Haxtun Town Council changes setback regulations

With just two items of regular business and nothing listed under discussion on the agenda, the latest meeting of the Haxtun Town Council lasted just under 30 minutes; a rare circumstance for the Council that meets once a month at the community center.

Council members met last Monday evening for the regular March monthly meeting. Under regular business, the Council discussed and passed two ordinances, including one that will change regulations regarding setbacks for chicken coops inside city limits.

Last month council members discussed changes to setbacks for residents wishing to raise chickens. Discussions sparked again following changes in raising chickens at the State level as well as the recent hike in egg prices. Previously, setbacks for chicken coops, which must be approved by the Town before construction can begin, included a 10 foot width between any structure or side property line and five feet at the rear of the property.

Changes at the March meeting, which were approved and will be published as an ordinance before taking effect in 30 days, include removing the structure stipulation from setbacks and changing the side property line setback from 10 feet to five feet and the rear setback stipulation from five feet to one foot. Clerk Kelsey Harms said the changes make it possible for those with smaller lots to still house and possess chickens within city limits and also aligns more with the Town of Haxtun’s zoning ordinance already in place.

The complete ordinance can be found on page 7 in this week’s issue of the Herald.

A second ordinance passed by the Council last week pertains to wind energy purchased through WAPA, the Western Area Power Administration. According to Harms, the Town of Haxtun currently purchases four percent of wind energy through WAPA each month as part of a renewal energy pool. Recently though, WAPA is changing the way the power is purchased through a pool to a separate program. With that change comes the need for the Town, Harms said, to put an ordinance in place stipulating such. Nothing changes with how or how much wind energy the Town will purchase.

Later in the brief meeting, Superintendent Ron Carpenter spoke about WAPA again, this time in an upcoming planned power outage for the Town of Haxtun. He said on Saturday, April 29, the entire Town of Haxtun will be without power from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to allow WAPA to conduct preventative maintenance on the electrical system.

Carpenter also spoke to the Council about several options for generators for the Town of Haxtun. First, Carpenter said he received a bid for a generator for the community center for $42,500. The cost of that, he said, is because it is a natural gas generator because the community center is all electric. Hopes are a generator would benefit the community center in the event of a disaster or unplanned power outage and the center could be used for emergency necessity. Plans are to seek grant funds to help pay for the generator for the community center.

A second bid for a generator, Carpenter said, is for $10,000 for the new Town shop. That generator will be purchased with remaining grant funds for the town shop project from the Department of Local Affairs.