Effingham County board delays vote on wind and solar rules, plans staff workshop

The Effingham County board spent the meeting reviewing a draft ordinance to regulate commercial wind and solar facilities and decided not to vote on it, directing staff to continue drafting and to hold a workshop with county staff and consultants.

County staff member Aaron said the county is still reviewing ordinances from other counties and consulting with staff, and that he and Greg Sapp plan to meet "the end of this month" to refine recommendations. "We're still going through that process" he said, adding that the draft needs more work to reconcile differing views on the proper level of regulation.

Why it matters: Board members and public commenters raised enforcement, infrastructure, and taxation issues that could affect county roads, adjacent property owners and local tax receipts. Several speakers urged clear rules for setbacks, decommissioning, financial security and inspections so the county can recover damages to public infrastructure and ensure safe operations.

Board and staff concerns

Speakers repeatedly said enforcement is a primary issue. A public commenter identified as Kathy urged the county to be "prepared instead of unprepared," pointing to local roof and road damage cases elsewhere and to litigation she has followed. Another commenter who identified concerns about assessment and taxation said the Illinois Department of Revenue assesses solar installations by megawatt rather than by land value.

One participant (Pam) explained the current assessment practice: "we assess them per megawatts... So it's 218,000 per megawatt," and noted the county's share is much smaller: "the county per megawatt is only $421," a figure that adjusts annually. That commenter also said a typical project discussed in the meeting had been described to her as a maximum of 5 megawatts.

Technical and safety issues were raised in public comment and by board members. Concerns included battery fire and contamination risks, decommissioning of inactive turbines, damage to county roads and bridges during construction, and potential interference with line-of-sight communications (internet and TV) caused by wind turbines between homes and radio towers. One speaker warned that a two-mile setback from radio towers could remove "35 to 40% of the county's land" from eligibility for wind development.

Enforcement and administration

Aaron and other staff noted the county currently lacks a zoning administrator and that administering an influx of projects could require hiring or contracting technical expertise. Aaron said the county could "retain somebody in this field... on a contractual basis" to review technical aspects and inspect projects, and that the highway department or county engineer would need to "spot check those roads" and verify identified travel routes and culverts.

Speakers discussed fee levels and financial security for decommissioning. One commenter suggested a permit or fee in the range of "$500 or $5,000 per megawatt" and mentioned possible security in the range of "$100,000 or $150,000" to cover county costs; those were proposals discussed and not adopted.

Jurisdiction and state law

Aaron clarified that Illinois law sets baseline rules for commercial wind and solar, and that counties may adopt standards but cannot exceed certain statutory limits. He also explained the statute applies to areas outside a municipality's 1.5-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction and does not supplant municipal authority inside that zone. "It does not include things within the city or the extraterritorial jurisdiction. It's things only outside of that," he said.

Next steps and outcome

The board did not vote on the draft ordinance. Members agreed to take a workshop-style approach: Aaron, Josh and Greg will meet to go "line by line" through the draft and return a revised proposal to the board for further discussion. Staff also said the county can retain outside technical reviewers for individual projects if needed.

Votes at the meeting not related to the ordinance included routine procedural motions (approval of the minutes, a roll-call-approved motion to enter closed session for personnel matters under the cited Illinois statute, and a motion to adjourn).