County board meeting moved to NIU
By ELENA GRIMM
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egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – In anticipation of a large crowd, the regular meeting of the DeKalb County Board has been moved to a larger venue.
The board meets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Carl Sandburg Auditorium in Holmes Student Center on the Northern Illinois University campus.
The board is scheduled to decide the fate of a long-debated, often heated, proposal by an energy company that wants to erect more than 100 wind turbines in the southern part of the county.
Three weeks ago, a county planning and zoning committee voted unanimously to grant a conditional special-use permit to NextEra Energy Resources that would allow the company to build the turbines. NextEra, a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light, has proposed a total of 151 turbines for the project. Of those, 119 are in unincorporated DeKalb County and in Afton, Clinton, Milan and Shabbona townships. Other turbines are proposed for Lee County and the village of Shabbona, both of which have approved them, and for the village of Lee, which has not acted on the proposal.
The move from the small Gathertorium meeting room to the college auditorium was decided "for the same reason" that a public hearing on the wind farm proposal was also moved, County Board Chairwoman Ruth Anne Tobias said.
When hundreds turned out to a public hearing in February, it was postponed because the venue was too small, and moved to the Sycamore High School gymnasium.
Rescheduled to March 21, the hearing lasted nearly 19 hours, and hearing officer David Dockus recommended the committee not approve the permit because of several concerns with the proposal. NextEra submitted supplemental information to address the concerns, and Dockus recommended approval of the proposal after a two-day hearing May 11 and 12.
More than 26 hours of public testimony have been taken on the subject over the course of the two public hearings.
The public will not be given a chance to speak at Wednesday's county board meeting, Tobias said.
This procedure upsets Rick Porter, an attorney for the Citizens for Open Government, a group of about 50 people who would live near wine turbines and are opposed to the project.
"We've had no opportunity to speak to the board directly," Porter said. "Only an independent hearing officer has heard the application and we don't know how many of the board members have attended those meetings."
He added that it's "highly unusual" to have public comment only when the application is heard by the hearing officer, and that other counties he's worked with give the public an opportunity through a zoning board of appeals or a planning commission.
Still, Porter is hopeful that board members will reject the application based on how many people will be affected – 200 homeowners live within three-quarters of a mile of turbines at their proposed locations, he noted.
Tobias expects plenty of discussion among board members on the 34 conditions staff recommends be tied to approving the project, especially on how turbines will be decommissioned.
Other conditions were a requirement for building and site development permits for each turbine, a guarantee to offset additional costs for crop spraying, setbacks from structures and property lines, an arbitration process and a property value guarantee.
If You Go
What: DeKalb County Board meeting
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Carl Sandburg Auditorium, Holmes Students Center of Northern Illinois University, 340 Carroll Ave. in DeKalb
