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Currently, commercial solar energy facilities can be located
within 50 feet of a home and 150 feet from a multi-family
residence, but proposed legislation would increase that to 500
feet.
State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights, sponsors House
Bill 4135 and said many residents in his district don’t want to
live next door to a solar farm.
"We don’t know what the health concerns might be of a solar
farm, we don’t like the way they look, we’re concerned about how
it might impact property values,” DeLuca said. “Those are the
three most common concerns I would hear.”
During a House Energy and Environment Committee hearing this
week, Michael Morthland with the group American Clean Power
Association said changing current Illinois law would set the
state back in its clean energy goals.
“By doing so, we would jeopardize investment and revenue
performers for local land owners, it would halt job creation and
cut local tax revenue that schools and rural communities have
come to rely on,” Morthland said.
Not all communities have welcomed solar facilities with open
arms. Recently in Bureau County, a zoning committee denied a
conditional use permit for the construction of two solar farms
citing concerns over safety and decreasing home values.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker last year signed into law a measure that
strips local control from county governments regarding zoning
matters on wind and solar energy. The law provides counties with
“guardrails” for siting wind and solar farms, and creates a
commission that oversees and approves wind turbines everywhere
but Chicago.
State Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, said property owners
should have a say in where a solar farm is located in their
community.
“They worry about their health, they don’t want this right
behind their house, they don’t want it right on the edge of
their property line,” Meier said. “Counties and the voters and
the Illinois residents that live there should have the right to
help decide where they’re going to be set.”
The bill was advanced by the committee by a 19 to 6 vote.
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