Even though Horizon Wind Energy will return to the starting line of the red-tape process in Logan County in an effort to build a wind farm near Hartsburg, hearings on the development continued Thursday before Tazewell County officials.

Experts testified at a Pekin public hearing Thursday on behalf of the wind farm, but a decision on whether the project gets county approval won’t happen until the end of the month.

The Tazewell County Zoning Board of Appeals has been holding public hearings since April 1, getting public input on the proposed Rail Splitter Wind Farm by Houston-based Horizon.

Horizon presented a real estate appraiser and an expert on noise pollution, both of whom told the board the 67-tower project would have no negative effect on property values or quality of life.

“They would not be injurious or have any negative impact on the area,” said Greg Zak, a noise pollution expert from Springfield.

Peter J. Poletti, a real estate appraiser from Collinsville, said the towers wouldn’t affect property values but said it wouldn’t be feasible for Horizon to provide a property value assurance plan for adjacent home owners.

“I don’t really see a need for them,” he said.

Residents opposed to the project, which would cover more than 11,000 acres of farmland straddling Tazewell and Logan counties just east of Interstate 155, got a chance to ask more questions Thursday night.

“Which would you rather live beside?” Delavan resident Rod Egli asked Poletti, and gave him the options of wind farm, landfill or an unobstructed country view.

“That’s kind of a hard call,” Poletti said. “I would probably prefer, obviously everybody wants a country view.”

Egli said he opposes the project because his house would be surrounded by the towers, which would be 389 feet tall. Tazewell County would host 38 of them, with the remaining 29 targeted for property in Logan County.

Further testimony, cross examination and closing arguments are scheduled for May 20, while the board is expected to begin deliberating on whether to grant or deny construction permits for the project on May 27.

Horizon has temporarily pulled its application for special use permits in Logan County after failing to properly notify residents of wind towers that would be near their property.

The company plans to refile the applications after sending out proper notices to residents.  After the refiling, Horizon will be required to appear again before the Logan County Regional Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals.

At a meeting earlier this month, the regional planning panel voted to recommend the county board approve the conditional use permit for the development.  Since Horizon has pulled that petition, the planning board will be required to hold a meeting on vote on the new petition, once it’s placed on file.

The matter will then go again before the zoning appeal board, which opened a hearing last week on the petition at Hartsburg-Emden High School.  A continuation of that meeting, scheduled this week, was canceled after the original petition was withdrawn.

After the zoning board concludes its meetings, it will vote on the petition and send that as a recommendation to the Logan County Board for final action.  The same process is unfolding in Tazewell County.

The total cost of the wind farm is expected to be between $175 million and $200 million. It would sell energy to AmerenCILCO and generate power for about 30,000 homes in Illinois.

Owners of farmland who lease wind-turbine construction sites to Rail Splitter stand to make around $5,500 per site in income over a 30-year period.

The Lincoln City Council and Logan County Board have already taken votes to include the wind farm in the Lincoln-Logan County Enterprise Zone, a step that allows Horizon to purchase all construction materials, including the towers and blades for the turbines, without paying sales tax.

The project would be the second central Illinois wind farm development for Horizon, which operates the Twin Groves wind farm just east of Bloomington.