At the end of the meeting, the ZBA voted on a package of zoning ordinance adjustments that included lifting restrictions on wind farm growth. The full County Board likely will vote on the changes at its meeting next week. ...the County Board this month signaled it favors no limit on a wind farm's electricity generating capacity limit, a recommendation the ZBA went along with but did not discuss Tuesday. Now the only recommended restriction is each application for a special use concerning wind farm tower installations be limited to 100 turbines.

David Yoder's been farming for more than a third of a century. He's at least the fourth generation of his family who have lived and worked on the land on Cowpath Road near the border of Franconia and Salford townships that has been farmed "forever," Yoder said. Adding a 140-foot cellular tower and a power-generating wind turbine with a blade that reaches to a height of 163 feet will give the farm reduced electric bills and rental income from the cell tower and is similar to adding animals, crops or farm buildings, he said.

Looking to take advantage of one of the windiest parts of the state, an energy company has cleared a hurdle in its plans to develop a La Salle County wind farm. The County Zoning Board of Appeals is recommending to the County Board that special-use permits be approved for the construction of two temporary 197-foot wind towers on properties belonging to Grand Rapids landowners William and Norma Dooley and Frank and Carol Corrigan. The project developer is Invenergy Wind North American. The board chose to add a time-frame stipulation of an option to renew the permits after two years, if necessary.

The McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals will have a public hearing Oct. 19 on a request for a special-use permit that would allow Twin Groves Wind Farm to expand by as many as 333 turbines. Horizon Wind Energy LLC and its affiliates want to generate 500 megawatts of power with the turbines that would be located on 38,248 acres in Towanda, Blue Mound, Martin and Anchor townships.

EL PASO - Plans for wind farm proposed for the El Paso area, which is seen as an economic asset to some and an eyesore to others, are in the hands of the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals. The board took testimony from wind farm supporters this week. Now, interested parties have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to submit requests to speak at the next hearing on Aug. 7. That hearing will be at 6 p.m. at El Paso's Grace Fellowship Church.

On Tuesday the board was divided, with Mr. Murphy and Mr. Foreman arguing that Mr. Gore had erred in not requiring the town to apply for a special permit to erect the wind turbine. On the other side were Mr. Erickson and Ms. Johnson who defended Mr. Gore's ruling. Who is right? Based on what the board's attorney, Mark Bobrowski of Concord, said, it is a gray area based upon inconsistencies in the town's zoning bylaws.

Objections centered around existing problems which some residents are having with the Big Sky wind farm near Ohio. Those problems were stated by objectors as interrupted television reception, shadow flickering caused by the turning turbine blades, noise levels, and the lack by the Big Sky owners to take care of those problems in a timely fashion.

After a lengthy meeting Thursday night, the Stephenson County Zoning Board of Appeals voted not to recommend proposed changes to the county's zoning code that would alter the wind-farm application process. The zoning board Thursday listened to testimony from a variety of objectors to the proposed changes. At the end of the nearly four-hour meeting, the board voted unanimously not to recommend the wind-farm changes. Officials say the consensus of the board Thursday was that they could not recommend the altered zoning ordinance because the changes would limit the public's ability to object to future wind-farm projects.

The 4-3 vote was a reversal for the ZBA, which two weeks ago voted to deny a special use permit for the California Ridge development, based primarily over concerns about noise pollution and a reclamation agreement in the event that the completed development is abandoned.

Boone County is reexamining its zoning laws, and one group hopes adjustments to the code will clear a path for a new wind farm proposal. The back-and-forth battle for the right to operate wind turbines ended in court this year, when a judge upheld the County Board’s ruling to deny the Heritage Wind Farm project.

Supporters of a requirement that turbines be at least a mile from "non-participants" in wind-farm developments estimate they have collected 450 signatures in support of the change in Sangamon County zoning rules. The developers of the first such farm in the county say the requirement would spell the end of the project. Cathy Bomke of Sangamon County Citizens for Wind Rights said Friday the group hopes to get a hearing as early as next month.

SIBLEY – The Ford County Board has cleared the way for possible development of a wind farm.

Attorney Glen Stoddard, representing Focus on Monroe County’s Future submitted written testimony accusing the Monroe County Planning and Zoning Committee of a majority bias in favor of Invenergy at the Wilton public hearing last Thursday. The Planning and Zoning Committee has set a 9 a.m. meeting for June 5 at the Monroe County Courthouse to make a decision in granting Summit Ridge Energy a conditional use permit to build wind turbines in the town of Wilton.

On the heels of new case law being handed down by the Illinois Supreme Court, Stephenson County officials will now be conducting zoning hearings for larger special-use permit requests - such as for the proposed wind farms - in a more formal fashion, so the hearings will more resemble a court proceeding, officials say. “The Supreme Court has indicated that special-use zoning hearings are quasi-judicial, fact-based hearings,” said county Special Assistant State’s Attorney Frank Cook. “The procedures are going to be a little more formalized than they have been in the past. … I think it’s going to be a pretty beneficial change.”

At stake is how the local government deals with issues ranging in impact from a person wanting to move his or her garage a few inches too close to the property line, to whether the county allows a company to erect 100 wind turbines in the area.

"The members felt a strong obligation to follow the ordinance," member Barry Welbers said. "They did follow it stringently. Whether it's the most perfect ordinance, that remains to be seen." Welbers said he voted down the turbines because the company's plan didn't comply with the ordinance.