Stephenson County Board member Jeff Mikkelsen said he will introduce a proposal to make wind farms a permitted use within the zoning ordinance to eliminate the need for a special use permit. Such a zoning change, he said, would eliminate the need to hold lengthy public hearings on future wind farm projects, making Stephenson County a more attractive prospect for wind energy companies. Mikkelsen, who serves as chairman of the County Planning and Development Committee, said he may ask his committee to consider this proposal in the near future.

An ordinance to protect local infrastructure during the construction of massive wind mills used for generating electricity was tabled again at the Nov. 4 Edgar County Board meeting. The board's decision to forestall action was expected as the Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance was first brought to the board for adoption on Oct. 7 but was tabled at that time because of questions raised during the public hearing.

A newly activated subcommittee of the Macon County Board voted 6-0 Tuesday evening to pass along two revised ordinances to the board's Environmental, Health, Education and Welfare Committee. The Siting, Rules and Ordinance Subcommittee first approved changes to an ordinance governing the siting and construction of wind energy conversion systems.

The Winnebago County Board overwhelmingly passed an ordinance Thursday night that will allow the location of wind farms in the county. The 27-1 vote was the culmination of six months of work that began when officials from Minnesota-based Navitas Energy started looking at a potential wind farm site near Seward and discovered that Winnebago County had no ordinance to allow wind turbine construction.

New jobs and noise - both seen as byproducts of wind farms - were discussed Tuesday as a hearing on a proposed, 333-turbine project in eastern McLean County continued for a second day. Horizon Wind Energy LLC is seeking a special-use permit from McLean County for Black Prairie Wind Farm, which would be built north of Illinois 9. Horizon owns the 240-turbine Twin Groves Wind Farm, which is across Illinois 9 from the Black Prairie site.

A request for a new wind farm that would be larger than the existing Twin Groves Wind Farm is under review by the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals. The hearing began Monday night at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and will continue at 6 p.m. today at the BCPA, 600 N. East St. Horizon Wind Energy LLC is seeking a special-use permit to build its Black Prairie Wind Farm.

Winnebago County Board members are set to put an end to what turned into several months of intense lobbying by unions, environmental groups and others when they vote Thursday night on an ordinance to allow wind farms in the county. Most of the details - such has how far back a wind turbine should be from a property line - have been worked out and agreed upon by most everyone involved.

In other news, a proposed wind farm ordinance was on the floor for discussion during the board’s Oct. 8 meeting. But because of changes crafted the same day, which most board members were seeing for the first time, some were uneasy about putting the ordinance to a vote. Zoning Officer Troy Krup assured the board the intentions of the Zoning Board of Appeals and Zoning Committee had been maintained through the changes, but others weren’t so sure.

Lincolnshire officials expect to extend a temporary ban on the construction of wind turbines and other alternative-energy generators, Mayor Brett Blomberg said. The moratorium was enacted in June with a four-month life span. ...The moratorium was enacted to allow village staffers to study the pros and cons of alternative energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels, and to draft a policy governing their use.

The Edgar County Board tabled action on a Wind Energy Conversion System Ordinance at a meeting Wednesday morning. The goal of the ordinance is to protect county and township infrastructure during the building of giant towers that convert wind power into electricity. Board member Dan Winans has mostly worked alone to create the ordinance by borrowing from existing ordinances in neighboring counties.

Officials with a Houston-based wind-energy company have applied for a special-use permit to make way for the first phase of a massive wind farm spanning from Gibson City to Sibley to near Elliott. The Ford Ridge Wind Farm is targeted for construction late next year or in early 2011, said Roger Brown, business developer for BP Wind Energy North America Inc.

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.

There was a big debate over an amendement to Winnebago County's wind farm ordinance, but in the end, the zoning board passed it. That amendment allows people or companies to submit applications to install wind farms in the county. It makes wind farms permitted use, which means there's no public hearing before an application is approved.

Sept. 16, members of the Winnebago County Board Zoning Committee pored over minutiae in a 15-page proposed text amendment to the county's zoning ordinance that would open the door to commercial wind power generation in the county. Because the wind industry has yet to blow into Winnebago County, no rules exist to govern them. The measure was first proposed in April by Minneapolis-based Navitas Energy, Inc.

The Village of Shabbona will be holding two public hearings in the next month regarding a wind farm. In the fall of 2008 the village board adopted an ordinance to regulate wind turbines within a 1.5 mile radius of the village, according to a written statement from Shabbona officials. The board also adopted a resolution specific to a proposal by NextEra Energy Resources, which is building a 151 turbine wind farm in DeKalb and Lee counties.

The Lee Village Board earlier this week unanimously rejected a developer's plan to build six wind turbines outside the village but within one and a half miles of it. The board met Monday in a packed firehouse, where a public hearing was held before the 6-0 vote opposing the request.

City council members in Champaign will talk Tuesday about wind power - not the hot-air-politics type, but the wind turbine type. ...the city planning staff will discuss wind energy conservation systems, particularly small wind turbines within city limits and how to regulate wind farms near city boundaries. City Planner Bruce Knight said state law requires cities to regulate wind turbines within 1½ miles of their city limits. The Champaign County Board has adopted a wind farm ordinance, he said.

The special use permit for the El Paso wind farm expired Tuesday without the owners applying for building permits. Navitas Energy of Minneapolis had paid $40,000 for an application fee and had received approval a year ago for a special use permit after a lengthy and controversial hearing process.

A policy that would place a temporary ban on new wind-energy projects in the county has been taken off the table indefinitely. Under the advice of the state's attorney, the DeKalb County Board agreed to stay mum on the proposed period of assessment on new and existing wind farms, Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman Ken Andersen said. "We're not prepared to comment on it," Andersen said after the meeting.

The expiration of a special use permit for the El Paso wind farm has left holders of tower leases in limbo and expressing mixed reaction to the project's uncertainty. Larry Roth of Eureka, who has a tower on his property near El Paso, blamed the Woodford County Board for not granting an extension requested by Pattern Energy, which now owns the project initiated by Navitas Energy.