Fairfax City Council tables second reading of ordinance that would allow a power plant

FAIRFAX — Despite Alliant Energy’s announcement that it is “deprioritizing” a site in Fairfax that had been proposed for construction of a new gas-fired power plant — and will seek an alternative location — city officials and residents in the small Linn County town haven’t stopped debating the issue.

The Fairfax City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to table the second reading of an ordinance that would create an exception to the city’s industrial zoning code to allow construction of a power plant within city limits. The first reading was approved in September.

“I, personally, with this ordinance — until Alliant comes back to us saying that they do want to reconsider Fairfax as a possible location, I feel it would probably be in our best interest to table this for now,” council member Michael Daly said.

By tabling the second reading, the city council would have to make a motion to bring the second reading back to the council.

The city has not announced an official stance on the plant, and city officials said they don’t want to rule it out because of the revenue such a plant could bring to the city. A similar plant in Marshalltown generates about $1.6 million in utility excise taxes annually.

Some residents pushed back on initial plans to locate the plant in Fairfax, near the Travero plant. The location also was opposed by The Eastern Iowa Airport, which a study showed would have been impacted by plumes emitted from the proposed plant.

Earlier this month, Alliant said it is “actively evaluating multiple potential locations” as part of its site selection process, but declined to identify those sites.

Linn County District 1 Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said the company has met individually with the three county supervisors. During her meeting with company representatives, Running-Marquardt said she was told Alliant is considering sites in unincorporated Linn County, and one of those sites is near her home in far southwest Cedar Rapids, northeast of Fairfax.

At the Fairfax meeting Tuesday, some council members said if the plant is going to be built near the city of Fairfax, it should be built within city limits so the city can reap the potential financial benefits.

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A split community

Fairfax residents hosted two public town hall discussions this month about the proposed plant. The meetings included city council and planning and zoning members, along with representatives from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Linn County Public Health. Alliant did not participate in either session.

Jeff Hintz, a Fairfax resident who helped organize the town halls, collected email addresses from attendees and sent a survey after both sessions, asking for residents’ opinions on the power plant.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Hintz said surveys were sent to 50 email addresses, requesting recipients to vote “yes,” “no” or undecided on a plant being built in Fairfax city limits.

Of the 50 messages sent, Hintz said 18 residents opposed the plant, 17 supported it, and two were undecided. The others either didn’t reply or their email addresses were not valid.

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It is “a pretty solid 50-50 split on the ‘yes’ and ‘no’s,” Hintz said.

Several Fairfax residents have created petitions opposing the power plant. They said they’ve collected about 330 signatures.

“According to the Linn County website, last year, we had 879 citizens vote in our local election. We had 330 signatures, and that's a large percentage of the people in our community that are passionate about this topic,” said Rita Nierling, one of the Fairfax residents spearheading the petition.

But Fairfax City Administrator Chris Philipp criticized the petition effort as a “one-sided door-to-door campaign to spread fear, rumors and misinformation.”

“Citing this power plant may be the biggest decision that Fairfax has had to make, we gather data and facts, we sought out professional input from the Iowa DNR, Linn County Public Health. … You've heard speculation, opinions and non-professional air quality input from true residents,” Philipp said while speaking to the council. “The opposition has told stories of unsafe emissions, increased illness, property value declines, noise pollution, air safety issues, decreased local business and explosions. Who wouldn't pay attention to these dire warnings? But this type of fear mongering is not a path forward for Fairfax.”

Mayor Jo Ann Beer addressed the council directly. Over the past several weeks, Beer said she has engaged in many face-to-face conversations with residents regarding the plant.

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She told the council that residents have told her they would support the plant if it meant Fairfax could afford to have its own police department. Another told her they would be in favor of the plant if it meant lower property taxes.

Beer said other residents have told her that if they’d known a plant would be built in Fairfax, they wouldn’t have chosen to move there. A couple living in Fairfax told her that the plant wouldn’t impact them because “they are already sick.”

“We were elected by residents to represent the residents,” Beer told the council. “I'm hearing that the majority indicate they are opposed to a power plant and heavy industrial facilities in general. Rather than ignore their voices, I hope you reflect them in your vote.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com