The following is statement Katie Casper read at the Fulton and Fort Scott, zoning advisory committee public informational meetings. FortScott.biz asked if we could publish it, and she graciously agreed and sent us the text.

Good evening my name is Katie Casper. As many of you may know, I’m a non-participating land owner, neighboring one of the current proposed solar developments. I’m a fourth-generation landowner, and contrary to popular belief…I still greatly respect the majority of my neighbors, even if they may not currently reciprocate that feeling.

Tonight I appeal to all of you…not to think of what’s best for me, not to think of what’s best for the lease holders…but what is best for Bourbon County. I’ve tried to understand the stance of those who oppose zoning. The underlying theme I glean from these conversations is control. Landowners don’t want the government to tell them what they can do with the land they own.

A few points I would make:

One; most if not all of these opposers are ag producers. Agriculture is highly subsidized by the government and I’d say 90% of those speaking in opposition receive those federal subsidies. In order to receive those subsidies they report the lion’s share of every detail of their operations to the government. Now I’m not knocking farm subsidies. If my tax dollars are to go to something, agriculture is at the top of the list. It confuses me how someone can oppose proposed protections of a local government with one hand, while giving the federal government every detail of their business with the other.

Second: Control is an illusion. Everyone is afraid of change in the opposition of government control, however if we do nothing…change is inevitably coming anyway. This is a change where the character of our county will be decided by outside forces of industry and in some cases absentee landowners and not by those who live and work here.

We are not owners of the land but stewards. It is on loan to us from future generations of Bourbon County residents. Today the issue is solar development, a few years ago it was wind, tomorrow it will be something else. Developers will always be looking for land to develop on in sparsely populated areas where there is little regulation. In the case of the solar developments land owners are leasing away the control of their property for 40 years. In 40 years my oldest child will be almost 60 years old. God willing, she’ll have grown children of her own by then….a generation of Bourbon County residents who will have had no part in the decision making of converting their beautiful rural county to large chunks of industrialization. This can cannot be kicked down the road or it will be too late. It’s my fear that my grandchildren’s generation will not be Bourbon County residents because of our inaction but will move on to reside in communities where they can be assured that they’ll have some input in shaping the communities in which they make the investment of a home or business.

Zoning is a tool that can be utilized by local citizens to shape the character of our county from the inside out, rather than leaving that character to chance and the whim of those industries that come from the outside waving a dollar under the nose of landowners, looking for an area where they won’t be regulated and causing division among those who must live with these industries daily.

It is the duty of our county government to protect its citizens. Fire danger remains a top issue with these and any other industrial development. If there is no process for local development approval, it leaves little option to provide for protection of not only residents, but those emergency personnel who sacrifice to protect us.

I commend this committee and I thank you for the work you’re doing. I appreciate the thoughtful, educated approach as well as the minimally invasive suggestions made. I encourage you to keep moving on the path you’re on.

We are at a crossroads in shaping what the future of our county looks like and I hope when the next generation takes the helm that we can say we worked with the good of our community in mind and not that we did whatever we wanted, cause we owned it, and we could.

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