My View: Boone County's wind-farm saga needs a referendum - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

By Cathy Ward

Boone County Board
Posted Jan. 31, 2015 at 5:00 PM

BELVIDERE – Wind-farm opponents, still seeking to deny Boone County millions of dollars for children, adults, the aged, veterans and numerous taxing bodies, are on the attack again, still hoping to eliminate any wind farms in the county.

But a few days ago, new recruits for wind-energy supporters entered the fray when a Chicago law firm — Schain, Banks, Kenny and Schwartz Ltd., representing wind-energy company  Mainstream — challenged the opponents' latest proposal, saying it violates Boone County and Illinois laws.

Almost immediately, Boone County residents learned that the opponents' latest proposal will be altered.

The text amendment that had been submitted by Boone County residents David Cleverdon and Karen Kenny a few weeks ago would have required that wind towers be 2,640 feet, or 6½ times the height of the tower, from all property lines. That's a distance of about eight football fields. Visualize that. The current setback is 1,000 feet, or three football fields.

The Boone County Zoning Board of Appeals, set to review the Cleverdon/Kenny proposal last Tuesday, dropped the plan from the agenda shortly after Schain, Banks submitted the four-page objections.

ZBA officials said Tuesday that the wind-farm opponents' newest, altered plan would be considered Feb. 26.

This decadelong debate frustrates thousands of Boone County residents and taxing bodies who keep trying to stretch growing financial needs, even though there's a lack of almost any business or industry or residential growth in the county.

Even more frustrating to Boone County residents is the fact that board Chairman Bob Walberg has stacked all planning committees and planning boards with wind-farm opponents and wants to divorce the county from the Belvidere/Boone Planning staff. The staff has refused to support these arbitrary and capricious setbacks.

I believe it's time for all Boone County residents to have a chance to voice their opinions of this highly debatable issue, which sadly, will divide us for generations. We need a countywide referendum to give all our people, the silent majority, a voice, not just the small group that bullies, slanders and chastises those who support green, renewable energy.

This small minority says wind-farms threaten the health and safety of our people, and yet all of us have seen wind farms all over the world. People happily live under them, go to school right next to them, cows graze under them, crops grow strongly under them, and people go to work under them every single day.

What's more, once this multimillion-dollar investment in the county is finally approved, the additional money will turn over dozens of times to more sales for restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, car dealers, apple orchards, doctors and dentists, airports, banks and retail stores.

No one would force landowners to have a wind farm on their property if they did not want one. Under the current ordinance, it would be at least three-football fields from any property.

In the last election, winning County Board candidates said they support property rights. I was delighted to hear that. I do, too. I hope that means they support property rights for all our residents and taxpayers, not just those opposed. We'll see.

Not a week goes by that one of our taxpayers doesn't ask me how the wind farms are coming. It's time to give the silent majority a chance to speak out.

My View: Boone County's wind-farm saga needs a referendum - Opinion - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL