Will County Board approves solar projects near Monee, Peotone
The board voted 13 to 9 to approve TurningPoint Energy's request to build a 3.4-megawatt commercial solar energy facility on about 35 vacant acres near the northeast corner of La Grange Road and West Monee-Manhattan Road in Monee.
TurningPoint has been granted special use permits for eight projects in Will County near Crete, Monee, Peotone and Joliet, county documents said.
The company has been working with Green Garden Township on the project for several months, and the township supports the project, county documents said.
The solar energy field is within the township's comprehensive land use plan, Supervisor Donald Murday wrote to the county.
The project is expected to create between 50 and 75 jobs in about one to 1 1/2 years of development. Property tax revenue is expected to be more than $395,000 over 25 years and $612,000 over 40 years, according to information from TurningPoint.
The County Board also approved a solar energy facility request by Cenergy Power and ESP Solar PLLC by a 12-11 vote, with County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant casting the tiebreaking vote to advance the proposal.
The 2-megawatt project will be built on about 19 acres of a nearly 81-acre parcel at 5949 W. Eagle Lake Road, Peotone, which is within the footprint of the proposed South Suburban Airport.
Will Township and the Will Township Road District objected to the solar facility because it doesn't fall within their comprehensive development plan, Supervisor Brian Cann wrote.
'Although, we understand that landowners have the right to manage their properties within local, state, and county guidelines, we stand firm in our rejection of this project,' Cann wrote.
The solar facility could exist on the property for between 20 and 40 years, county documents said.
County Board member Judy Ogalla, a Monee Republican, cautioned the board on the solar facilities that have been coming up for a vote each month.
'We have to look at maintaining some of our agriculture land here in the county,' Ogalla said. 'Between warehouses, new developments, subdivisions and solar facilities, we are losing acres every single day, every single month.'
Ogalla said the county or Springfield should look into agriculture preservation so the county does not lose so much farmland. She said future generations may question what officials were thinking to allow agriculture land to be occupied by solar facilities for decades.
'It makes sense to preserve farmland,' she said.
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