Ogle County Board approves special-use permit for solar project to avoid a lawsuit

OREGON – The Ogle County Board voted 13-11 Tuesday to approve a special-use permit for a solar project in Haldane, between Forreston and Polo, after a lawsuit filed by the petitioner.

The company, Cenergy Power, previously requested a permit for a 5-megawatt community solar project in Lincoln Township on agricultural-zoned land, a request that was unanimously denied by the board in April because of the land’s high Land Evaluation and Site Assessment score for agriculture use.

LESA is a land evaluation method that uses a rating system to assess the agricultural value of a piece of land, considering the quality of soil and other factors such as location and surrounding land use. The board passed a resolution in March declaring its intent to support high-quality farmland.

After the denial of the permit in April, Cenergy Power decreased the size of the site plan to avoid the higher-quality soils in the southeast corner of the property and resubmitted it.

The company also filed a lawsuit against the county for inappropriate denial based on an Illinois law, enacted in January 2023, that requires counties and municipalities to adopt statewide standards for utility-scale solar and wind facilities. The lawsuit was temporarily suspended after the county agreed to reconsider the petition.

“The land on this property is highly productive, and even though they minimized the impact of the land, it’s still very high-quality land,” board member Ben Youman said.

“It’s all good land up in there, and I just have one heck of a time bending over for them just to take good land,” board member Lyle Hopkins said. “The County Board voted to support agriculture and preserve it. There’s other places and rougher ground where these things can be placed. Why take good farm ground and put these things on it?”

The county hired a law firm for the issue that said although Cenergy Power could have a case, it would have low likelihood of winning, especially because of the state’s current political climate, Youman said.

Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock said that fighting it would be “incredibly expensive and time consuming.” It could cost the county between $300,000 and $500,000.

“As far as policy, does Ogle County want to be the tip of the spear fighting the governor’s zoning power grab?” Rock said. “The state took everything away. Do we want to be the county to fight it? This would be framing this zoning issue for the whole state if this is the fight you want to take.”

After the approval, the board heard from Haldane resident Mike Bowman, who was against the solar farm.

“My north view is going to be this solar farm for the next 25 years, which by all aspects is the rest of my life,” Bowman said. “I can’t put up a visual barrier. My view right now is a beautiful cornfield with the Haldane Cemetery on the north edge of it. I’ll no longer be able to see the cemetery, where I have a whole lot of friends and family buried.

“Dirt is important to everybody in this room, everybody in this county, because we live by what happens with agriculture. One way or another, agriculture is tied to every one of us.”

“It’s very unfortunate that when our constituents are so strongly opposing this, we have to weigh our decision on the lawsuit,” board member Marcia Heuer said. “In this day and age, that is so sad.”