McLean County Zoning Board of Appeal met Oct. 6.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
1. CALL TO ORDER: Chair, James Finnigan called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
2. ROLL CALL: Secretary Philip Dick called the roll and noted the presence of a quorum as follows: James Finnigan, Rick Dean, Mary Beth Taylor, Michael Kuritz, Julia Turner, Brian Bangert and Ruth Novosad. No members were absent. Also present were Darrell Mitchell, Zoning Enforcement Officer, Chris Spanos, First Civil Assistant State’s Attorney, Samantha Vasquez, Assistant State’s Attorney, and Craig Nelson, County IT Director.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Motion was made by Kuritz/Dean to approve the minutes from the September 1, 2020 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.
The roll call vote was seven members for the motion to approve, none opposed, and no members were absent.
4. APPEARANCE BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: Secretary Dick announced that no one notified the Department of Building and Zoning that they wanted to speak or submit a written communication on matters not on the agenda. And no one responded when Chair Finnigan called for persons to speak.
5. Secretary Dick read the following information into the record:
“The next meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals will be at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 2, 2020 since County offices will be closed on November 3rd except for those dealing with elections.
If any case is finished and the ZBA has discussed it and voted on it, the case will be considered complete. If any case is not finished or if the go to meeting system crashes or the ZBA members are not able to adequately communicate before a vote is taken on a case by the ZBA, the case will be continued until 7:30 PM on Monday, November 2, 2020. Please contact the Department of Building and Zoning at 309-888-5160 for a link to this meeting or attend the meeting in person.
The ZBA bylaws allow the chair to impose time limits on opening, closing or other statements or questions or any portion of the proceedings. The Chair will limit questioning of witnesses to one series of questions per person per witness.
A note for those watching via YouTube live stream: The YouTube stream is not an interactive medium. Any comments on the YouTube live stream are not monitored and will not be addressed in the meeting.
Please mute your phones or computers and turn your cameras off unless you are on the ZBA or you are approved to speak.”
6. REGULAR AGENDA:
Case SU-20-11, application of Yates Township, in case SU-20-11 on parcel 04-03-453-001. This is a request for a special use to allow a Government Service Building in the R-1 Single Family Residence District on property in Yates Township at 31272 Third St., Chenoa, IL.
Secretary Dick called the case, provided exhibits to the board and submitted a staff report for review. He indicated the seven standards for a special use are met.
Secretary Dick indicated that he expected Clayton Rosenberger, Yates Township Supervisor, to attend the public hearing, but that he had not arrived. Secretary Dick indicated that he could likely answer any questions about this application and that we could proceed if there were no questions that he could not answer.
No one appeared to ask questions.
The board reviewed and discussed the seven standards and found them met.
Motion was made by Kuritz/Taylor to recommend approval of case SU-20-11.
The roll call vote was seven members for the motion to recommend approval, none opposed, and no members were absent.
Case SU-20-12, application of Caleb and Jordan Miller in case SU-20-12 on parcel 07-31-300- 009. This is a request for a special use to allow a single-family residence in the A-Agriculture District for the son of farm owners on property in Hudson Township immediately North of 2000 North Rd. approximately ½ mile east of 1200 East Rd.
Secretary Dick called the case, provided exhibits to the board and submitted a staff report for review. He indicated the seven standards for a special use are met, provided that one of the initial occupants is Caleb Miller, the son of the owners of the farm property from which this property is being set aside, and provided an entrance permit is obtained from the Hudson Township Road Commissioner before a construction permit is issued.
Caleb Miller, 404 S. McLean St., Hudson, IL appeared to give testimony and was sworn. Mr. Miller indicated that he was available to answer any questions. In response to a question he indicated that he would take the five acres of the proposed residential tract out of crop production.
The board reviewed and discussed the seven standards and found them met with the staff recommended stipulations.
Motion was made by Kuritz/Dean to recommend approval of case SU-20-12.
The roll call vote was seven members for the motion to recommend approval, none opposed, and no members were absent.
Case ZA-20-05, application of Geronimo Energy in case ZA-20-03. This is a text amendment of the Zoning Ordinance of the Code of McLean County Chapter 350, Zoning Section 350-43, OO(2)(j), Use Standards, Height. The permitted maximum height of a WECS tower shall not exceed 550 675 feet. (Additions are indicated by text and stricken material by text; and a WECS tower is a Wind Energy Conversion System tower).
This case was continued from the August 4, 2020 and the September 1, 2020 ZBA public hearing.
A Board member questioned how the size of a wind farm is determined.
James Griffin, 70 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL, indicated that the project size is limited by the capacity of the electric grid at the location of the proposed wind farm.
Michael Morris, 8400 Normandale Lake Blvd., Bloomington, MN indicated that they identify the grid capacity and then they build a wind farm to that capacity. He indicated that taller towers would require greater distance between them.
A Board member asked the applicants if they knew of any post construction sound studies that were completed that verified that the designed sound level of the modeled sound studies were met.
Mr. Morris indicated that he did not have that information available at this time. A Board member asked if old turbine blades are recycled.
Mr. Morris indicated that in some cases they reuse turbine blades on older projects and in some cases, they make the blades into pellets as filler for use in making other products.
Tim Jolly, 2700 North Rd, Chenoa, IL asked if their proposed project has a place to connect to the grid?
Mr. Morris indicated yes.
Laurie Sleeter, 23903 N 2900 East Rd., Lexington, IL asked if crop dusters in the area knew about the proposed request to raise tower height.
Mr. Griffin indicated that he did not know.
Laurie Sleeter, 23903 N 2900 East Rd., Lexington, IL appeared to give testimony and was sworn. Ms. Sleeter indicated that she was concerned that crop dusters did not know and were not notified of this public hearing.
Mr. Griffin indicated in closing that the taller turbines would require the same safety requirements as the shorter turbines and that the taller ones are more efficient.
Tim Jolly indicated in closing that he strongly objects to raising the tower height since this would cause more problems. He stated that the applicant provided ambiguous information.
Travis Taylor indicated in closing that he objects to the raised tower height and that staff cannot keep up with the current problems caused by the wind farms.
Laurie Sleeter indicated in closing that people in the project area of the next wind farm do not know about the taller turbine proposal and that the taller turbines do not provide a benefit.
Catherine Metsker, 20645 N 825 East Rd., Carlock, IL indicated in closing that wind farm developers are taking advantage of Midwest hospitality and that these companies are all about greed. She indicated that the wind farms allow a small group of landowners to prostitute their land at the expense of their neighbors and that she objects to the application.
The board reviewed and discussed the text amendment and found that it would not promote the public health, safety, comfort, morals and general welfare of the County.
Motion was made by Dean/Turner to recommend approval of a text amendment to raise the maximum height of a WECS tower from 550 feet to 675 feet.
The roll call vote was one member for the motion to recommend approval, six members were opposed, and no members were absent. Member Dean voted in favor of the motion. Members Finnigan, Taylor, Kuritz, Turner, Bangert and Novosad were opposed.
7. NEXT MEETING: Secretary Dick indicated that the next meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals would be at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 2, 2020 since County offices will be closed on November 3rd except for those dealing with elections.
8. ADJOURNMENT: The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 9:16 PM.
https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/7803
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