Steve Jones wants residents of his rural subdivision five miles east of Springfield to tell the Sangamon County Board May 9 they don't want a solar farm a half-mile or less from their homes.
"I'm not against alternative energy," the retired union sheet-metal worker told Illinois Times. "The big thing we're worried about is taking the peacefulness of our subdivision away. ... There are so many unknowns."
Jones, 68, has lived 45 years on Longview Drive in the 50-year-old Westview Park Subdivision in Clear Lake Township. He is among about a dozen people organizing opposition to the River Maple Solar II project. Thirty-five acres of solar panels up to 15-feet tall would be erected in farmland east of the 90-home subdivision and 1,200 feet from Jones' backyard, which abuts the field.
Homeowners who are opposing the 5-megawatt, $10 million River Maple Solar II project, as well as some homeowners adjacent to a similar-sized proposed solar farm in a more secluded site a half-mile away at Gaule and Jostes roads, say the solar farms will be ugly, scare away birds, deer and foxes, reduce property values and generally interrupt the pastoral landscape many moved to rural America to enjoy.
The bottom line, Jones said, is there are other, better places to put the project in rural Sangamon County than next to a close-knit subdivision of people five miles north of Rochester who like their neighborhood as it is and own homes, many of them on one-acre lots, with an average value of $150,000 to $200,000.
But it may not matter what Jones, his neighbors and the more than 90 other people who have signed a petition opposing the plan think of the project by Trajectory Energy Partners, an Illinois-based company with a main office in Chicago.
That's because of a controversial bill passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and signed into law in January by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker. Taking effect immediately, Public Act 102-1123 dramatically reduces the power of county governments to regulate solar and wind farms if the projects meet standards set in the new law.
If the standards are met, the law supersedes most local zoning requirements and requires county officials to approve the projects.
But Jones and his wife, retired registered nurse Pat Jones, 69, said they still want to see area residents turn out for the 7 p.m. County Board meeting on May 9 in the Sangamon County Government Complex at 200 S. Ninth St. in Springfield.
"What should we do, roll over and play dead?" Steve Jones asked.
County Board members will consider two conditional permitted use requests from Trajectory. The Joneses and other opponents want the board to vote down the projects, something that District 3 board member David Mendenhall, who opposes the projects, believes is unlikely because most of the 29 board members live in urban areas of the county and aren't attuned to rural concerns.
Mendenhall, a retired farmer, is a Republican who lives in rural Buffalo. Steve Jones, a Democratic precinct committeeman, said opposition to the projects is bipartisan. He said he hopes the opposition leads to lawsuits or public pressure to tweak the new law.
Approved as House Bill 4412 – largely along partisan lines – the legislation was supported by environmental groups and unions. It was billed as critical to the long-term success of the state Climate and Equitable Jobs Act passed in 2021 to help Illinois transition away from fossil fuels and get on a path to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Supporters of the bill said in literature about HB 4412 that it was needed to prevent counties from blocking wind and solar projects through local zoning laws. Sangamon, Menard and Christian counties were listed on the sheet among 15 counties that "have effectively banned or significantly hindered construction of wind and solar facilities."
Officials from Trajectory said each of the $10 million projects would result in $6 million to pay the unionized workers who would install the panels. The panels would tilt during the day to capture the most energy and last up to 35 years.
The company would lease farmland for the two proposed sites from a single property owner, and the projects would result in 15 times more property taxes than what is paid now, according to Trajectory. Eminent domain powers aren't available under Illinois law for developers of solar or wind farms.
Nearby homeowners would have the chance to buy into a "community solar project" and receive a break on their electric bills, Trajectory officials said.
Some neighbors support the projects, officials said, adding that opponents' fears are unwarranted and overblown.
Landscaping would be planted to attract and perpetuate pollinators such as bees and butterflies, and the solar farms would hardly be seen when crops are growing around them, according to Kiersten Sheets, a project development manager for Trajectory who is based in the Peoria area.
A solar farm "is the most quiet neighbor they will ever experience," she said.
Trajectory already won approval from the Sangamon County Board in 2022 for its River Maple Solar I project southeast of Westview Park.
All three Trajectory projects would be partially paid for with electric ratepayer dollars that support "renewable energy credits," Sheets said.
Even after approval, the projects wouldn't start right away, she said. It would take the company three to six years to meet administrative and regulatory requirements and secure financing before construction would begin, she said. Solar farm construction would take nine months to a year after that.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at [email protected], 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.