Another solar farm has requested to build in White County, but residents in the surrounding area are not having it.
With 15 years of experience under their belt, Pivot Energy brought an idea of building a solar farm in Crossville. Pivot Energy Senior Manager of Product Development, Merrill Read, explained how the company differs from others that have come to White County, causing problems not only for residents but also for the county as a whole. Read’s slideshow presentation explained that the project would utilize only 12.23 acres of the 77 acres available, and the company would maintain a 50-foot buffer between the solar panels and the property lines of surrounding residents. Additionally, the project size would be 1.95 megawatts. As for the vegetation and pollination, Read claims that it is a friendly habitat and will have low growth for mowing, but the company will utilize sheep on the property.
Four families attended a White County board meeting to voice their concerns about the proposed solar farm. Only one man, Martin Barbre, was in favor of the project. The other residents had more to say, expressing their strong opposition. One woman, in particular, highlighted her worries about the solar project surrounding their home, which would significantly impact their views of the beautiful countryside and future property value.
“I feel like now my hard work has been pushed to the wayside because of someone who doesn’t even know what the property around me looks like, because it’s just been passed down to them for generations, and they’ve been given an opportunity to bring in some money, and that’s where their heads at. But it’s not about the money to me, it’s about my home life.”
Members of the White County board convened the special solar meeting after the presentation was complete. They then proceeded to open their monthly meeting, with the solar project on the main agenda.
Before the board could vote on the Pivot Energy project, a property value expert from the company presented comparison values from previous projects; however, these were not based on any locations in Southern Illinois.
Families in attendance who would be impacted asked questions about property values and why there were no studies based solely on White County; unfortunately, their questions went unanswered. Even though the company claimed to have answered similar questions at a meeting they hosted back in March at the Crossville Community Center.
Some board members expressed skepticism about the situation but ultimately decided to table the decision until October, allowing more time to review the information.
Another important topic was discussed during the July monthly meeting, when Gary Baxley, Supervisor of Assessments, presented an idea to the board regarding the establishment of a floodplain ordinance. Baxley, who was not in attendance, didn’t provide in-depth detail, but the Bellwether representative did during the August meeting. Chairwoman Cassie Pigg clarified the situation, with the board all agreeing that the item would be tabled until they could review all 30 pages of the ordinance, and Baxley was also present.
Bellwether: “The sample ordinance that was provided by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, it’s 30 pages long, so I know it’s a lot to get through. This not only impacts people doing new construction and renovations, this impacts people that are not only participating in this insurance plan, but anyone that’s in a floodplain that wants to make adjustments to their properties. This can lead to fees for someone who is not a participant in their insurance. Anybody that’s in the floodplain could be subject to additional fees.”
Pigg: “Just to clarify, with the consequence of not implementing this ordinance would be no one qualifies for the national flood insurance. But if we do implement this, then everyone in the floodplain is subject to the fees.”
During the regular meeting, the Southern 14 Workforce Investment Board approved the PY25 Allocated Funding, and Alan Wurst was appointed as the new EMA Director.