Will County Board stalls vote on biggest solar farm yet

The Will County Board on Thursday delayed a vote on a green energy project so big that some said it should not be called a “solar farm.”

The 3,600-acre project is the latest solar initiative to run into opposition from neighbors against the idea of their rural landscape being converted into rows of solar panels.

The proposal for southern Will County stretches into Custer and Reed townships and is the biggest so-called solar farm submitted for approval to the county board. The board appeared willing to vote against the project while saying state law bars them from stopping such plans.

“I’m opposed to solar power plants,” County Board Member Jim Richmond, R-Mokena, said at the meeting. “They’re not farms. They’re power plants.”

The viewpoint was echoed by some of the residents, who told the County Board that the project would rob them of their rural way of life.

Patrticia Malcom said solar panels would be so close as to encroach on her property.

“I am asking you to vote as if this was 250 feet from your house and 30 feet from your property line, and you’d be surrounded by solar panels,” Patricia Malcom told the County Board.

Brenda Belcher said she would have solar panels across the street from her house on Cooper Road and on the back end of her property if the project goes through.

“We can’t afford to move,” Belcher told the County Board. “Nobody’s going to buy my house.”

The County Board also heard from farmers and land owners waiting to sell land to Acciona Energy and urging the board to approve the solar project.

“Do your research and weed out disinformation that is fairly rampant,” Greg Olson said.

Mike Newbrough, whose farm would become part of the solar project, told the County Board that it should follow the law when it votes but not interfere with the rights of land owners to decide what to do with their property.

“It’s them saying you have the authority to tell us what to do with our property,” Newbrough said, referring to residents’ insistence that the County Board block the project.

County Board members emphasized that they have little authority because of state law that sets guidelines favorable to the development of solar panel projects.

Member Frankie Pretzel, R-New Lenox, made the motion to postpone the vote to February based on his belief that Acciona Energy was willing to make changes in its plans so as to accommodate residents who will live next to the solar complex.

“Acciona wants our approval on this, but they don’t need it,” Pretzel said. “If we vote no on this, it’s very likely they’ll go to court.”