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 Present: Pat O’Neill; Emily Davenport; Kevin Bateman; David
Blankenship; Gene Rohlfs; Dave Hepler
Absent:
Guests: Will D’Andrea; Tom Martin; Gena Monical-Ruhl; Corey Leonard
Mr. O’Neill called the meeting to order at 5:30pm.
A motion was made by Mr. Blankenship, seconded by Mr. Rohlfs, to
approve the minutes from the December 3, 2014 meeting as printed.
Motion passed.
Old Business:
Wind Farms: Mr. Andrea reported the ZBA will meet tomorrow night to
deliberate. The Wind Farm issues will come before the board on
January 15, 2015. Mr. Bateman asked about the road use agreement. He
just wanted to make sure there is a road use agreement in place. Mr.
Bateman asked about the tax money that would go to the school
districts in the area and whether or not the tax increase would
decrease state aid received by the school. Mr. Martin, a citizen
from Mt. Pulaski, was present at the meeting and answered Mr.
Bateman’s question saying that to his knowledge, state aid would
decrease, but he was unsure of the amount. Mr. Martin did add “the
school system does have the most to gain here”.
New Business:
Proposed Zoning Amendments-Hearing Process: Mr. O’Neill forgot to
turn on the recorders at the beginning of the meeting. Mr. D’Andrea
read the new language and the committee discussed the changes. Mr.
Bateman would like to see more conditional use on anything zoned to
M, Industrial and commercial. A motion was made by Mr. Rohlfs,
seconded by Mr. Bateman, to take the process changes to a public
hearing, then it will come back before the county board, and then
finally to Mr. Wright for his approval. Motion passed. Mr.
Blankenship would like to see other counties’ zoning ordinances.
Proposed Change in fee schedule for ZBA hearings: Mr. Andrea
reported the current application fee is $235.00. ZBA members receive
$35.00 per meeting, plus mileage. The committee would like to see
other counties’ application fees. The committee would like to raise
the application fee. Keep on the agenda for next month.
Zoning Officer’s Report: Nothing further to report.
Communications: None
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A motion was made by Mr. Hepler, seconded by Mr. Rohlfs, to
approve the bills. Motion passed.
Mr. O’Neill asked for a motion to adjourn.
Mr. Blankenship reminded the committee they had not heard public
comments yet.
The committee started public comments.
Public comments: Tom Martin, Gena Monical-Ruhl and Corey Leonard
spoke on Wind Farm issues.
Corey Leonard addressed the committee with his concerns. Mr. Leonard
discussed property taxes, saying tax rates on wind farms in the
state could go down after the first year, due to the current rates
expiring in 2016. Mr. Leonard said that the Railsplitter project,
which has been compared to the proposed Relight project, has a
smaller number of shorter and less powerful towers within a larger,
yet less populated area.
There was some back and forth and Mr. Hepler mentioned that the
committee shouldn’t interact with speakers. Somehow, Mr. Rohlfs
thought the committee adjourned and shut-off the recorders. There
was some discussion and were not adjourned. Mr. Rohlfs started the
recorder again for the remainder of the meeting. Gena Monicahl-Ruhl,
another citizen of Mt. Pulaski, addressed the committee on the
health concerns that could come up in the future. Mrs. Ruhl said
that there are people in other areas in Illinois and in other states
who have become sick after the towers are turned on. These issues
are forcing some people to leave their homes. Mrs. Ruhl said some of
these people are become healthy again after leaving the area.
A motion was made by Mr. Rohlfs, seconded by Mr. Bateman, to adjourn
the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 7:21 pm.
[Copied from Logan County website]
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