Morgan County board to vote on solar and wind farm rules

Morgan County residents who farm next to a proposed turbine field or live beside a solar array may soon see the county lock in the rules that govern setbacks, noise and permits. The Morgan County Board is scheduled to take up the solar and wind ordinances at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Morgan County courthouse, with a call-in number and access code posted for public participation after two crowded meetings on the issue.

The decision will affect more than renewable-energy proposals. The same agenda also includes a multi-jurisdictional natural hazards mitigation plan, while a separate ordinance for data-center reviews will not be ready until October. That split suggests the board is moving faster on solar and wind siting rules than on the broader development review framework that has begun drawing its own attention in Morgan County.

The county is not starting from zero. Its website already lists a 2023 Wind and Solar Energy Ordinance and a revised December 2019 Wind Energy Ordinance, showing that Wednesday’s vote will build on an existing local regulatory record. Under Illinois Public Act 102-1123, which took effect Jan. 27, 2023, counties must allow commercial solar and wind energy systems in agricultural or industrial zoning districts, but developers still have to move through local permitting. Illinois Extension says county rules cannot impose setbacks greater than the state maximum, including a wind setback capped at 2.1 times total blade-tip height from a residence.

That is the daily-life issue for landowners on both sides of the fence. Farmers in agricultural zones cannot be shut out of hosting commercial solar or wind projects, but they can expect permits, hearings and site-specific conditions. Adjacent homeowners can expect the county to focus on the limits that matter most to neighbors: setbacks, height, vegetative screening, shadow flicker, sound, deconstruction, road-use agreements and drainage districts, the subjects the Illinois Municipal League says county siting rules may address as long as they stay within state law.

Morgan County has already lived through the costs of that debate. A Zimmer Solar proposal near Jacksonville Municipal Airport, a 3.6-megawatt project on 16.3 acres, drew questions about zoning, public health and county authority earlier this year. The county also authorized more than $12,000 in reimbursement for legal fees tied to the Lotus Wind Project. With the state also moving toward new municipal solar rules on June 1 and an appellate decision warning against wind ordinances that make commercial projects economically impossible, Wednesday’s vote will decide how tightly Morgan County can write its own playbook without running afoul of Illinois law.