Prairie Creek Gets Road-Work Exception in Blackford County
From the Blackford County Commissioners meeting on October 19, 2026
RWE received a 2–1 vote, with John Lancaster casting the dissenting vote, allowing access-road construction for three Prairie Creek phase-one turbines before upgrading County Road 200 East near 400 North.
RWE manager Julie Drennan requested the exception so an undersized culvert could be replaced along with the road upgrade. Doing both together would avoid cutting new pavement. She said the culvert replacement had been added late to the construction plan and acknowledged a communication gap.
The county's October 5 minutes said RWE was not to work on roads requiring upgrades. Monday's action made a specific exception to that restriction. Commissioners explicitly said it would not set a precedent, and future requests must return to them.
The county previously approved two Prairie Creek road-use agreement amendments on August 17. This vote addressed the sequence of work at the three turbine access sites.
Drennan offered to include the culvert replacement in RWE's work. The allocation of its cost was not established.
Source: YouTube transcript — Blackford County - County Commissioner Meeting - October 19, 2026; October 5 commissioners minutes
Some information may be inaccurate due to video audio quality.
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