Zoning board backs temporary MET tower for Fall River Township as first step toward possible community wind project

The LaSalle County Zoning Board of Appeals on May 21 voted to recommend that the County Board approve a special-use permit to install a meteorological (MET) test tower at 2520 East Twentieth Road in Fall River Township to collect wind data for a proposed community wind project.

The decision matters because the MET tower is a preliminary step to gather wind-resource data that New Leaf Energy said would be used to assess feasibility for two community turbines (each approximately 5 megawatts). The board found the MET-tower application met the county’s special-use standards and forwarded the petition to the County Board for final action on June 9.

Austin Buscher, project developer with New Leaf Energy, told the board the proposed MET tower is a temporary, guy-wired structure 60 meters (97 feet) tall; he said the company is considering two 5 MW turbines for the broader site but that the tower application is limited to data collection. "The tower will be up between 12 and 24 months," Buscher said. He described the tower as having four anchors at three cable heights, with the longest guy-wire span about 64 feet, and said the tower would be painted per FAA recommendations and marked with orange balls on the guide wires. Buscher said the planned setback from rights-of-way and nonparticipant property lines is 1.1 times the tower height (about 217 feet) and that the site plan locates anchors and guide wires outside a delineated wetland buffer.

New Leaf Energy identified the landowner as Hillbros Farm Partnership LLC (Buck, Thomas and Lucas Hill) and said the two parcels comprising the project area total about 101 acres in Section 28 of Fall River Township. Buscher described the MET-tower foundation as a steel plate roughly 48 by 48 inches with steel rods driven around it; he said no permanent structures or paving are proposed and that the tower would be removed after data collection. The MET tower will not be equipped with communications antennas and, per the company and the FAA review, will not have lights; Buscher said the developer submitted an FAA determination of no hazard that found no airspace hazard for the specified coordinates and height.

During public questions, resident Jane Graham expressed concern about aviation traffic and National Guard flight paths. Buscher and county staff responded that the FAA determination of no hazard considered existing flight paths and that the MET tower’s height and coordinates were reviewed in that determination. County staff confirmed notices were mailed to adjoining property owners on May 1 and published in the newspaper on May 3; staff said no written public correspondence was received.

After county staff (Bridal) said the application complies with the LaSalle County Zoning Ordinance standards for special uses, the board completed required findings of fact and voted to recommend approval. A motion to recommend approval was moved by a board member identified as Larry and seconded by Deb Lane; the motion passed with board members voting in favor. The petition will be presented to the County Board on June 9.

The application as approved covers only the MET tower (temporary data collection). Buscher and others reiterated that any future application for wind turbines would require separate zoning reviews and permitting processes before any turbine construction could proceed.