DeKalb County is one step closer to seeing more than 100 wind turbines erected on its landscape after the county board planning and zoning committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant a conditional special-use permit to NextEra Energy Resources that would allow the company to build the turbines.

Despite protests and a "suggestion," when it came to a vote by the Champaign County Board on Thursday night, approval of a county wind farm ordinance was a breeze. After about two hours of discussion, with comments for and against, the wind farm ordinance was approved by a vote of 24-2 with one abstention.

Woodford County officials will wait a week to again take up an issue that is alternately called a critical wind farm safety issue or a thinly veiled attempt to shut down wind energy development. A contentious hearing before the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday ultimately was continued until next week with more than a dozen residents still seeking to testify on a proposal that would increase the setback distances of wind turbines from buildings, roads and property lines.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit sought by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm on the Lee-DeKalb county border. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus' original recommendation to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind energy plant.

A hearing officer has recommended the DeKalb County Board approve, with conditions, a special use permit requested by an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in four townships in the county. The approval is a reversal of Hearing Officer David Dockus's original recommendation, which was to deny the request from NextEra Energy Resources, which has proposed building and operating a 151-turbine wind-energy plant.

A committee of the DeKalb County Board is the next stop for an application from an energy company that wants to build a wind farm in the county. A reopened public hearing regarding the application for a special-use permit from NextEra Energy Resources to build and operate a 133-turbine wind farm in the county concluded about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, county planner Paul Miller said.

An ordinance to regulate wind farms in Champaign County will go to the full county board later this month. Members of the county's Environment and Land Use Committee voted unanimously Monday night to send the ordinance to the county board for its May 21 meeting. The committee rejected a request by the city of Champaign to extend its extra- territorial jurisdiction by 1 mile, pushing the zone around the city to 2½ miles.

Much of the early session's testimony was dominated by attorneys and an expert witness in acoustics, who testified that wind turbines generate dangerous levels of low-frequency noise that can have a negative effect on health. Several residents of wind farms in other states also offered testimony, saying the turbines have negatively affected their quality of life. The biggest concerns expressed by the seven county residents who spoke in the six-hour early session were potential impacts on property values and health.

It only appeared Doug Huser was running Tuesday's marathon meeting of the county's conservation, planning and zoning committee. The first-term County Board member challenged Terry Pille, who chaired the meeting, about his intention to vote on wind farm issues. Both Pille and his wife are involved in a wind farm project in Minonk. At a previous meeting, Pille said he would seek the advice of State's Attorney Mike Stroh.

At the city's plan commission meeting this week, members voted 5-0 to not protest a proposed county zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow wind farms in the county Agriculture 1 zoning district with approval of a special-use permit by the Champaign County Board. But the plan commission is also suggesting - at the planning staff's recommendation - that the county board should not approve a wind farm unless it is at least 2 1/2 miles from a municipal boundary. That's a mile beyond what the county board had been considering.

Anticipating the construction of a wind farm in DeWitt County, the County Board formally adopted an ordinance governing the turbine towers Thursday night after more than two years of research and writing. But board members say more work on the ordinance is necessary before special-use permits are granted and towers are constructed.

Bureau County should experience additional activity in the coming months from area wind farms. At its April 15 meeting, the Bureau County Board took action on requests from Crescent Ridge 2, south of Wyanet in southern Bureau County, and also on requests from the proposed Big Sky wind farm, between Ohio and Walnut in northern Bureau County.

Efforts to locate two wind farms in Edgar County are already generating something - but it's not electricity. Edgar County Board member Dan Winans urged his fellow board members during Wednesday morning's meeting to sponsor a session for municipality and other government officials to discuss issues with experts from the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Iberdrola Renewables still plans to build its long-delayed 79-turbine Benson Wind Farm, setting its latest goal of construction by 2011-12. ...Woodford County Board vote[d] to lengthen setback limits from roads and dwellings.

A proposed wind energy farm off the coast of Northwestern's campus could cut a "gigantic" amount of Evanston's carbon emissions, said Nathan Kipnis, one of Chicago's best-known "green" architects. Citizens for a Greener Evanston recently drew up the proposal, which calls for 10 turbines above the waters of Lake Michigan, four miles off the NU shoreline and Dawes Park.

A proposal to more than double the setback requirements for wind turbines won't be heard by the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday night. The Conservation, Planning and Zoning Committee on Tuesday night withdrew its earlier recommendation to increase the setback to 1,800 feet from 750 feet.

Newcomb Township commissioners voted Tuesday to protest a proposed ordinance that would bring wind farms to Champaign County. In the 4-1 vote, commissioners noted concerns about wind turbines near the extensive Manlove Gas Storage Field in northern Champaign County.

A proposed change to the ordinance regarding wind farm setbacks will be the topic of a public hearing next week of the Woodford County Zoning Board. The hearing will be at 6 p.m. Thursday in the County Board room in the Woodford County Courthouse.

The wind farm debate that has raged across America has landed on Chicago's doorstep. Folks in quiet, rural DeKalb County are raising a ruckus at the possibility of 400-foot turbines next to their orchards, honeybees and livestock. About 700 people gathered in a high school gymnasium at 9 a.m. on a recent Saturday for a public hearing on the proposed wind farm. By the time the project developer had fielded every question and concern, it was 4 a.m. Sunday.

The public will have a chance to be heard once again on an energy company's proposal for a wind farm after the county's planning and zoning committee sent the application back to a public hearing. The DeKalb Planning and Zoning Committee voted 7-0 Wednesday on a motion to have a new public hearing based on an opinion rendered by DeKalb County State's Attorney Ron Matekaitis.