Nexamp to brief Prairie Knolls neighbors before solar farm application

Prairie Knolls residents got a first look at Nexamp’s plan for a solar farm northeast of their Jacksonville neighborhood before the company filed its application, giving neighbors a chance to raise concerns about setbacks, views, drainage, traffic and noise while the project was still taking shape.

Nexamp held the informational meeting Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Twisted Tree Music Hall, 1061 E. Morton Ave., a downtown Jacksonville venue that regularly hosts public gatherings. For Prairie Knolls, a manufactured home community in Jacksonville, the location put the discussion close enough for nearby residents to ask how the project could affect the edge of the neighborhood and the land beyond it.

That timing matters. Once Nexamp submits a formal application, the focus shifts from introductions to permitting, site plans and conditions. Before that filing, neighbors still have the best chance to push for details on where panels would sit, how much acreage would be covered, whether access roads would cut into local traffic patterns, and what screening might be used to limit views from nearby homes.

The county’s zoning backdrop makes the proposal especially significant. Morgan County’s energy-zoning profile lists solar as not allowed as either a principal use or accessory use, while noting a wind ordinance and a latest verified ordinance PDF dated Jan. 24, 2023. At the state level, Illinois Public Act 102-1123 requires counties to allow commercial solar and wind systems on agricultural or industrial land, and it bars counties from banning or putting moratoriums on those facilities. Developers still must work through local permitting, so the Prairie Knolls project is likely to test how Morgan County handles solar siting rules in practice.

For residents, the biggest neighborhood questions will be the ones that show up long before a panel is installed: how stormwater will drain, whether construction trucks will use nearby roads, how much noise comes from grading and equipment, and whether a project could affect property values in an area close to homes. Those issues matter in a county of 32,915 people, with Jacksonville accounting for 17,616, where one land-use decision can ripple well beyond the immediate block.

Nexamp also has a financial pitch ready for Illinois customers. The company says its community solar projects can save Ameren and ComEd customers up to 15% a year, with income-eligible households potentially saving up to 20%. Nexamp says it has already been awarded six Illinois community solar projects totaling 12 megawatts, a reminder that the Prairie Knolls proposal fits into a broader push to expand solar in the state.

What neighbors will be watching next is the filing itself, then the county’s review of how the project fits Morgan County’s rules, setbacks and utility needs. Once the application lands, the discussion will move from possibility to the concrete conditions that decide whether the project advances.