Another Step Towards Solar Farms

Solar farms in Champaign County inched closer to reality with last night's Environment and Land Use Committee meeting (agenda here, video will be available from the County Clerk YouTube channel here when available with "Environment and Land Use" in the description.) From today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County Board panel advances solar-farm proposal
...
The Champaign County Board's Environment and Land Use Committee unanimously voted Thursday night to begin a 30-day review period for a proposal allowing photovoltaic solar farms on certain agricultural properties. The proposal would require amending county zoning ordinances...

Similar to a wind farm, a solar farm would require a special permit — only allowed in AG-1 and AG-2 agricultural zoning districts — from the county board...

[Zoning administrator John] Hall said there are seven solar-farm applications pending overall in Champaign County.

Under the proposal, no solar farm would be allowed within any contiguous urban growth area or within a half-mile of any zoned municipality, except as may be necessary to connect to an existing electrical substation.

The proposal also includes protections to existing drainage district tiles.

And if a solar farm is ever decommissioned, the proposal calls for the land to be reclaimed for agricultural use.

Two more steps are needed before the proposal could receive approval:

First, following the 30-day review period, the committee would have to vote to forward the amendment to the full county board; that vote is currently set for Aug. 9.

Then, if approved, the county board could take a final vote at its Aug. 23 meeting.

Full article here. This follows the Zoning Board's preliminary approval of rules for solar farms (more on that here). Here's a background article that lays out concerns about noise, topsoil, and other issues the potential solar farm raised (don't let the "wind" in the title throw you): Sidney resident offers cautionary tale on wind farms.