Tazewell County's zoning board of appeals sat through another long night of testimony Thursday night, giving one Delavan resident a chance to fight the erection of a proposed wind power plant.

At Thursday night's hearing, two experts answered a thorough line of questioning and cross examination from lawyers, ZBA members, Tazewell County Board members and the public.

A company called Horizon Wind Energy has proposed creating a wind power plant - which would rely on 67 turbines built in Logan and Tazewell counties. But before the project begins, Horizon must win the approval of the ZBA.

At last night's hearing, Horizon called real estate appraiser Peter Poletti to answer questions about property values near wind turbines. Poletti said property values have increased in a Lee County subdivision located near an existing wind power plant.

Poletti told ZBA members about one house in particular that is surrounded by seven turbines. "I went and knocked on the door and talked to the owner," Poletti said. The owners, he said, were more concerned about living near a gravel road than they were about wind turbines.

Thursday night's meeting was called after Delavan resident Luke Taylor objected to evidence presented in Horizon's permit application. After cross-examining Poletti, Taylor's lawyer, Chris Spanos, got the appraiser to say that the house in question sat on the market for two years before being sold.

Spanos asked Poletti if he is blind to the fact that wind turbines could have a negative effect on property values.

"The data out there at this time doesn't support that," Poletti said.

Horizon's lawyer, Bennett Lasko, next called on Greg Zak, an expert on sound who once worked for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Zak told ZBA members that he specialized in the effects of noise on people. Horizon also hired Zak as a consultant to predict the noise impact of the proposed wind power plant - which Horizon calls the Rail Splitter Wind Farm.

Zak testified that Horizon gave him about 12 turbine map proposals before finally giving him a plan that keeps the entire power plant below the IEPA's acceptable noise pollution levels. "In my opinion, if we took measurements after the wind farm was completed we would see complete compliance with Illinois' pollution control board standards," Zak said.

On cross-examination, Zak told Spanos that he has made his noise predictions based on turbine sound data given to him by Horizon and General Electric.

Spanos pointed out that a proposed turbine on Horizon's map of the Rail Splitter Wind Farm is not included in Zak's sound data.

The hearing ended at 10:30 p.m., an hour and a half later than ZBA members initially agreed to end.

The ZBA will meet again on May 20 so that the Rail Splitter Wind Farm's project director Bill Whitlock can give testimony and be cross-examined by Spanos.

The ZBA plans to deliberate May 27, at which time members will decide whether or not to recommend to the county board that Horizon be approved to build the wind power plant.