Jul. 17—Wind turbine components, and possibly solar components, will be stored on land at the north end of the Great Bend Municipal Airport. At Monday's city council meeting, a three-year lease was approved with Tiakkon Operating LLC for 9.6 acres at $365 per acre per month, or a total of $3,504 per month, for storage.
The lease was approved on a 5-1 vote.
City Manager Brandon Anderson said there are currently 14.6 acres being leased for storage of this type. Takkion wished to lease the acreage but the City currently has a month-to-month lease with WATCO for the south 5 acres of the parcel. Takkion leased the remaining acres at the same price as WATCO, which was set in 2022.
WATCO has expressed a desire to continue their 5-acre lease through Dec. 31. At that time, Takkion, would like to assume the last 5 acres or a new lease to encompass the entire 14.6 acres.
Jeffery Clark with Takkion explained why they want to lease the land.
"What we're going to be storing out there are wind turbine components, and potentially solar components — the cells, blades, towers, drive trains and potentially solar panels," he said.
Councilwoman Jolene Biggs, who eventually voted against the lease, asked if battery cells would be properly stored. When Clark said yes she asked him to clarify. "What does that mean, properly stored?"
"Per industry standards."
Biggs addressed her next question to City Attorney Allen Glendenning.
"Is there anything in the lease agreement, Allen, that talks about them not being able to block roadways or other vendors out there?"
"It contains general provisions. Any tenant in any of our properties needs to cooperate with other tenants and not be a problem," he said. "Plus, there are general laws against blocking the roads."
Curtis Williams, Takkion's senior director of fixed site logistics, was asked to elaborate. He said Takkion started in Garden City, its biggest facility, with 50 acres. The company now has 650 acres at more than 20 sites.
"We do all the storage of all these components throughout the Midwest," he said. "This isn't something new to us."
"We would work out a mitigation plan for traffic control, making sure that we do not impede on any other business," he continued. "At Takkion, we always like to come into a facility or into a town and become part of the community. We want to bring revenue to your community. We want to work through community; we get local vendors set up — hardware stores, etc., fuel, supplies and everything. We like to keep it local and that's what our planned agenda is, to do this and build our business here."
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