News
Tuesday's session of the hearing by the Zoning Board of Appeals marked the end of about a dozen hours of testimony, evidence, opinion, and questions-and-answers presented to that board about the first wind farm proposed for Livingston County, an up-to 155-turbine Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm. The towers would be on 15,000 acres east of Interstate 55 and between Odell and Emington.
The next phase of the public hearing will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, in the same location as the previous sessions, the auditorium at Pontiac Township High School. That will provide the applicant for the wind farm to present rebuttal evidence. Closing presentations, based on evidence submitted at the hearing, is expected the next evening, at the same location.
That session, if necessary, will be continued in June. Much like a trial, the applicant gets to present its evidence first, followed by opponents, followed by a rebuttal, if requested, by the applicant. That process, if more time is needed, will continue on May 21 and then, tentatively, on June 19. The zoning board could begin deliberations then, or, if time runs out, on possibly Monday, June 23. The Livingston County Board has the final vote on the special use permit, which is required for a wind farm in an area with an agricultural zoning.
Iberdrola Renewables, a Spain-based company which acquired wind farm developer PPM Energy on May 1, wants to develop the wind farm, with as many as 155 turbine-supporting towers, in Union, Odell and Saunemin townships.
Tom Ewing, of Pontiac, said in his testimony that during his 10 years in Congress, the tax credit for wind energy was authorized several times. Since he left the House of Representatives, he has been a volunteer board member of a national "25x'25" alliance with the goal of getting 25 percent of U.S. energy from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2025.
Ewing, who owns land in Union Township affected by the wind farm, said he was speaking "on the bigger picture here."
"Illinois is going to play a part in that," he said - and if that doesn't happen in Livingston County it will elsewhere.
"I'd like to see Livingston County be a part of that growth and economic development," Ewing said. His Union Township land does not have a wind tower, but he'd like it to, he said.
He said a vote against the wind farm by the Livingston County Board would be a vote against "every residential taxpayer" in the county, and he asked the board to look at both the national benefit of renewable energy sources and the local benefit to property owners from the wind farm. He said the County Board and the project's developer should ensure the interests of non-tower landowners in the wind-farm area "are compensated for it now and ion the future."
Ewing's testimony was followed by an Ellsworth-area resident who lives near the in-operation Twin Groves wind farm.
"Living with turbines has caused us to change many things in the way we live," including closing windows and relying on air conditioning in the summer, Rene Taylor said. She also said the turbines near her created "excessive noise" last winter and when wind speed exceeded 25 mph the turbines "sound roaring like a train" across her property.
Answering a question from the attorney for the zoning board, Taylor said she was asked to testify by a Livingston County resident, Judy Campbell. Campbell is a candidate for the Livingston County Board and testified at Monday's session of the public hearing.
She said that some Livingston County residents "could be more profoundly affected than others" if the wind farm is allowed.
First to testify at Tuesday's session of the public hearing was Shari Hoegger, of Odell, whose children would be the fifth generation to farm the land she and her husband, Jim, now tend.
"We all need to grow and prosper for the county," she testified about "another commodity," wind energy. She is also a member of the board of education of the Odell Grade School district, which stands to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in property-tax revenue if the wind farm is developed as planned.
Having dealt with PPM for several years, she said, she was "very excited and proud of this new farming opportunity."
Jane Drury, of Pontiac and a lifetime resident of the county, testified that she and her husband support the wind farm and have signed a contract for a turbine.
"This is a part of their future," she said about her 9- and 11-year-old grandchildren, who have learned about wind energy at the Odell school.
Drury said she and others of a group of landowners all signed on to having towers after consulting with an attorney.
Wesley Thorson, who farms near Cornell, testified in favor of the wind farm. He said it would generate clean power that would be "a little stock[pile into our overall (U.S. energy) needs.
Rick Miller, of Forrest, testified in relation to the wind farm's effect on the Sunbury Railroad Prairie preserve, which he called a 10-acre site out of 600,000 acres of crops in the county. He said the preserve was a ground-nesting site for birds that do "not like the shadows of windmills, day or night."
He said a setback of at least one mile for turbines was needed "to protect this unique area."
Janet Cassady, of Blackstone, testified that the wind farm would provide construction jobs and then "much-needed revenues" to the five school districts with territory in its 15,000 acres.
"These towers co-exist with crop production," she said, adding that she and her husband were "proud to be landowners" within the area encompassed by the proposed wind farm.
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