Considering battery storage on your Borden County land?

Put the delivery route on the property drawing

A fenced battery site may occupy only part of a ranch, but the route to it can affect more land. Ask for a drawing that connects the public road to the entrance, follows the private drive and shows where trucks would turn, unload and wait. Add the proposed electrical route rather than looking at the equipment area alone.

Mark the roads you use for livestock, farm work or access to other parts of the property. Show gates, fences, cattle guards, drainage crossings and areas you do not want used for staging. The company should be able to explain how its construction traffic would coexist with those uses.

Borden County’s posted general road-use agreement calls for a routing map identifying the county roads used to transport equipment. Ask the company which route it proposes, which precincts are involved and what approval or agreement it actually needs. An existing road on a map is not proof that every planned load can use it.

Keep the county-road route separate from the rights the company wants on your property. Public-road paperwork does not describe every private gate, driveway, turning area or temporary work zone. Those uses should appear in your own agreement and drawings.

Discuss both construction and later equipment replacement. If the company needs a wider entrance or another staging area years later, how would that be agreed and paid for? A useful plan makes those future questions visible before the initial lease or option is signed.

Reference: Borden County: posted General Use routing and road-use agreement, 2026

Find out which road document is actually being requested

The county road page lists several kinds of applications and agreements. They include maintenance, construction, soil conservation, utility crossings, a general road-use agreement and an abatement road-use agreement. The names do not make those documents interchangeable.

The posted road-construction application is specifically a request for Borden County to construct a new road to and on the applicant’s property. It describes one new road, a charge for the work and county approval or denial. It should not be described to you as a generic form approving a developer-built driveway or the battery facility itself.

Ask whether the company wants the county to perform work, a private contractor to build an entrance, permission for a cable in county right of way, or an agreement for delivery traffic. The answer determines which paperwork you need to understand and which land or roads it concerns.

Request the completed form and its supporting map before signing. Check the project location, party names, proposed work and any authority being requested from you. If the company says the form is required, have it explain the requirement for the actual proposal.

Approval of one road-related request leaves other questions open. Ask the company to identify the reviews for the battery site, drainage, fire access, electrical work and utility connection separately. This guide reviews selected road documents; it does not establish a complete permit list or a universal BESS approval route.

Reference: Borden County: Road Maintenance Applications and road-use documents · Borden County: application asking the county to construct a road · Borden County: utility cable or pipeline crossing application · Borden County: posted General Use routing and road-use agreement, 2026

Read the owner commitments if the county would build the road

If the proposal involves the county constructing a road on your property, read that application in its own right. The posted form describes a reasonable charge and refers to an attached rate schedule. The downloaded form is one page and does not include that schedule; obtain the actual charges and scope before relying on a quote.

The form places hazard-disclosure and marking duties on the owner or designated agent. It refers to buried lines, electric and communications cables, and above-ground pipelines or cables near the requested work. Ask who will identify existing facilities, arrange marking and explain the work area to the county.

The application also includes an owner indemnification and hold-harmless commitment concerning the work. Have your adviser review that language and the company’s proposed payment and responsibility arrangement. A separate promise from the developer should be compared with the document you would sign.

There are applicant and landowner or designee signature lines. The form says a designee must have power of attorney on behalf of the owner and that the document must be on file in the judge’s office. Do not treat an ordinary notification contact as the same thing as granting that authority.

If this is not the work being proposed, ask the company to identify the correct process instead. Private construction, an entrance connection and heavy delivery traffic may raise different issues. Signing an unrelated form should not be a substitute for explaining what the project needs.

Reference: Borden County: application asking the county to construct a road

Make road damage and traffic responsibilities clear

The general road-use template describes operations requiring extensive travel on county roads. Its company definition includes contractors, subcontractors, vendors and other affiliates. Ask who would be the responsible company and how it will make sure its haulers and contractors follow the agreed route.

The template addresses public traffic, interference with normal traffic and use of unimproved right of way for turning or staging. Those are useful points to discuss with the company: where would trucks wait, how would deliveries be scheduled and how would neighbors continue using the road?

It places damage reporting, repair coordination and reimbursement responsibilities on the company. The listed assets include road surfaces, bridges, culverts, ditches, drainage facilities and fences. Ask for a record of conditions before work, a contact for damage and a written process for resolving problems.

The posted agreement has a provision for a cash or surety bond when requested by the commissioner, and says company liability is not limited to the bond. Establish what applies to the actual proposal. A template amount is not proof that a bond has been requested, posted or accepted for this project.

Keep private damage obligations clear as well. County road reimbursement does not explain how your own driveway, fence, gate or ranch drainage would be restored. Your agreement should identify the affected features, who fixes them and what happens if the company stops work.

The template includes a stated maximum anticipated weight as well as route-use wording qualified by its provisions. Do not use those statements as a blanket weight allowance. Have the company confirm the actual loads, route conditions and approvals before giving you a delivery schedule.

Reference: Borden County: posted General Use routing and road-use agreement, 2026

Check the entrance ditch and the electrical crossing

A new entrance is also a drainage question. The road-use template addresses repeated movement through a county-road bar ditch, construction of a crossing at company expense and commissioner involvement in the design. It also describes possible removal and restoration when the crossing is no longer needed.

Ask the company to show how water continues through the entrance and where runoff goes. Identify any nearby fence, field road or low point that could be affected. Confirm the design that applies rather than taking dimensions from a posted template as the answer for every site.

The county’s separate utility application covers a cable or pipeline along or across county-road right of way. It addresses installation below the road or ditch, restoration after installation or repairs, and boring under surfaced roads instead of cutting them. Ask whether the battery connection needs that kind of crossing.

The crossing form places responsibility for later location or adjustment of lines on the utility owner when the county makes a written request. Have the company identify that owner and explain who would pay for future relocation, repairs and access. Those costs are different from the initial installation.

The form also has signature, notarization and approval fields, and calls for notice before construction. A route drawn across a county road is not proof that permission has been obtained. Request the approved document and plan when the company reports that this part is complete.

Drainage and floodplain questions for the whole site still need separate review. The selected road documents do not establish the applicable floodplain process, a battery-site elevation or complete fire-access requirements. Ask the company to identify the responsible offices and requirements for its actual layout.

Reference: Borden County: posted General Use routing and road-use agreement, 2026 · Borden County: utility cable or pipeline crossing application

Plan for changes in the company and the route

Battery development can involve one company preparing the site and another operating it later. Find out which party signs road agreements, holds crossing permissions and has rights under your land agreement. Record the company name and an effective contact rather than only a salesperson’s details.

The posted general road-use template says rights and duties are not assignable. It also says a transfer of interest in operations does not remove the company’s responsibility for damage it caused. Those provisions make it useful to ask how any company change would be handled with the county.

Do not assume a private lease assignment updates every public agreement. Ask what the new operator must obtain or confirm and how unfinished repairs, deposits or other obligations will be resolved. Your own transfer provisions should address responsibility to you as well.

If the delivery route or entrance changes, ask to see the revised map before work proceeds. A different turn, staging area or cable alignment can affect land that was outside the original discussion. Have the company explain whether the county paperwork and your private permissions need to change.

The county posts an Emergency Management contact, but that page does not establish all battery review responsibilities. For a project question, ask the company to identify the correct office and role. A contact listing should not be presented as evidence of project approval.

Reference: Borden County: posted General Use routing and road-use agreement, 2026 · Borden County: Emergency Management contact

Ask about your land before preparing formal paperwork

Use the property-review form to send your contact details and the property location. Add an acreage estimate or parcel number if you have one. You can begin a conversation without a delivery plan or completed county application.

Tell us about existing access and any concern that matters to you: a narrow gate, a livestock route, a drainage crossing or land you want to keep using. If a developer has already provided a map or asked for a signature, explain which document is involved.

An inquiry does not authorize a county road-construction request, grant power of attorney, permit testing or commit you to a sale or lease. Further permissions should have a defined purpose, scope and responsible party before you decide whether to grant them.

We can discuss what information is available and what would need checking next. Project suitability, permitting, utility connection and commercial terms require further review. The goal of the first conversation is to understand the property and your interests, not to assume the deal is already settled.