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The board met Monday in a packed firehouse, where a public hearing was held before the 6-0 vote opposing the request. The meeting lasted more than three hours, Village President Richard Boris said.
"The input was varied and didn't deal with aesthetics at all," Boris said of the public hearing.
Although the turbines were proposed to sit on unincorporated DeKalb County, state law allows municipalities to regulate wind farms within a 1.5-mile radius from their boundaries.
Boris said his main concern was that turbines would be too close to homes. The proposal includes a 1,400-foot setback - which is the minimum distance turbines can be to occupied buildings.
Also, Boris said, the turbines would not provide any additional tax revenues for the village, which has about 319 residents, according to census data, and sits on the DeKalb-Lee county line.
The developer, NextEra Energy Resources, says that in the first year, the turbines would generate $83,000 in local taxes to the county, $51,000 for schools and $3,700 for the fire district.
NextEra, a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light Energy Illinois Wind LLC, also offered the village of Lee $60,000 - and $3,000 each year thereafter - to help the village make improvements to streets, drainage and other infrastructure.
The proposal before Lee officials was part of a 151-turbine wind farm that will straddle DeKalb and Lee counties. NextEra already has approval for the portions of the wind farm in unincorporated parts of both counties, and these turbines are under construction.
Shabbona is the last governmental body to take action on the wind farm, as eight turbines are proposed for the village's jurisdiction.
Trustee Martha May polled residents before Monday's meeting, asking if they support, oppose or don't care about the project. She found that out of the 70 phone calls she made, people opposed the project nearly 2-to-1.
Trustees sided with what they were hearing from residents.
"I represent the people and I know that some don't like their looks, some are worried about real estate values and some are worried that being encircled by them would potentially limit any further growth of the town," May said.
How Lee's decision will affect the overall project is unknown, NextEra spokeswoman Mary Wells said.
"Those are questions we're evaluating right now," she said. "We're disappointed in the vote. We think those turbines would be good for the county and the community."
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