Published: November 29, 2008 08:40 pm      

Work on wind farms under way

DANVILLE — Land agreements already are filtering in as the Vermilion County Board works to hash out an ordinance for wind farms in the county.

Vermilion County Recorder Barb Young’s office received a total of 13 easements on Monday for land along the county’s western border around Pilot Township.

According to documentation, the easements add up to just more than 2,500 acres of land in the area near or along U.S. Route 49. The agreements range from one for a single 66-acre parcel of land to the largest, an 11-parcel area covering more than 600 acres.

All of the easements are with the Chicago-based company, Invenergy Wind Development LLC. The company has eight sites in operation, as well as five projects in construction. Other projects are in development, according to a company Web site.

Vermilion County’s first step into the wind farm market came with interest from Horizon Wind Energy March. That project — deemed the Broadlands Project and involving the southwest area of Vermilion County —continues.

Todd Lee, director of business development and government relations for Vermilion Advantage, has said three others have approached either the county or Vermilion Advantage with similar interest. There are others he is aware of contacting land owners.

The land gathering interest includes from Newtown across to Hope and into Champaign County — referred to as California Ridge — and an area that runs across the Rankin, East Lynn and Riley area, Lee has said.

The 13 recent easements come as the county continues to review a potential ordinance to handle wind farm set ups in the county.

The issue, discussed at the November executive committee, is a unique one to the county because of the lack of zoning.

A draft of the potential wind farm ordinance was issued to the county to board members earlier this week. The board is scheduled to vote on placing the documents on public display before voting on the ordinance at the January board meeting.

The ordinance covers several issues, ranging from road care during the construction of the wind turbines and the buffer zone between the turbines and property to the permit process for a wind farm.

Under the draft ordinance, a Structural Safety Committee would act much like the county’s subdivision committee and handle the technical side of looking into the potentials behind the locations of a wind farm.

Once issues are looked at, the committee would forward the wind farm location request to the full county board for a final vote. The application would come with a recommendation either for or against the location.

The committee would consist of two at-large board members, the health department, the state’s attorney and the county engineer.

Also at Monday’s meeting:

-- Board members will elect a new chairman and vice chairman as part of the first board meeting of the new fiscal year.

Committee assignments also will be determined at the board meeting as well as welcoming of new board members. November’s general election saw one new member — Joe Tamalunis of Georgetown — elected to the board.

-- Board members will vote to allow the chairman to deed the Tilton Sewer Treatment Plant to the village of Tilton.

The plant only covers one house as well as Vermilion Manor Nursing Home and the county’s Department of Animal Regulation outside of Tilton.



WHAT’S NEXT

The Vermilion County Board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday on the second floor of the courthouse annex.