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Logan County Board
November Zoning and Economic Development Committee meeting
[November 04, 2025]
On Monday, November 3rd, the
Zoning and Economic Development Committee of the larger Logan County
Board held their monthly meeting in the Blue Room of the Logan
County Safety Complex. Three of the five committee members were
present, including Chairman Michael DeRoss, Vice Chairman Kathy
Schmidt, and Joseph Kuhlman. Hannah Fitzpatrick and Bob Sanders were
not in attendance. Also in attendance were Zoning and Economic
Development Officer Al Green and Board member Kevin Knauer.
The meeting was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. but did not start
until just before 7:00. This was because the Transportation
Committee meeting, which was held in the same room starting at 5:30
p.m., ran over.
After the meeting was called to order, attendance was taken, and
guests were introduced, DeRoss led the committee in approving the
previous month’s meeting’s minutes. This was done unanimously.
This then led the committee to new business as there was no old
business listed on the agenda. The first item was regarding new fees
and penalties that the Committee is considering for violations to
the ordinance by energy project companies. In previous meetings, it
was stated that the Aircraft Detection System (ADS) was not working
on the wind towers in Logan County. This being the case, the towers
would always flash red at night, rather than just when they detect
an aircraft nearby.
Green took the lead on discussing
this first issue, as he was the one who wrote it. He stated that
this is only a rough draft. He also stated that he was not sure if
he needed to mention the ADS separately in the ordinance. He
explained that the violations will be on a three-tier system. For a
first violation, the energy company that committed the violation
would receive a warning and a small fine. The second tier would be
increased fines for the issue not being addressed in a previously
agreed time frame. The final tier would be sending the company
before the County Board to determine what to do next.
Green also listed several questions with his draft ordinance change
that DeRoss read. One of these questions included if the Zoning
Officer would be allowed to give leeway in corrections. Green
explained that this would be in cases such as severe weather
prohibiting a company from addressing a violation in the agreed time
frame. Another question was if they need to clarify what the County
Board can do if the violation is not addressed or corrected. DeRoss
also mentioned that they would need to have an appeal process for
violations as to not violate peoples’ due process rights.
Schmidt then asked Green what other counties in Illinois have done
regarding this issue. Green stated that most of them seem to have
written a violation process in their ordinances, but do not levy
fines right away. Green argued that he thinks Logan County should
have immediate fines, as this would give immediate incentive for the
companies to address the issue. He also said that he did not think
any of the fines or the timeframes the companies would be given to
address their issues were unreasonable.
Green was asked about how this penalty ordinance applied in the
cases of solar farms. He stated that, unlike wind farms, the fines
would not be per tower. He also stated that the fines in solar would
likely not be as large as they would be for wind. The violations
could include things such as there being no vegetative screening
where they were required to have some or not addressing complaints
as they agreed to in their complaint resolution plans.
DeRoss then asked the Committee what they wanted to do next. Kuhlman
suggested sending it to the full Board for a vote. Green stated that
he would want the State’s Attorney, Brad Hauge, to have a look at it
before they went that far with it. The Committee agreed to this and
told Green to send it to Hauge.
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The next issue was
regarding a new data center that is being planned near Latham.
For more information on this, please read
LDN’s other article on the matter.
After the discussion on the proposed data center, DeRoss led the
Committee on to their next agenda item, that being some small
community solar projects around Lincoln. The company that was
going to build these had gotten permission from the Board over a
year ago, but the projects were never built. Green stated that
they would have to come back before the Board for some things
such as their decommissioning plans, before they could be fully
approved and ready to break ground.
The final item on the agenda was regarding information that came
out of the Illinois Congress’ veto session. Green stated that he
did see some possible good things, specifically regarding permit
and application fees. Recently, the Board approved a change to
the permit fees. Previously, Logan County was charging per foot
for wind turbines and by acreage for solar farms. With the
change, they started charging by the megawatt of power output
the projects would be generating, with the Board agreeing to
charge $3,000 per megawatt. It was decided that this would be
better, as it would generate the county more money, among other
reasons.
Green stated that, during the veto session it was stated that
counties should not charge excessive permit fees, in no more
than $5,000 per megawatt generated. The Board settled on $3,000
after much discussion on what would be considered excessive,
with that amount being generally agreed upon to not be
excessive. With the revelation that they could go up to $5,000
without the state having an issue with it, it was discussed if
this is something the Committee should bring before the Board.
All three Committee members were in agreeance that they should,
and it was agreed that a motion would be brought off the floor
at the next full Board meeting.
Green also stated that, according to the state at the veto
session, application fees should be the same as permit fees, up
to a certain amount. As of now, Logan County is only charging a
$500 per project application fee. Green stated that they should
probably change this, as it will make the county more money as
well. “If this is going to be forced down our throats,” Green
said, “we should just max it out.” Green also stated that, with
financial incentives for building these kinds of energy projects
from the federal government ending the first of the year, these
increased prices may make Logan County seem less appealing to
new energy companies going forward.
The last item on the agenda was Green’s Officer Report. He
stated that there were 24 permits issued in the month of
October. He also stated that the Denato solar sights were
looking to build small security buildings for their solar
sights. Green shared that he is working on getting a
certification on the Public Meetings Act, and that variances
were requested for two ground mount solar sights. He also shared
that he was getting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
from insulation companies that were wanting copies of permits so
they could discuss providing their insulation services to new
structures that are being built. DeRoss told Green to bring this
to the State’s Attorney, but Green stated that it is legal if
they state they are using it for the reason they stated they
are.
With this final issue being discussed, the meeting was
adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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