Wind agreements differ between counties
By CHASE CASTLE - Shaw Newspapers
DIXON – DeKalb County is on the cusp of approving a major wind turbine project it would share with Lee County, with DeKalb housing the majority of the turbines – and possibly the majority of landowner benefits.
The DeKalb County Board is expected to vote Wednesday on a special-use permit to the project's investors, NextEra Energy Resources. The permit comes with 34 conditions meant to benefit DeKalb residents with property near the turbines. Those include a guarantee to offset additional costs for crop spraying, a process for property owners who have unexpected problems with the turbines on their land, and a property value guarantee.
The guarantee would assure home owners within three-fourths of a mile of a turbine that their property will sell at or above fair market value, determined by independent appraisers. If property sells below that value – or not at all after six months on the market – then NextEra will make up the difference for the landowner or purchase the property itself. That could only happen, however, if the independent appraiser can prove that the low selling price, or lack of one, can be attributed to the to the turbines, NextEra Project Manager Anthony Pedroni said.
In total, the project will include 131 turbines in western DeKalb County, and 18 turbines in Lee's Alto and Willow Creek townships.
None of the above conditions were requested or required by the Lee County Board, which approved its special-use permit in February.
In lieu of a property value guarantee, Lee County residents are being offered a "community partnership program," which offers $1,000 annually to anyone with property within three-fourths of a mile of a turbine. That money would be paid every year for the life of the turbine project, or up to 30 years.
"The [Lee County] permit requires the community partnership program, but it doesn't mean we can't do anything else [with landowners]. It just sets out minimum requirements and conditions and standards that we have to meet in order to maintain our permit," Pedroni said.
Pedroni emphasized, however, that NextEra is not required to start any new negotiations with local landowners since its permit already has been approved.
"I would never close the door on anything, but to say we'd enter on individual negotiations is speculation and I wouldn't commit to doing something like that at this point," he said.
Although one condition might seem more appealing than another, Pedroni said, future dividends are difficult to predict.
Pedroni said that a property value guarantee, for example, was required by Lee County for its first wind turbine project, the 2003 Mendota Hills farm. However, no property values near the turbines decreased, and thus the turbines' builders never had to pay landowners, he said.
"So there never was a payoff," Pedroni said. He said he's never seen property values decrease because of a wind farm in any of the more than 100 wind turbine projects he's managed.
Lee County Zoning Officer Chris Henkel reiterated that the value of various concessions are dependent on individuals' property.
In determining the overall value of something like a property value guarantee versus the community partnership program, Henkel cited broad factors such as the likelihood of the owner trying to sell in the near future and the opinions of the appraisers involved.
"So I don't think I could say one's better than the other. I really don't," Henkel said.
Regardless of the value of those conditions, the point of no return might already have been crossed.
Lee County State's Attorney Henry Dixon said the Lee County Board cannot impose new conditions for the special-use permit it already issued.
"And if one county's contract varies somewhat from the other, there's no legal mandate that either one county or the other has to adjust theirs to make it the same," Dixon said. "I just don't see that as being a viable position to take."
County board member Allyn Buhrow is one of three board members who voted against the permit in February – something he did precisely to see how DeKalb handled its own special-use permit, he said at the time.
Although Buhrow refused to say whether he would liked to have seen more of DeKalb's conditions adopted locally, he did say he'd like more communication between the two counties for future projects.
"I think it'd benefit the counties involved, it'd benefit the landowners and it'd be a little more clear to the developers in terms of what's being asked of them," Buhrow said. "These are very long-term projects, and spending a little more time on the front end would benefit everyone."
