should not change their
expectations. He also argued that, should the board elect to do
this, it sets a precedent that future boards would have to abide by.
Leesman asked what had kept them from finishing on time, stating
that another wind farm that was approved the same night as Pike
Creek was already finished. Nelson told Leesman he did not think
that comparison was fair since different companies have different
processes. He brought up a court case that ruled counties can make
changes to their conditions for projects.
Kyle Barry, Pike Creek’s legal counsel, brought up several legal
reasons that the board could issue the building permit for the O&M
building. According to Barry, the board already did something like
this with Hilltopper Wind. Barry and Leesman disagreed over whether
that example was similar to the current situation. Barry cited part
of the county’s ordinance that he said gave the county the ability
to do what Pike Creek was asking them to do.
After lots of discussion and many
clarifying questions, Nelson made an amendment to change the motion
to only issuing the building permit. Leesman made an additional
amendment to have the building permit include an entrance permit for
the O&M building. Leesman’s amendment passed 9-1, with Sanders
voting ‘no.’ Nelson’s amendment passed unanimously. The amended
motion passed unanimously as well. With no Chair’s report of
announcements, the board adjourned the meeting.
[Matt Boutcher]
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