Peoria County zoning board recommends wind farm denial, forwards application with possible conditions

Members of the Peoria County Zoning Board of Appeals met Wednesday at the Holiday Inn and Suites at Grand Prairie to consider a special use application for a wind farm project.

Following 15 days of testimony, the Peoria County Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday recommended denial of an application to pursue development of a large-scale wind farm in the county’s northwest corner.

Repsol Renewables is looking to build the Four Creeks Wind Project with 113 turbines stretching from Brimfield and Princeville to the Knox and Stark county lines.

After initially voting down a recommendation to approve the special use permission with conditions on a 4-2 tally, the panel voted the same way in recommending the denial.

That came after Andy Keyt, the attorney representing the county, pointed out the zoning board already had determined the petitioner did meet sound requirements established in existing county code.

That doesn’t mean the project is dead. Following the vote on the denial recommendation, the ZBA voted to include a set of conditions for approval that will go to the full Peoria County Board when it considers the project at its Nov. 5 meeting.

The decision followed a four-hour morning session with the final testimony and closing arguments. ZBA chairperson pro tem Steve Schmitt and member Richard Burns voted in the minority in both roll calls, with Greg Happ, Steven Pollack, Tom Modlin and Rob Culp opting to recommend denial.

That outcome prompted a brief moment of applause from the gallery at the Holiday Inn and Suites at Grand Prairie.

The ZBA’s determination that Four Creeks did not meet the ordinance’s sound regulation requirements was among four of seven findings of fact the panel ruled were not satisfied.

Some board members felt some of those findings outweighed others and that the project could move forward if Four Creeks updates its proposal.