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Iroquois County residents oppose large solar projects; planning committee sends one application to ZBA and rejects another
Summary
At an Iroquois County planning and zoning meeting, residents urged the committee to block large solar farms that they say threaten farmland and community life. The committee deemed one US Solar/US Cellular 'Venus' application complete for a ZBA public hearing and voted down a second US Solar application.
Residents from across Iroquois County urged planning and zoning officials on Tuesday to block industrial-scale solar projects, saying the developments would strip productive farmland, harm local businesses and alter the county’s character. The committee agreed to send one application to a public hearing but rejected a second.
The comments came during the committee’s public comment period and were led by landowners who said the county’s farmland and small-town way of life are at risk if large solar projects are approved. Mark Russ, a landowner and farmer, told the committee, “It is more than just a problem to us. It’s our history,” and argued the projects would cause “permanent loss of farm ground” through grading, soil compaction and loss of topsoil.
The committee moved one application — identified in the record as a US Cellular/US Solar “Venus” location — to the zoning board of appeals (ZBA) for a public hearing after a roll-call vote that recorded Hughes (no), Whitlow (yes), Bard (yes), Parkinson (yes)…
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