Planning and Zoning Commission - Special Meeting

when I look at this curious to see how the council will end up voting on this. I've heard some guys are pushing real hard for it and other ones are just like and it and even the guys are like nope and just kind of like slow down.

Did you generally read they're going to suck them for that? looking at you.

Oh, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is a W County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting of March 31st. um where's the special use permit for commercial solar facility, the pride of the prairie uh and uh it has several other parts of this of this that we will be voting on like height of plants and varies for required mowings etc and varies for lotage from a for a couple of parcels. Um, but right now we're going to start the meeting. We have until 9:30. At 9:30 we're all going home at the latest. So, uh, we would like to, if possible, conclude this case this evening. If you're wondering why I'm wearing a hat right now, the air conditioning was so cold yesterday, I got an earachche. And so I've been wearing a hat all day today. Um, but I will take it off as we rise and say the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Chairman, I just reminded everybody why their phone should be on silent. Did you remind them or you want me to remind them? Well, my phone just rang during the pledge. How embarrassing.

Okay. So, everybody, please set your phones on airplane mode or turn them off or lower the volume as low as it goes. Um, we don't want interruptions during the meeting. And um I'm going to swear everybody in in mass as soon as the meeting starts. So, uh we'll all raise our hands at one time. Uh, we're going to call this meeting to order and I'd like a roll call, please. Matt Garland here. Lewis Deette here. Karen Warwick here. Roger Bettinhousen. Kimberly Mitchell here. John Kefner

here. Chairman Hughes Tippen

here. All right. Now, I'm going to ask everybody please to be civil again tonight. Listen to what the other people have to say. I don't care if you hate what they say. Don't boom. And I don't care if you love what they say. Don't applaud. Give us all time to finish so that all these speakers have a chance to have their time to speak. And either side of the argument is fine. Give let everybody understand what the argument is. There's something that didn't seem to me that the majority of this crowd understood yesterday. So, I want to explain it. We're a public hearing body. Our we are the first body to hear everybody. So, we listen to all of you and then we make a recommendation. Our we are not a voting board as far as we vote for what we think is right within the zoting laws and listening to the public hearings. Uh but our reports are recommendations and our recommendations go on to the land use who will be the next people to hear this case and land use is made up of county board members. So they are closer to the action than we are as a public hearing body and they will make a recommendation and then it will go to county board and county board will be the one that makes the vote yes or no that matters not any of the rest of us. We're recommendation the two of us are recommendation bodies. The county board is the body of law. So you have nothing stops here. Whatever we vote, nothing stops here or

recommend. Your next case chance would be to go to the land use. If you disagree with how the vote went here and try to persuade land use, then after that the vote goes on to our uh county board and the county board will make the decision. I see giant relax. I see which apparent chairman I just want to make one correction. The variances tonight. We vote on those that is a final decision. Yes, you're right. The special use that will go on to the county board.

Yes. I just But I didn't think that the people here understood that last night. So having said all of that, I'm done yaking and I will kindly be happy to listen to you. Um you're going to make your presentation again to start. Can you can you attenuate this res? We no we'll we'll rely on the presentation yesterday. I think um at the moment we're taking testimony and evidence from interested parties. So happy to pick up where we left off yesterday and then we'll conclude once they once the interested parties are done with their and their questions to the extent they have questions.

Thank you. Thank you. All right then. We're going to swear everybody in in mass right now. Please raise your right hand. All of those who I hope have signed in to to speak tonight. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me God. I do. Okay. Um, will those who signed up to speak and who were in line yesterday please come up and get in line on each side again? You know, Mr. Chair, I did want to make one clarification. I believe um just so that I'm clear, if somebody spoke yesterday, then they're not speaking again today. Correct.

Speaking again today. That is correct.

Okay. Just want to make sure. Thanks. But anybody who hasn't been here and signed up to speak today is welcome to do so. So we'll start with you. Go ahead, ladies. First, okay. Good evening. My name is Andrea Bombard. I'm from Manhattan Township. Big picture question. Ask yourselves, why is there such a sudden demand for saturated mass industrialization of Will County by outsiders who are not from here? you're missing the big picture. You're missing everything. We can have and promote responsible progress and growth that both supports and serves the community that is not immediately consumate of almost the entire agricultural portion of our community. Responsible growth does not exploit. You can't honestly say that you're sitting up there and not saying to yourself, "This is ridiculous. In what other industry is this allowed? Look at this agenda. Look at the map. Look at this parcel list. I 100% support union jobs. I am a union worker. My father was a steel worker, but I have never signed a union agreement that did not consider both salary and working conditions. I respect a person's right to work, but the living conditions of residents in these townships is paramount. And that's what this hearing is actually about. I care about my community. And I just want to say I really am saddened that there's so much division that's happening right now between um the farming community and the trades community in our area. And I ask that we leave with some mutual respect that we're both important. And I think that our township reps should be respected. I think you need to

table this vote and you need to hold out for a better deal. If solar was so needed, why were municipalities not approached and asked about solar partnerships? Where was the proposal for solar covered parking lots in our train stations, our shopping centers, and industrial parkways, which are already hot spots? Where was the initiative to reduce the commercial carbon footprint by offsetting the solar onto parking lots? It was never presented because it was never about real partnership. It was never about the jobs. It was always about the land. It had to be the green farmland. They said so an investor was allowed to enter the community in a predatory manner, divide the community over a political agenda. You as the county seat, I'm hoping that you took some kind of oath to uphold our state constitution and represent the people. You can't just wash your hands of this like Pontious Pilot and say this is out of my hands. You have to sit there. You have to draw a hard line and ask what is the best ethical step to take for these communities. These citizens have horribly gross concerns that are not being addressed. And how is there a better way to create responsible sustainable growth that does not exploit our fabric of our community? Because this is not ethical. This is absolutely disordered. That's the big picture. This isn't about one landowner's rights of not being able to do what they want on their property. This hearing by design is a mega permit. It's about an entire tri township area and we are the fabric that knits it together. Last part. John Kefner, yesterday you said that and I believe you said you didn't want to live next to a data center. Is that correct? Did you say that yesterday when you were making comments?

I don't need data centers. Okay. My mistake. I want I'm sure that's what I said. Okay. I thought you mentioned something about a data center. Okay. Um I have been to all of the Juliet council meetings about the data center for the last six months, even when it was not on the agenda. And I've often stayed past 9 or 10:00. You have 30 seconds.

That's fine. I'm going to keep talking. I've often stayed past 9 or 10 o'clock in order to make comments in defense of my community. I didn't see any of you guys there asking for protections for anybody. And you live in Will County, too. You should have been present. So, I asked this because I want this under oath. I want this question asked. John, you write this down. All Will County residents have a right to know either way, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

How farmland is being utilized? This is a hearing. Will the electricity harvested from these solar panels be packaged up, marketed, and sold to the potential tenants of this Joliet data center at any potential time of its future running operation? We want to know. Your time is up and and you're being rude by not owing other people their time. Your turn, sir.

Hello, my name is Zach. Ule. I'm a concerned citizen and aspiring first generation regenerative farmer. I'm also the proud son of a union hardworking union man. I've spent my life hearing about the pride my father took in his work at the refineries and powerhouses in the area here. While by no means beautiful to most, those smoke stacks and cooling towers stand to some as a testament and tribute to the best effort of a generation to provide energy to their new nearby communities. He and his work partners would often talk about their glory days building America while spending their well-deserved free time enjoying the forest preserves and rivers our area offers. I'm here because those beautiful places and waterways are adjacent to this proposed project. I see many of these new solar and data center projects popping up all over the surrounding counties. These projects are driven not by community want or even need, but incentivized by the funneling of taxpayer dollars out of your energy bill to outofstate private interests. Even many of the supposed benefits being brought to the community listed in the project's presentation site grants for their fulfillment. While when comparing the acre-foracre megawatt output to modern nuclear and gas facilities, the proposed Earthwise solar facility will be several orders of magnitude less effective at fulfilling its stated objective of creating energy for the community. A previous public comment mentioned the wars in Iran and Ukraine, citing natural resources being a primary factor. The primary resource being fought over in Ukraine has been stated by some to be control over the food producing land or bread basket of that region.

Our region here in the great plains possesses similar malisol soil types found in Ukraine as well as falling in a near identical climate classification based on the copengger climate system. These factors uniquely distinguish this particular area as one of the most effective in the world to grow nutritious healthy food. Iran and Iraq are perfect examples of these types of generational resources being squandered. We've all been taught about the fertile crescent, the birthplace of agriculture, that great empires of antiquity exploited to mutual demise. Wars have been and currently are fought for land like this. Meanwhile, here at home, it's being bought up from under our noses using our own money to pay for it. I worry should these solar and data centers projects continue to barrel forward with complete disregard for community health or wishes, they will eventually be left not as monuments to the next generation like the cooling towers or smoke stacks that still power our communities, but hold a resemblance closer to gravestones and mausoleums left in the place of the communities that they're disrupting. I ask for foresight and consideration from those in leadership. I ask for you to decide against this solar project.

Thank you, sir. Next.

Hello, my name is Kristen Blazer from Manhattan, Illinois, and a lifelong Will County resident. I am being pushed and pulled in all directions on this matter. I travel frequently around these townships, the tri townships, and fear looking at a scar of solar versus a lush green bean field or the tiny corn sprouts that grandpa used to say knee high by the fourth. My parents reside in Green Garden Township. They built in the early 70s, and it was here where my sisters and I were born and raised in a proud Union home. However, there is a proposed farm field only 110th of a mile that's two houses away in that Earthrise map. I look at the jobs also union versus what's existing. There are eight grain elevators in our vicinity that have regular employees that may in fact be affected negatively by this. I also value the farmers and their investments and their decisions that they can have to the land that they have owned for numerous decades. Personally, I moved to Manhattan for and my about 10 years ago and my market value of my house has increased over $100,000 in less than 10 years. Can anybody else say that? Additionally, my taxes have almost doubled in less than 10 years. Also, will these commercial and utility solar fields reduce that tax burden from the

residential population? Manhattan's tax rate currently is about 10%. Recently, this January, I began my term as the Manhattan Township Assessor. I do not know if there was any contact between Earthrise and my predecessor, but I do know that I have not been contacted contrary to the claim in their presentation. Is there a measurement of how many megawws are planned per parcel? If yes, can I have those numbers? If no, how can the estimated tax revenue that was provided be accurate? This is an aggressive footprint that is partnered with an accelerated timeline. The sense of urgency limits, restricts, and denies residents and the local governments their own pride of their prairie, or at least their ability to negotiate on ordinances and comprehensive plans. I myself have not determined if this is good or bad addition to these communities yet. How can anyone in this short accelerated timeline be expected to do so either? I urge the board to delay or postpone this decision to allow for accurate study of all aspects. Thank you for everybody's time.

Your turn, ma'am.

Hello. My name is Diane Matter and I reside in Will County. I would like everybody to really listen to this very carefully and take this into consideration when you go to vote. USDA moves to limit solar wind projects on farms. The US Department of Agriculture announced it will no longer support solar and wind projects on productive farmland or allow solar panels panels manufactured by foreign adversaries to be used in USDA funded projects. And didn't I hear them say that this is going to be um a foreign company that is doing this earthwise? Our prime farmland should not be wasted and replaced with green new deal subsidized solar panels. It has been disheartening to see our beautiful farmland displaced by solar projects, especially in rural areas that have strong agriculture heritage. US Secretary of Agriculture Brooks Rollins said that according to the USDA, solar panels on farmlands have increased by nearly 50% nationwide since 2012. One of the largest barriers of entry for new and young farmers is access to land. Subsidized solar farms have made it more difficult for farmers to access farmland by making it more expensive and less available. Just tonight, I met a future farmer named Nick. Him and his beautiful wife just got married. They bought a farm. They want to start a family and raise animals and have a good life. Now they they are rethinking their decision. They wanted horses, chickens, pigs. They wanted to live the farm life. They were really excited about their new dream. Excited how they were going to be a

family. Now they have to put that dream on hold. I feel so bad for them. I'm getting old so I won't be here to see what destruction these farms are going to be doing or these facilities are going to be doing. But it breaks my heart to see that the next generation that we are going to leave such a bad footprint for the next generation and how are they going to even survive? Think about the future farmers. Please give them a chance. Vote no so dreams can really be a reality. Thank you so much for your time.

Your turn, sir.

Good evening. I'm Paul Garin with the Chicago Area Labors Employers Cooperation Education Trust, also known as LET. Les is a labor management organization comprised of over 20,000 union laborers from 15 local unions under the Chicago Labors District Council and it's approximately 1,400 signatory contractors in the 9count area of northeastern Illinois. We at less and contractors together to develop opportunities beneficial to one another and to the people who depend upon their services, including the citizens of Will County. There are many clear reasons why this committee should support the Pride of the Prairie project, including but not limited to the tax revenue generation, the addition of muchneeded energy to the grid, the expansion of solar energy resources to strengthen the competitiveness of Illinois businesses and encourage continued investment in Will County. Another reason to support this ambitious development is the amount of construction jobs that it will provide for the skilled laborers represented by Wesset. This proposal will help stimulate the local construction industry while providing steady incomes and well-deserved benefits for our union laborers and their families, which will ultimately be pumped back into the local and regional economies. Simply put, Pride of the Perry will provide construction and non-construction jobs alike while bolstering the local and regional economies with this direct and indirect investment. Lastly, there has been some discussion or argument that the construction jobs on that this project creates would only be temporary. Please know that the men and women in the building trades work on projects for a certain amount of time and then move on to other projects. It's what we do. It's the very nature of construction work. No job is permanent. We very commonly work jobs for one week, one month, one year, perhaps a decade at a time, but we always know it's not permanent and that we will be moving on to the next job at some point. These union members work enough hours to qualify for dignified health care coverage, well-deserved pension benefits, and respectable incomes for their families. On all of these so-called temporary projects, union

members proudly make careers out of temporary projects. The Pride of the Prairie Solar Project represents a responsible communityupported clean energy development. This project strengthens the local economy, supports union labor, protects farmland, and delivers long-term benefits to Will County while helping meet Illinois's growing energy needs. Our union contractors and skilled labors build today's infrastructure for tomorrow's needs. We proudly support this plan and urge this committee to vote in favor of its approval. We appreciate all your efforts. Thank you. Good evening. Don't start the clock. Good evening. I'm Jim Baltus. I'm the road commissioner from Manhattan Township. Last night, Earth said that they're good with all the road commissioners. All right. I met Rob early this year. He told me he wants to get a road use agreement together with Manhattan Township. My attorney sent Earthrise a road use agreement. To this day, we've never heard back from that attorney. Since then, they've had last fall they had a company install the I-beams in the farms around the area. The equipment they were using was over 12 ton. All roads in Manhattan Township Road District are posted 12ton ton. I have the ordinance on file. I told the gentleman he needed to come in and get a permit if he wanted to travel the roads and do his work. He never came in for that permit. That company was from Texas. All right. Now, a week ago, I caught another company removing the beans. I asked him if he had a permit.

He says, "Nope, no permit." I says, "You need it." Well, the way the case was, he only had a few more to pull, so be on your way. That company was out of Indiana. All right. So, they haven't returned to my attorney yet. They're running the roads without a permit. They're not willing to work with me now. So, you got to think about the future. All right. Now to Senate Bill 25. I'm just going to switch gears a little bit. Our state representative Anthony Duca voted for Senate Bill 25. Everybody knows Senate Bill 25 takes the power away from the townships on their decisions and partly the county. If I'm thinking right, we had an associate from the township get a hold of Anthony Duca. He said he spoke with Earthrise, several other township members, and a couple others as well. He recommends the village and township leaders call a joint meeting with Earth Rise to discuss our returns and ask for a reunified resolution. He said Earthright has made a commitment to work with our community. And then later when our associate called requested a meeting in person, if nothing else, we would like Earthrise to meet the requirements of the township resolution. According our associate, he want he wanted to stay away from that. He did not want to meet with us. So here's where we're at. We have Senate Bill 25 that says we have no control, but yet our state legislator doesn't want to stand up and talk for the people. So, we're getting bounced around here. And that's not right. All right, that's

done. Now, next thing. March 10th, got an email from Kelly Krinski, if I'm right, told us the packet that Earthrise submitted was ready for review. I had called Kelly. I had emailed Kelly and then I asked her, I says, "How long does it take to review?" In regards to Prairie, Pride of the Prairie, it took staff over three months to review that. That's great. They got to take their time. They got to get it right. I understand that. So then I asked her, I says, "Well, how long does it take you guys to review it?" All right. Now, she sent it to us the 10th. She told the township board to have the our our questions a week before this meeting, which gave the township board only 13 days to get their ducks in a row. And then I asked her how long you had. All right. And where is it at here? Da da da da da. Uh planning and zoning commission does not review the application. and they will provide the staff report able to review to staff once received. The staff report was published. Now, this is March 23rd, okay? Was published today. So, they will be receiving a full copy within the week, which is just last week. The staff report includes the staff report itself, attached documents. This is standard all zoning cases.

I I get it. That's great. You know your time's up, so just Okay, here's the deal. Wind it up. Here's the deal. I understand what you're saying. You got to do your due process. We appreciate that. But this is not a variance on moving a garage 15 ft. Yeah. All right. So, you got to take your time. And also, one more thing, remember what the township clerk said last night. Earthrise is more willing to work before the county meeting than after. So, what are they going to do after your meeting and the county meetings? Are they going to stick to their word or not? Think about it. Thanks for your time. Thank you,

Jerry.

Good evening. My name is Judy Mitchell and I'm a proud resident in Manhattan Township. I'm speaking as a local community member who appreciates renewable energy and at the same time values the rural character that brought many of us here this evening. Largecale solar installations can change our open farmland views and introduce new sounds and traffic patterns that were not present when many residents purchased their homes and land. When industry is built in the wrong location, it can change the character of rural communities that have existed for generations. We ask that you better understand the impact of 6100 acres in our communities and the potential loss of productive farmland. Once high quality soil is removed from agricultural production, it may not return for decades, if ever. That affects not only farmers, but the long-term sustainability of our rural economy. Some land owners may also benefit financially, while neighboring property owners do not share those same benefits. This is already raising tension and concerns about home values and the visual character of the landscape, especially when screening is limited. I made a few notes after reviewing their application that was presented on March 18th that I wanted to point out. On page six, I believe it was item number two. The paragraph discusses how solar fields may increase property values due to projected taxes. However, in their presentation, they never spoke about the homes that lost property values. We've never heard anything about that. On page eight, special use use permit. The use of earth and berms may be used by the applicant but are explicitly not required by the county as a condition of any special use permit. We've asked for BMS. We've talked with them and they've continued to say no. Yet, it's in the application. Security barrier. Solar energy systems that are part of a commercial solar energy facility must be enclosed by a per by a perimeter security fencing or other county approved barrier with a minimum height of at least 6 feet and no

more than 25 ft unless waved by a written consent of each affected non-participating property owner. Where did the 25 ft come from? Also on page uh within the special use permit, they talk about zero feet for side and rear yards on all properties that are adjacent and within the subject property. Where is the zero feet? Both residents and non-participating neighbors are also concerned about drainage and storm water impacts. Changes to grading, soil conditions, and ground cover can alter drain drainage patterns and potentially affect downstream properties, drinking water, farmland, and residential areas. Our community has a desire to attract families and preserve what makes this area special. Yet, we continue to see warehouses, data centers, and other large-scale industry uses approved. Taken together, these decisions move us away from the true meaning of community one centered on neighborhoods, farmland, and open space for our children and their futures. Starting June 1st, Illinois residents may see 20 20 foot solar panels surrounding their homes around ill under Illinois law. And our local councils and boards will no longer have the option to say no or to set stronger zoning ordinances to limit or restrict these properties. We need to set those standards now. I support progress, but the land use decisions we make today will shape our community for generations. We have heard Earthrise say many of these large projects are new and some answers for the future are not yet available. Careful planning and thoughtful considerations are essential so we can balance renewable energy while protecting our farmland and rural character. With that said, we respectfully ask for a delay in the approval process. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Cher. Hello. My name is Mark Zer. I'm from Green Gardens. Uh my family has been part of this community for over 20 years. My wife and daughter I'm sorry. What? What's your name? Mark Zuller. Did you speak yesterday? No, I did not. There was a confusion down below. Okay. Take that.

Yeah. My wife and daughter had horses here. Uh like many people, we fell in love with the area. Uh it became a dream for us to live in the country. Eight years ago, we bought land. Six years ago, we built a home. the home we planned on retired and enjoying with our grandkids and kids. And now that dream is threatened. I'm not standing here as an expert on solar energy. I'm standing here as a homeowner, taxpayer, as someone who has invested their life into this community. And what I'm hearing from Earthwise doesn't match reality. But what we're getting is polish presentation, but no guarantees. So, I'll say plainly from Earthwise to Earthwise, who is willing to guarantee that my property taxes will not go down, all of these people's property taxes go down from Earthwise, who's guaranteeing that our wildlife, our water, and our land will not be ruined because if you can't guarantee it, it shouldn't be put in our backyards. Let's talk about safety because it's a downplay and it shouldn't be. Solar panels are not indestructible. They are damaged by hail, winds, severe weather. We've all seen the storms that can do to this area. And when the systems are damaged, they can they can have cause fires. What storms can do in this area and when these systems are damaged, they they can cause fires. And now, sorry, now put that into reality. Our neighborhood will be surrounded by solar panels. We have only one way out. Something happens to the storms, the storms and debris. What is the plan? How do we get out? How

do emergency vehicles get in? There is no good answer to that. And that should be a concern every single person making this decision. For years, I've driven for the last six years driving home, driving to my house, especially at this time of year, and things start turning green and it gets a good feeling in you. Now, it's a terrible feeling. Let's be honest, this is not what it's about. It it the best this this is not about what it's best for the community. This is about money. This is about rushing to take advantage of incentives while they are available. And the people pushing this, they don't live here. They don't raise their families here. They don't have to look at this every day, but we do. And here's the bigger problem. Earthrise is not only a company looking at this area. If this is approved, you are opening the doors to more. And once the door is open, it will not be able to be closed. No one chooses to live next to industrial solar fields. And if this moves forward the way is proposed, it will permanently change the community for the worst. We are not against solar. We are against putting industrial projects in the red residential communities where they do do not belong. There are better places along highways, industrial zones, places that make sense, but th but this does not. I'm asking, no, I'm urging to slow down, research this, and think about long-term consequences because once it's gone, it's gone. Thank you.

You're back, ma'am.

My name is Eileen Fitzer. I'm 76 years old and I live in Manhattan. I've lived on my 20 acres for the past 20 years. This is not just land to me. It's my home, my peace, and what I planned to rely on for the rest of my life. I am here today respectfully but firmly opposed the proposed solar farm on my near my property. When I chose to live here, I chose open space, quiet, and a rural way of life. A largecale industrial solar project changes that completely. It brings glare, fencing, construction disruption, and a permanent change to the character of our community. At my age, I cannot simply relocate or recover from a loss in property value. What is being proposed would directly impact my quality of life and what I have spent decades building. And what concerns me just as much is that this is happening too fast without enough clear rules or protections in place. Right now, even at the state level, leaders are recognizing that largecale solar development is moving ahead faster than communities can respond. There are active discussions in Missouri about pausing these projects, putting a temporary halt, a moratorum, so proper regulations can be created around placement, operation, and long-term impact. That makes sense because once these projects are built, there is no going back. Communities across Missouri are already seeing conflict between neighbors, concerns about land

use, and questions about who truly benefits versus who bears the burden. This is not just about one project. It's about getting this right. I'm asking you today, slow this down, halt or delay approval of this project until further research is done and clear local protections are in place. We need time to fully understand the impact on property values, land use, drainage, decommissioning, and the long long-term effects on residents like me. Progress is important, but so is protecting the people who already live here. Please do not rush a decision that will permanently change our community. I respectfully ask you to deny or at a minimum pause the project until proper safeguards and research are completed. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you for your testimony. Your turn, ma'am.

My name is Madison Delamada. My fiance and I have always dreamed of living on a farm with animals in a quiet surroundings. We found our dream home that we purchased in Wilton Township along Fort Creek, completely surrounded by agriculture. We saw this house and saw our dreams coming true. We hope for a future with peace, open space, a way to feed ourselves, and even a few kids playing outside. An American dream that many of us have. In February, after 6 months of purchasing our dream home, we discovered from Facebook, not Earthrise neighbor notice about the solar project proposal throughout Will County. And our hearts broke when we saw that a solar industrial complex is proposed to be 100 feet from our back door, 100 feet from our well, 80 feet from our septic system, and 10 ft from our barn. If we would have known this agricultural land was going to be used for a solar farm, we would not have purchased it. We are terrified for not only our land, but the soil beneath our feet, the creek that is on three sides of our home and the numerous amounts of wildlife we have encountered within a few months of living here. Like many of us here, we are against using thousands of acres of valuable agricultural land to build industrial complexes. Why solar? And why so much land to create limited energy? Why are other options not being proposed? Before the county approves any energizing source, all the options to generate energy should be explored to limit the permanent footprint and impact on the on the county and its resources. This solar project is being sold to the public as sustainable energy. Maybe the solar panels don't give off carbon emissions once installed. However, the carbon emitted from fossil fuels to create them in other countries transport

the panels here as well as the need for replacement and disposing is not sustainable by def by definition. From Seattle University, sustainability in business refers to integrating economic, environmental, and social responsibilities into everyday operations and long-term strategies. Where will the unusable panels be recycled or disposed? How will future generations be impacted from this project that is being quickly decided? We are entering an energy crisis and band-aids such as massive solar complexes taking thousands of acres will not heal this wound. I do believe solar can supplement energy demands. However, other options should be considered to limit the impact of future generations. I am 27 years old and I sure hope to have at least 50 more years to live, especially in my current residents. I would like to see the county grow, people employ, and more sustainable efforts initiated. As part of the younger generation, I would like to know what will the land look like in 40 years. What will happen to the millions of wildlife? What will happen to our watershed? What about our mental and physical well-being? Many residents are against the misuse of prime farmland and we need our local representatives to protect our irreplaceable resources. Do not disappoint the current and future residents of this community. I also have a couple questions for Earthrise. I'm hoping that they could maybe answer today or soon. As a current land steward and volunteer, I know prairies take far more than 3 to 5 years to establish. It's almost like endless because you're always maintaining them. I would like to know if and how often the prairies would be seated receded from Earthwise and also where are these seeds sourced from. Another thing I'd like to add about the prairies is that prairies have evolved

with fire in our area. Without fire and only mowing to maintain prairies, there is a potential of fuel buildup and Illinois has one of the quickest burning fuels, grassland prairies. as a prescribed burn manager apprentice and possible neighbor with livestock. Are there any integrated fire management plans included in the proposal? How would a fast-moving fire under solar panels be stopped? Thank you.

Good evening. I'm John Van Buskerk. I'm from Wilton Township and uh I just want to start out by when I first moved down here, my wife bought a part of the farm uh 15 acres out of 160 which left 145 for the surrounding property on uh C202 and L102 in your drawings. Um it pretty much clarifies where that location is. And in your staff report yesterday, it did mention slightly on pages 11 and 12, section A, regarding the the level of access to that property around my site. My deed that was signed by by lawyers was actually uh wrote and was approved that the owners of the property had to um provide an easement for flooding of the creek. I'm the one with the 80 acres around 145 acres around me where the creek floods and when they did the tiles the property owners did the tiles we having more flooding problems. So my concern is not just from the flooding aspect but the um way the water comes off the property it takes about 16 hours for the water to drop under the bridge just to get off the property. Now the other part was the easement. Okay, I need an easement that will allow me to come off the property on the bar road and that will in that will incorporate moving the fencing that they're going to install to give me access egress and ingress to the property and that's that point. Um, I'm hoping that all the issues here are being written down and listened to and we will we will get answers from them. Uh although I don't feel there's sufficient time for Q&A for the individuals, I have another concern as the state and uh the state senators and representatives. I realize this is a

small municipality. These people should be here andor the board here. We really, you don't know how imperative you are for our lives because with the encroachment, the changes in government, everything going on right now tells us that the states are going to be in more control than you will. So, while you have these positions that you're in, regard that for the people that you're working for because it you're infecting people's lives. you know, a lot of people come home and they're relying on being able to be there for the next several so many years and not have to deal with encroachment and things of that nature. Um, I believe that grants are short-lived, short-term promises, who will uphold them, who's going to put the metrics in place to say yes and no, or who's going to be held responsible or accountable for compliance or non-compliance. um 3 to four years ago, Prairie had bought that peaker facility which I did not know from Enron. So the plan objective intents started back then. Um another point was why the glaring difference between the 1.8 million being provided to Pietone versus the 75,000 one-time aotment for Manhattan school. I just found that to be a glaring difference and wondering what was decided with that and perhaps that can be answered. Um the other issue is the Army Corps of Engineers you mentioned yesterday. Uh this is my concern. When you lease a car, right, you're leasing it with a contract. When the car is done in three years, who gets the car? The owner, right? Well, is the leasing agreement the loophole for them not contacting the Army Corps of Engineers

because they don't own the pro they don't own the property. The property owners do. You have 30 seconds to wrap it up. Okay. All right. So, that's my question. Okay. So, they I think they found a loophole to get around it. So, yeah. The only thing I I really want to say is metrics and with the with the fact that the signage around the uh fencing for contacts people for contact people to be uh with phone numbers and plaqueards on the fencing accessing these areas so that we know who to contact when there's something wrong if it does go through. The time is up. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is uh Eugene McKenna. from Manhattan. I don't have too much uh for you to listen to this evening, but hopefully I can keep uh a few thoughts in your mind. Um last year we uh we all were uh approached with uh Earthrise. They told us what they're going to do, what they're going to do, what they're going to do. I have asked multiple representatives from Earthrise uh company what they could do for our wildlife and our watershed. We rescued a shorteared oil which is an endangered species in Illinois and nobody could answer that question from Earth and I'm still trying to find a answer for that question which to this day nobody has reached out to me. have contacted multiple uh numbers that they give me. No answer back. And I believe in the state of Illinois that our rural habitat should be thought about and should be looked after. And I think it's kind of one of those ironic that they call it pride of the prairie where they're just destroying the prairie. So I you know no other questions for yeast but just think about that the shortyeared oil is an endangered species in Illinois and by putting solar panels on the prairie they are now pushing all the wildlife out of their habitat. That's all I have for you. Have a good evening. Thank you for listening to me.

Thank you sir. Good evening. Uh first off, I want to start out by saying thank you to commissioners. Um thank you to the chair, thank you to your staff, and thank you to uh Earth Rise for bringing this project to Will County. I'll keep my statements brief tonight. As uh I was just here a couple weeks ago talking about uh the other project. Um let me start off by saying sorry. My name is Patrick Young, business representative with the uh International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, representing over 25 or 24,000 members. I stand here before you tonight uh to let you know that Local 150 is 100% behind this project. Uh you've heard numerous community benefits. You've heard uh jobs. Uh you've heard uh energy onto the grid. uh immediately. Uh last time I was in front of you for the Plum Valley solar project and you approved it. That made 58 projects. Please make this one 59. Please vote yes for this project. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. You're next, sir.

Hi, my name is Gary Lincoln. I reside in Green Garden Township. Um you know, we've heard a lot from the union members here. I uh I got my first union card when I when I was 18. 1971 I was a steel worker. 1973 I became a pipe fitter apprentice. I've got my retirement card in my pocket from my union. I I worked a lot of years. I had some dry times. I'll admit that. in 1980, if anybody can ever remember back that far, you couldn't buy a job in Chicago. So, you wound up going to the NES and Byron or, you know, somewhere else, but it was it was kind of tough for a couple of years there. But we managed and the only thing I can say is I realize that the unions want this work. But you know don't don't be so desperate as to to want this so bad that you can't see the big picture. You're looking at the short term. You're not looking at the long term. And that's what I want this board to do is look at the long term. What you're you have the potential of doing is destroying 150 years or so of generational wealth that went on in these communities. Once somebody said that was up here before, once you open the door, you can't close it. And that's the way it is. You're going to ruin it if you vote for this. It will be the downfall of this eastern part of Will County. That's that's basically it. You know, I

heard from Earthrise yesterday and I I not sure if I heard it correctly, but I thought they said the the Lincoln power plant would not operate when the solar panels were generating. So, you're telling me it takes 5,000 acres or so to generate the electricity that 30 acres of Lincoln power plant could generate. If you want to double the generating capacity, you don't need 5,500 acres or whatever it was, you add on to Lincoln Power Station. That's what you do. That's the smart thing to do on a smaller footprint that you know 5,000 acres. Do you The other question I have does anybody want to buy my house? I'm serious. Would Would anybody like to buy and and just so you know, I'm on the kind of an end of a debt. from my house. I go a half mile and I'm going to run right into oh couple hundred acres of solar panels. And that's what that's what people are going to see when they come to visit me. They're going to see solar panels to get into my pardon me to get into my driveway. This doesn't make sense. And what I'm asking you to do, this law in Illinois gets screwed up. And if you ask any of the senators and representatives, the ones that I've talked to anyways, they go, "You know what? We didn't know that we were voting for something this bad." And it, yes, it does need to be tweaked because to be able to

to screw over all these homeowners that have been out here, I'm a I'm a regular. I'm kind of a newcomer. I've only been out here 26 years. I've got neighbors that are third generation. Think about them. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your time. Nice.

Good evening. My name is Mark Pavlo spelled Pavis. P A V L. Was signed up to speak last night. we ran out of time. Uh I too remember the early 198 in fact I remember back to the 70s. I'll be 51 years old in two weeks. Uh 1980 was not a bad year. We moved from a small apartment in Carbon Hill to our first home in Cole City, Illinois. Uh three-bedroom home and my father was a union labor as I am. Uh I work for local 75 labors. uh the proud men and women that work uh in Will and Grundy County. However, we do have members that reside in Indiana, uh sparse few, Kanga Key and Uruguay County, and another handful in Cook and DuPage. We're mostly right here in Will. So, when I uh when I hear these stories, I I can resonate. I can think back to 1981 where my father as a union man was laid off for 11 months. Uh, I want to say that the nukes, either Braidwood or Dresen, I think Braidwood is what sort of uh, quite honestly paid our first 18 to 24 house payments. Um, I didn't pay them, my father did. I was I was a kid in school. But getting back to uh, the biscuits and gravy of the conversation, I don't have to rehash or rehabilitate or try and run the risk of being redundant. We've all heard both sides last night. We've heard some very very staunch powerful uh supportive arguments. We've heard some pestilent and very toxic uh rhetoric also uh attacking both sides but but mostly attacking working families. I I say the union word probably only five or six times a day and I work anywhere from 11 to 14 and a half hours a day. Uh, I stand for working families, whether union or non-union. And Earthrise Energy is bringing,

I guess I'll run the risk of sounding silly here. They're bringing us an early Easter gift basket right to our doorstep. And some of us want to kick that basket off into the bushes. Others are afraid to go out on the porch and unwrap it. I think Earthrise has honestly held up their end of the bargain here. I don't know of any other renewable or non uh acidic sulfur dioxide inducing uh horrible acid rain toxic fossil fuel burning method of energy production out there that is more safe than solar not even wind. Uh, and I have worked on oil and gas pipelines all the way from uh, Iowa to Romeo, Michigan, Southwest Michigan. So that's through the Baskil farm, through the uh, both Bruns farms, through the Lina farm. They sold most now. Through the Jones's farm, and through Mr. Warner's property that backs up outside of town. When I say outside of town, I'm pretty much talking about Poton. That's where a lot of the pipelines warehoused and Mon. So, I I do intimately know the area. I've hand dug, not with a machine, but with a shovel or a tile spade, as some of our farmers know, that's how you put in tile. I've meticulously worked on these projects. I know the fields. This solar I I urge I I urge everybody to walk out there and see this getting constructed. It's driven into the soil. There's no concrete. There's no permanent base here. These can be yanked out 24 years from now or 24 hours from now. For the gentlemen that think that this is the end of the road and there is no turning back. That is 100% false. These can be switched over tomorrow if the lease is broken. To my knowledge and none of this property has been sold. It's only leased. This job is 100% temporary. But

the temporary part of it is what's going to provide work for our families, insurance for our kids, and eventually a pension if I live to see one. I hope I do.

You have 30 seconds. Thank you. Uh closing up and I'll be very brief. The commission tonight really only has uh two two things here. I I think you're responsible and accountable for making a recommendation to the board and also the special use permit. Uh you really don't have to listen to any more of us. I would urge a strong rockolid yes recommendation to our county board. And thank you guys. your sir.

Sir, thank you. I'm Paul Woodcock. I'm a member of the Manhattan Township uh board and uh I having tr trouble believing all this Earthway spiel that they're throwing out. The first time that I met with Earthrise was uh when they had a uh an open house at the park district back in October and we went in place with our resolution that we had for the other excuse me the other uh sun farms that we had there and we walked up to Rob with it and he took one look at it and says we don't have to follow this. This is this we don't have to do this state stuff. It just dismissed us. So that kind of put a little uh bad taste in my mouth about how cooperative they are and as and at the other meeting they came to came to our meeting our regular board meeting and uh we had some several people there and they had some questions and his patented answer was go look at our website. I mean, he didn't have any answers for the stuff that the people were asking. And we couldn't get any maps. We couldn't get any information from him, which I didn't think was, you know, why why do we ask him if he wasn't going to answer any of our questions? And then the property values that they were talking about the other night. I don't know if you guys have ever tried to steal your property taxes, but they sit there and say, "Well, this goes with this." and they compare put compatibles up. Well, if you're the people there, you can pick and choose your compatibles and you can make this look so much better than that back and forth and it doesn't really give you a true comparison to the property values, what's going to happen to these people's property or not in my opinion. And uh on another note, I can't see without my glasses. I can't

see with them. many questions are being uh left left unanswered, you know, like all the the the different how are we going to do this and how are we going to Well, we'll we'll do it as we fly. Well, to me, the the application isn't complete if you don't have all the questions answered first. How can you give them a a good advice without all the answers? So, but all right, I've talked here long enough. I've worked around here for uh I've lived in my house since uh 1960. So, I've been in this area for a long time. And I would really hate to see everything that's happened here. And I would really hope and I know I've been on the board too that's an advisory board. I understand all about what's going to happen here. But I would really wish that you could postpone this for a little bit and give us a little more time to check some of the facts that they were thrown out. and thank you for your time.

Thank you. Your third, chair.

Good evening. Thank you to the commissioners for this time and this meeting. My name is Jim Michaelitz and my family and I have lived in Green Garden Township for over 33 years. Board members, sometimes a huge project like this that Earthrise has never done before, as they stated last night, may seem sound and good on paper, but they can create unintended problems and concerns over time. If assumptions are wrong or there is incomplete data or so-called facts can have a devastating effect on all the communities represented here. These issues are storm water, drainage, site plan certainty, land control, impact to agriculture, land restoration, decommissioning and financial obligations. Your decision will directly affect our properties, our lives, and our health. I would respectfully ask to base your decision on whether Earthrise has completely demonstrated truthful compliance with all needed ordinances and applications concerning the eight issues I just mentioned. If they have failed to do so, I ask you to reject their application. also respectfully consider the court of public opinion that is seated in front of you. I have a question if Earthwise wants to answer or comment. Uh there's a gentleman by the name of Doug

Shoenheider. He's the VP of Hillwood who's doing the data center in Joliet and he was interviewed and his whole interview is in the uh Farmers Weekly from a couple of weeks ago and they got to the point about energy and what's going to happen. They asked him about solar. Here is his comment. They also don't use solar energy and are not affiliated with any projects including the nearly 5,000 acre plan proposed by Earthrise. The reason is he said that they just don't generate enough reliable and consistent power. I found that pretty interesting. So board, why is the so-called solution to energy production in Illinois to industrialize one of the last large farming regions in Will County? The last and most important issue I want to bring up is money. Where is it coming from? Okay, I believe they said last night they're self-funding or whatever. Well, whether this is correct or not because it's from the internet and we all know the internet is correct. First company is CBRE. Those that's the company with the deep pockets of about a billion dollars in global investments. The next company where it comes down to is AOI out of Texas. They control the land. These two companies stand behind Earthrise and are totally out of the picture. they won't come to us a a situation like this, but Earthrise builds the projects and goes to the developers.

This project has been going on for over four years in planning and developing mainly keeping the residents out of the picture using NDAs. When you have to use FOI to get information because 1,200 pages have been redacted. There's something terribly wrong with this whole situation. Excuse me. I would certainly not want to do business with these people and I ask you the board to vote in that direction. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Good evening, chair, members of the commission. My name is Joe Sweeney and I'm here on behalf of the members of the operating engineers local 150 and our signatory contractors. You've already heard about the good paying union jobs this project will support and the careers it will launch and all about the union support for this project. So I will just quickly add that the pride of the prairie project along with many others like it comes at an important time for Illinois as energy demand continues to grow and the need for reliable instate generation is becoming more immediate. And this is not about politics. It's about utilizing all the tools in our toolbox to meet the rising energy consumption that we all know is coming, which includes projects like this. Finally, regarding the USDA's announcement that was alleged, I think to directly regulate solar development on farmland, um my understanding is that the USDA guidance applies only where there is a federal nexus. So for example, if a USDA grant uh is funding a project or participation in a USDO program is uh USDA program is a condition of some kind of funding. Uh neither of which is the case here. And without that nexus, the USDA notice that was referenced earlier um really should not be relevant for consideration of this project. So we respectfully uh as the members of Local 150 encourage you to move the pride of the prairie project forward. Thank you. Hello again. I'm here again. Some of some of you may recognize me. My name is John Trio. I live in Green Garden. I want to thank you because I have been here before and I have seen you guys and I have seen you do as a board um fair and balanced decisions and I appreciate that. But I am also here to talk about what's going on with this situation. Uh although I'm not in a position to apologize for my neighbors occasional outburst, but I understand the hope you appreciate how heartfelt they are because we are feeling that this intrusion of this project is going to

change our lives entirely. Uh and I feel the same. Uh I my wife uh the founder of the horseback riding center that I volunteer for and her husband have a passion. We looked for years looking for a proper place to have our our project built and we chose Green Garden because of its farm and horse theme and we certainly don't want to see that change. As for the union workers, I appreciate their flooding technique of coming up here and talking on a constant basis about the same issues and I know they are looking for jobs and I appreciate that as well and as the board goes with it, I I wish them well. But really, we need to move on to other issues for the land because the land matters more than we do have to worry about jobs for a short term. As for Earthrise, I simply do not believe that we can trust them. Recently, they have very slickly managed to get a 2400 acre project approved for solar panels in Creek Township. The citizens of Cree were unaware of this project that was being proposed, and consequently, they had no chance to voice their concerns. Earth Rice has been soliciting leases in this county uh for since 2022. Uh and was it not for one of our citizens who did not succumb to the temptations of the monies that were being proposed or take the non-disclosure agreements that come with it, we would have been unaware of this ourselves and blindsided. So, I'm grateful that we came aware of this and have a chance to come here and talk to you. The report for this project indicates that Earthrise notified the county of the project in 2025. However, the ordinance passed in 20235-9.245, which allowed for submission of non-ontiguous properties suggests that they were probably in contact with the county long before that. I guess it's possible that they could just be opportunists coming in trying to submit this project with all these individual properties scattered all over the county, but that seems less likely. I feel that if we take this proposal and go forward with it, we will truly have opened up Pandora's box. Earlier, I was

concerned that this project was only phase one of a much larger plan as they had leases, I guess, for 12,000 acres of land. And although I hear they have released some of those properties, I will also mention that that also means that those people that were counting on those properties generating money from solar have been abandoned. And that's just what they're gonna that's what they do. They they do what's best for them. They don't take into account the county or the people that live in it. In that sense, they don't trust Earthrise. They're their plan is currently incomplete. It doesn't have all the elements that are needed to be able to propose it to the board as of yet. And the variances that they want suggest that they're willing to underwise undermine the policies of the county itself. And frankly, they have disregard for those in the community. They just do not want to communicate with us. They do not let us know what's going on and they were pushing this through without any community knowledge. So I must point out that the township communities also have their own plans and these projects have been thrust upon them destroy those plans. We have a desire to develop our properties, our land, our community and a plan a plan that works for us not necessarily for some outofthest state facility company that wants to come in and take over our lands. So, if it sounds like they're lying to you, they probably are. Most of the stuff that's be coming out of all these things, including the idea that's not going to devaluate our properties, it's not going to create new water runoff issues, and everything else is not supportable. So, in essence, I ask that you please do not approve this Earthrise project. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ray Nent Jr. I am township highway commissioner for

Wilton Township. Excuse me. One thing from the beginning, you have some variances before you that you're voting on tonight. One is to take it from one mowing or from five mowings down to one. If any of you live in the country and you know what tall grass along a gravel road will do in the wintertime, you would vote that you would vote against that. That will be nothing but a snow fence that drops snow right on to the road. I'm not anti-green. I am against the way this is being shoved down our throats by the state of Illinois and I'm not against you guys. I was a teamster. I'm for the laborers. My son's an operator so I understand what you're doing. In my township, I have 26 bridges. I also have 20 makeshift bridges that years ago they knocked the wooden planks off and dropped in railroad cars. That's still considered a bridge. Of all these bridges, Earthrise is projected to use over 50% of them. And if they follow what they're saying, they will be on 50% of my roads. When Rob was up here yesterday and said that I said back months ago, in fact, how can we talk about a road use agreement when you cannot tell me what farms or what roads you want to use? So, I went home and looked last night. There are 42 emails that I sent. And in every email, I mentioned or closed with, "Send me what you have planned. Send me what road

you want." And up until what Jim Balt has said is true a couple weeks ago is when we got a definite almost definite use of what they were going to do. So to say that they are trying to work with us is extremely disingenuous with all the roads and bridges. I am 51 miles of gravel roads. not tarn chip gravel roads. They will be mud by the time these guys are done. So I cannot stress to you how important a road use agreement is before we start. But don't listen and believe to say that they're trying. They haven't tried. If they had tried, we'd be sitting down. Yes, they did talk to the fire department. Yes, they did lead them around and made a promise of at least two million, maybe more. The same thing with the school district. But to say that they came to the township and for him to stand there and say yesterday, we we've talked to the township is nothing short of a lie. I'm asking you not to say no completely, but to vote it down tonight. send it right back over to that table and tell them come back when it's complete. Right now, this is a halfass agreement that they're trying to step through. This is about life safety. My roads will not be safe for people to travel. If you vote this to go forward, that life safety is on your head and I will pursue it. for drainage. They haven't talked about drainage. Drainage is everything. These guys over here don't walk on a job without a complete arrangement of what's

going to happen. And when they're done with the job, the drainage works, whether it's for the solar farm, whether it's for the existing farm. You got 30 seconds. And to shut me off will violate the open meetings act. I have 30 seconds to complete. Okay, I won't argue that now. But anyway, if you don't fix the drainage, you will have a mess. They need to come back with a very complete drainage program. And uh well, you distracted me. So, all right. Time's up, sir.

It needs to be voted down for now. It needs to be sent right back over there with a no vote. Tell them to come back when they have a complete plan. all the meetings. Uh what I would what I have is one question. Would you please give your name again because I'm sorry. It's Michelle Consola and I live on Stunle Road in between 80th and 88th Avenue. So good.

I'm right across the road. Anyway, I have one question for Earthwise and one suggestion. My question is, who thought of the name of this project as Pride of the Prairie? I'm going to guess and assume, and you know what they say about assuming, but anyway, um I'm going to guess that it was the marketing department. My suggestion is to change your name of this project to the death of the prairie. Thanks. Hello again, board. My name is Alexa Snow. I live in Green Garden Township. Uh my family has been there for about 30 years. Uh, I currently own the property now. I'm third generation. When we moved out, it was pretty much the same way as it is now. In 30 years, there hasn't been much change around us, and that's how we want to keep it. Um, I think that's pretty much how all of us feel. That's why we moved out there to begin with. Um, there's a lot of questions that I have for Earthrise. However, every time we ask them questions, they give an answer of a loophole to get around what we are asking. We never get the straight answer. And every time we ask a question, that gives them more ammo and more things to look up and more ways to get around stuff. So, I'm not going to ask every question that I have. I need to save some of that going forward. We have a final judgment coming up. This is not the final. This is only the first one. I'm sure a lot of you recognize me. I was at every meeting for the last solar

fight. I will be at every meeting this fight. Remember my face. Remember my voice. I am not going anywhere. With that being said, I do respect everybody's comments from last night and tonight. We all have to live our lives the way that we feel is healthy for us. However, shame on you for taking us and putting us down in this little person place just because you get government money. And don't say that you don't and you have private investors. Yes. But by July 1st, if they don't get this pushed through, from my understanding, all of their grants, all of their special funding goes away. That's why this is being pushed through so fast. This is why it's forced all of that and it's not fair to us that they get to use their power to make us feel smaller. That's not fair. I don't understand why this continues. They went at this with smaller parcels before individuals. Now, why are they all being lumped together in one? Why doesn't this have to go by each individual instead of oh, I don't know, 50 acres, 70 acres, 100 acres. Why does this have to be all of them? And I'm not saying I want it anywhere where it's proposed. To say that it's the pride of the prairie and to be prideful, I'm embarrassed. That's embarrassing that you would think that people and the rural community would be prideful of this technology that frankly will be out of date very soon. There's going to be more out there in the next 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years. These will not be what we are going to be using anymore. Look at your cell phones. Sometimes twice a year

they come out with upgrades. And that's a cell phone. That's a computer in your hand. These are going to be sitting out there for 50 years. And by the way, has there been a decommissioned solar plant anywhere? The only one that I know of and it wasn't decommissioned is the one that is out in the desert and they abandon it. They put it out there thinking great sun. Guess what? The dust. Nobody was going out there to brush off the dust. Take any consideration for that. We're in the country flat lands. Guess where? There's dust. There's going to be dust. Are you guys going to be out there every day, every week, wiping down the panels? What about snow? I'm from my understanding, you're not worried about fires and heat. So, they're not going to be warm enough to make this snow go away. The one question that I have asked every time, every time. And I've never gotten an answer. There are places for these in our comprehensive plan. And yes, that plan ma matters to us. It might not matter to you. But why will you not put it where we want it? Is it because it's more expensive? Is it because you don't get to hold that power over us? Please, if there's any question that you're going to answer, answer that. Why do you refuse to put it where it's supposed to be? We're not saying no, we don't want it. We're saying no, we don't want it here. Go ahead and do whatever you want to do in the proper location, but please don't step on our necks and make us feel small because you have more money and investors than we do. Thank you.

I believe you're the last speaker. At least it looks that way. Sorry. Oh,

my name is Sheila Chryseld. We moved to Green Garden in 1999 where my husband, a surgeon, could come home to a life where he could spend time deprogramming from a world that he spends over 80 hours a week at. Our neighbor fought any improvements to our property because of disturbance to the flood plane from a creek to the north of us. We tried to dredge the pond on our property, which Will County approved. Shortly after starting, we were cited. Will County Land use changed their mind. First, we needed to install a BM to redirect water. Once completed, that did not suffice for the county. We needed a French drain to redirect the water from our neighbors property to a pond on our property. Once installed with vegetation costing $5,000, another Will County requirement. Land use decided that wasn't working. We had to remove the burm, relocate the vegetation, and take out the French drain. It was decided that we had to take on all the water from our neighbor who built after us and was not in a flood plane. We had already done two topographical surveys and Will County Land use insisted that the 100red-year flood plane had to be determined at the end of our driveway. We personally paid for FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, to come out and do the survey at our expense. Again, we paid FEMA to determine that we were okay to shed water from a neighbor into a pond within a flood plane on our property. With while this sounds like a personal vendetta, it's not. All information is available to anyone via the Freedom of Information Act. Tonight I w what I cannot reconcile is the discrepancy of the board to approve this billionaire company coming in promising tired farmers an astronomical amount of money to lease their land for the chance that the later down the line family member to commit to farming land when I had to responsibly spend tens of thousands of dollars to prove that my land was okay to take on water from a

will county lack of investigation. Tonight I ask you, where is the Army Corps of Engineers mentioned in the Earthrise presentations? Where is the documentation that flood planes, wetlands, and waterways will not be disturbed by Earthrise? Will Earthrise have to do topographical surveys of individual properties at their expense? Not mine, because I've already done that. Will Earthrise pay to have a 100-year flood plane tested by FEMA's Army Corps of Engineers for areas that they want to put up their panels that have flood planes or wetlands? Mine is set at the end of my driveway paid for by me again all the way to the federal level. At this point, since none of this has been done, it doesn't appear that you as board members will require the same measuring stick to the billionaire company Earthrise. In all this rhetoric, I've not heard state or federal involvement mentioned even once. Will County had no problem throwing it at me. If the proposal is passed, who will bear the burden of flooding or the expense to fix it if it goes ary? I'm going to speculate here, but it's me. And it's all you. I will have to bear the burden. And guess what? Everyone who lives in the scope of the 6100 acre proposal will pay the price. And do you as a board care from my perspective? you haven't cared so far. I can name several engineers that I have paid their salary with my tax dollars and yours as well who have passed the burden of proof onto the regular average landowner like me. Right now, the board may pass the proposal because Earthrise sounds like they know what they're doing. Let me tell you from person experience, I've worked in academia. Academia doesn't always have the answers, especially for the average person trying to live a peaceful life in the country. In my experience, you as a board did not do the research, nor did Will County land use. You did not do the state and federal inquisition before signing off on projects. Will County left me to prove myself innocent. Every day, I take the risk that the farmland around me

will not be used for building commercial warehouses or lot by lot subdivisions. And I trust that Green Garden Planning Commission to make these local decisions. I also realized that I can't ask a farmer to take my case of wanting to see the sunrise or sunset for my property into consideration if he wants to use his property in another way. I get that. It really hit me last night listening to these people. But tonight, I urge you to look at every single nook and cranny of this solar company attempting to build on the precious farmland that surrounds us. And not because they have the right to tell the farmer what to do because I have the right or they do. We have the right to protect ourselves from foolish spending on ill-gotten gains. I'm asking you to take the time to do the research on every single pin number. This will affect all 96 of us individually do the right thing. make the right decision to say that not that not until all these surveys are done and all the research is complete have earthwise to all their FEMA Army Corps of Engineers and state level homework because we are going to end up when our waterways and our flood planes are messed up. We're the ones that are going to have to pay. All right, I know.

I'm sorry your time is up. I didn't get 30 seconds. Well, you did get 30 seconds. We just didn't announce it to you. Oh, I was saying it's my prayer that you'll make the right decision and be able to sleep well as elected members. Thank you.

I'm up here. Um, we did have a attendee tonight who has some questions um but does not want to come up and ask her questions. So, this is a resident who is in this room tonight. So I will be reading the questions she wrote um into the record and these are for Earthrise. So speakers should be asked if they took money or a grant if they are in favor. Um how many Earthrise people live in these three townships? How many union employees getting jobs in these three townships live in the township? And then about the landscaping, how large are these buffer shrubs? Um, are they 2 feet, 6 feet, etc. How long before they actually provide a block? And then it was mentioned that there were tax breaks. Who will see those tax breaks? The individual homeowners. And then it was mentioned com efficiency. Who will get the rate reductions? Mr. Jacob, would you care to uh respond to all the comments you heard this evening and yesterday?

Yes, sir.

Thank you. writing those as fast as I could. I might come check your list in a moment. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, first, uh, before we start answering those questions, I wanted to comment on something. After several hours, four hours or so, I think, uh, the PCC has allowed any person the opportunity to provide sworn testimony to this board, which is evidence. Um, also the PCC allowed any person to ask questions and the applicant has committed to answering those questions and we will we've been writing them down as fast as we can. Uh, we'll answer any that haven't been answered already. That comports with due process which requires notice and an opportunity to be heard. This procedure is supported uh by the recent case of Clark versus City of Galina which followed a procedure very similar to the one we're following here. It's also consistent with Matthew's uh Eldrich balancing test which measures the probitative value of uh any additional process against the burden to the government of allowing additional process. It comports with Claren versus village of Lao which allows for reasonable restrictions on testimony and cross-examination. And this is all to say that we agree with the planning and zoning commissions and the state's attorney's office um that the interested parties have had a meaningful opportunity to be heard on this application. Attorney Steve Becker yesterday uh stated that he represents neighbors to the project and he raised an objection that he wasn't allowed to present evidence or to cross-examine witnesses. He didn't provide a proof of evidence and there was no ruling on the record disallowing evidence. So, I can't really address that objection. I believe that his objection on the basis that he was not allowed to cross-examine witnesses does not raise a due process concern because he had an opportunity to ask questions then just like everybody else.

He didn't exercise that opportunity and he asked no questions. Nevertheless, Earthrise has committed from the beginning to conduct this hearing in a transparent manner. Earthrise asked me to extend a courtesy to Mr. Becker's clients and allow Mr. Becker another opportunity to ask questions of these witnesses directly and we would answer them uh directly. I would ask Mr. Becker if he were to to take that offer uh to make a record of who he's representing and I would also ask that his questions be limited to the scope of review which is uh compliance with the ordinance and state law. Subject to those conditions, we would invite Mr. Becker to ask those questions uh now, but I

Well, no, but he's the attorney representing clients here and I and I don't see Mr. Becker here tonight. So, I did not contact Mr. Becker. He he represents clients that are represented here and so we were offering this invite to him. Well,

my brother was already told he could not do the cross attorney. We were told not as any question downstairs. They said we are not allowed to ask question four and a half minutes. That's all. Sir, what what I'm suggesting what I'm suggesting Excuse me. Everybody was given five minutes. Don't belittle our timekeeping. Whichever. Everybody was given five minutes. I want to make sure that that goes in the record. Also,

everybody was given five minutes to present their testimony and ask questions and all the questions that have been asked will be answered. And what I had suggested, Mr. Mr. Becker didn't ask any questions on behalf of his clients. Mr. Becker didn't ask any questions. And what I was going to suggest to Mr. Becker, had he appeared at this continuence of which he had noticed yesterday was that he could ask questions. I was going to give him a second opportunity to ask questions. He's not here.

Can't remedy the man? My brother, gentlemen, gentlemen, did not remedy the defect that happened. I'm not remedying any defect. I was offering a courtesy. And the and gentlemen and the hearing was continued from yesterday to today. Date, time, place, certain. Mr. Becker is not here. I wish he was. Sir, I'm I'm That was the offer that I

Otherwise, we could ask you to postpone the hearing and let my brother be present to do his uh cross examination. Let's postpone it for another day and let him do that so you could at least notify the attorney. That's the most fundamental courtesy. Mr. Becker had notice of the hearing tonight just like I did, just like you did, and just like everybody in this room did. Creative legal loophole because that's what her crime does. It's not a legal loophole. At this moment, I'm just going to move on to the questions that we prepared to answer. I did want to make a record in a response to Mr. Becker's objection. Now, may I intervene here and say that we want to hear your responses to all the people, not just Mr. Becker?

Yes, sir. Okay, we will do that right now. Thank you. I have nearly three pages of questions written down. Maybe they're the same things Mr. Becker would have asked. Uh, can I ask Rob to come up, please?

So, Rob, first we had a question and I'm going to do this basically in order of the questions as received. They make mind of the fact that it's already 7 7 o'lock. Okay. 7. Yeah, I have 7-Eleven on my watch. That's correct. We're going to move quickly. Um, so Rob, first the first question that we received was from the from the Carpenters Union and the question was why hasn't the carpenters union been used on this project?

That's a good question. We uh evaluate uh a number of options um for hiring a workforce. At the end of the day, uh, we directed our, uh, prospective general contractor to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the tri trades, um, because we thought they were the right fit for this project and we're proud of it. Rob, is there any battery storage on this project? No, there is not. Uh, Rob, Miss Hydrickch attributed in her testimony certain statements to you that were pretty inflammatory. Do you have a response to the to those statements just generally? Yeah, I think you know I have a different recollection of of those statements.

Did you tell Miss Hydrickch that you can't have people living in the middle of solar fields? No, I did not. Uh I explained to Miss Hydrickch that um Earthrise is not in the position to be a landlord to tenants living on property that we control. Um you know, an example of that is uh we purchased a property. Um we knew that there were five individuals living in a house on that property. So, we subdivided the five acres surrounding that and we deeded that property to them because we didn't want to turn them out. So, they are now the owners of that property and we are not the landlords. Rob, did did Miss Hydrickch ask you to buy her house? Yes, she did. And what was your response?

Uh, you know, she she asked a above market value uh and it was not uh suitable for the for development. Will the power be sold to the Joliet data center that was just approved? Uh, not all of our power is contracted. Uh, we're not in communication um with the data center developer about that. Uh, did I want to talk about the Man the Township road uh use agreements. We've heard several comments on that. Um, did the Manhattan Township attorney share sample road use agreements with Earthrise? Yes. And why has haven't the negotiation of those agreements progressed? At

a public meeting uh at the end of last year, uh Mr. Baltus, who testified here tonight, uh told us that he wouldn't work with us on road use until we satisfied the township of Manhattan uh regarding their proposed uh resolution. Uh did you have contact with the Wilton uh township road commissioner? Yes, we did. And can you describe your communications with that township? Yeah, we had uh received an email from um Mr. Nent who testified here tonight. I think it was December 3rd uh who say stated that uh discussing road use would be premature at this time until a special use permit was approved by the county.

And can you describe your communications with the green garden road commissioner? Yes. Uh we've had uh relative relatively um good relations with the highway commissioner of Green Garden. Um we have conducted preliminary road analysis uh to determine potential construction impacts uh with a view on um assessing potential um uh mitigations to those. Um the Green Garden Township Highway Commissioner has asked us not to continue discussing road use uh until a special use permits awarded.

Uh I want to move to fire management. Are there fire management plans in the proposal? Yes, we have an emergency response plan for both the construction and operational phases of the project. And you'll continue working with the fire districts? Yes, these are preliminary plans and we'll continue to work with the fire districts on emergency response planning. Okay. On the tax numbers, there was a question about the difference between 1.8 million to PTON school district and I think it was 75,000 to Manhattan school district. Can you describe why those numbers were so different? Sure. Uh those estimates are Oh, okay. Can you repeat your question again? Sorry.

Yes. So the the the first year of taxes I think is estimated to be 1.8 million to the PTON school district and 70 I think it was 75,000 for the Manhattan school district. Why are those numbers so disparit? Yeah, the the estimates are based on uh taxing bodies on the parcels that the uh project decided on and uh it's not surprising there's different uh taxing bodies on different parcels and the the lesser of the two values there. I think that was Manhattan you said. Yes, sir. Uh there's less um parcels with Manhattan school district as a taxing body on it. So that's the explanation. Fewer megawatts in the Manhattan school.

Fewer megawatts in Manhattan school district. Is there a measurement? This was asked, I believe, with Manhattan Township Assessor. Is there a measurement of megawws per parcel that you have right now? Yes, we do. Okay. Do you have those numbers handy? Uh, we we I don't have them at my fingertips, but I'm happy to share them with the the township assessor. Okay. And based on those numbers, she could estimate the taxes that'll be generated project.

Um, can you describe your efforts with respect to uh drainage um choreography and planning? Yeah. So, um, drainage is very critical to the success of the project. Um, as you can imagine, we don't want to operate a solar farm in a swamp. Um, so we, um, studied drainage very carefully on route to, uh, designing the project. We've sent a drain tile consultant out to talk to participating land owners and adjacent landers, land owners, uh, to begin understanding where that important infrastructure is. Um, we are in the process of mapping it so that we can protect it during the design and construction process. To your knowledge, has there ever been a I'm moving to a different topic. Has there ever been a solar facility decommissioned?

Not to my knowledge. Okay. But we have a decommissioning plan and estimate in our packet. That's correct. What do you do about the snow on panels? Uh the snow generally um is is removed from the panels uh in the process of uh the rotation of the panels as they track as it tracks the sun from west to east. And why aren't we putting the solar facility arrays in areas designated in the township comprehensive plans?

That's a good question. We hear that question a lot. You know, as a solar developer, you know, the first question you have to ask yourself is how do you get your product to the market? Just like a farmer has to consider how they get their grain to the market, we have to consider how we get our electricity to the market. And so, um, the point of interconnection really is the is where that happens. And not all points of interconnection are created equal. And so the name of the game is really finding those specific points of interconnection where solar can be put on the grid in in a cost-effective manner. And so uh you know that's why Earthrise has elected to pursue a very unique strategy of interconnecting its solar facilities to natural gas peaking facilities because these are prime points of interconnection.

Okay. Thank you. I think we need Graham next. Graham, I'd like to to address there. There's some confusion here about the the staging of the special use permit and the uh site development permit, the timing of those, what's required for each. There's some conflation between the two. Um can you and these were issues addressed by Mr. Becker, so I'm trying to get it trying to honor honor these um questions. Can you address uh when the site development permit is applied for the requirements for that and with especially with respect to the wetlands, the farming wetlands, the flood planes and army corps?

Yeah, that that's a great question and first I just want to say I appreciate um the passion especially around wetlands. Um I know it came up a half dozen time if not a dozen times and I want to acknowledge that. Um, as a reminder, if you weren't here, you didn't catch it yesterday, I'm the environmental director here at Earth Rise. And so, I've helped pro uh permit projects, hundreds of projects across 36 states. Every single one of those projects, we had to engage with Army Corps of Engineer. I am not going to let this be the first. So, rest assured, we are we are working towards that goal. But to to Mr. Jacob's question at different level stages at the SUP we're required to do preliminary uh environmental studies and and include that as part of the application but where the brunt of all the environmental uh work and the final reports especially when it comes to Army Corps of Engineers happens at the site development permit stage which is some counties call it the building permit but this is the SDP and so we we will work uh with the Army Corps of Engineers we're looking again to have no impact on any jurisdictional features including wetlands. So therefore, no formal individual permit will be required through the Army Corps of Engineers. However, we are working with our consultant Kimly Horn uh to prepare a memo of such and get the Army Corps to um uh see that and agree with us. So that is part of the SDP and this project will not be built if we cannot get that approval. So rest assured we are we are working towards that end.

The wetlands at the moment are delineated in the packet. Every single one. Yes sir. Yeah.

Um have you completed there? There were questions about uh one of the gentlemen asked questions about endangered species. I believe the shorted bat. Can you um briefly describe the diligence of endangered species for the project?

Yeah. Yeah. Again, appreciate the passion there. We so we did send out uh field biologists to look at all again county, state, and federal federally listed protected species and identified habitat throughout the project. And again, our mitigation strategy when it comes to environmental constraints is total avoidance. So, I'm really glad the gentleman found a short-eared bat and uh and rescued him. And um and we actually hope with the prairie restoration uh that we're doing outside of the fence, that is the short-eared bat's preferred habitat. So if anything, we're going to increase the habitat with the construction of this project and and you did sorry if you can go back to the sorry the last question you had mentioned FEMA. Um great great question. So working with FEMA again we're going to avoid uh developing in in there's different classes of flood planes but but you have you have to understand from um from a constructibility and insurability uh we have the same constraints. We we don't want to work in in in FEMA and flood planes, right? Just not from a hydraological but also just from a project financing and insurability. So our goal is not to impact uh FEMA flood planes whatsoever.

Okay. Thank you. I think I'm going to ask for Mr. Yes. Oh, straight out. Yep. Sorry. I got I got this is where I know olives are also very excuse me. Thank you. Mr. Jacob, there's no one going to speak from the floor. Got it. Okay. If they have to come to a mic if you if you want to recognize them, which we'd rather not because I don't want to come through the board. Not I think that was just a clarification. I think it was just shorter. Yeah. My mistake,

Mr. Wilson. Oh, yes. It's fine, Mr. Wilson.

Um, go.

Can you please discuss how often and Mr. Dr. Wilson, the landscape architect, can you please describe how often the prairies are receded and whether and where the seeds are sourced from, please? Yes, of course. So, going back to the presentation from yesterday, uh just wanted to remind the uh

uh the board here that part of what we submitted and put it together for this project was a vegetation management plan. Uh this is a very comprehensive document that includes things such as the seating guidelines. Um, and as part of the seating guidelines, we use the USDA, uh, NRCS and the IDNR's guidelines to put together for seating. So, there are overseating requirements for performance standards and we have guidelines in there for seating from within certain areas. So, we're trying to get that as local as possible. uh because the less local seeding is shipped from there is um less uh reliability and germination in that seed.

Thank you. Um is is the planting along the roads a snow concern? Uh the planting along the roads I am assuming you were talking about the right of way. So the right of way is not being impacted by uh the landscape design as the project stands. the right of way will stay right ofway vegetation. So that shorter cut typical grasses that you would see along roadways. Thank you. And I think this was one of the later questions asked, how large are the buffer shrubs and how long will they require to provide um visual buffer?

Yes, great question. Uh the buffer vegetation at the moment we have a handful of different species that we're looking at uh trying to use a native naturalized vegetation working with the um soil and water conservation district and also um you know any other local authorities on the matter. But because of the variation in species and even types of plants we're looking at evergreens uh deciduous shrubs even deciduous ornamentals uh they all have a lot of variation in heights. Uh, and another key component of that is we want to try to have all of the vegetation be as locally sourced as possible, meaning that the availability of course is going to also determine some of the heights at install.

Thank you. There were a couple of those last questions that I think are best for Rob. So, and I think I've got I think I've got them, but let me know if I missed one. Actually, the last one I didn't quite get. There we go. Um, are you taking money or grants? Earthrise. Earthrise is not taking any grants. No. Um, how many Earthrise people live in these townships? Uh, none of the development team is. I'm not sure about the uh personnel that work at the plant.

Um, what do we know? How many of the union employees live in these townships?

I'm not aware of that number right now. Uh will we oh um how will the individual homeowners there was some mention of tax breaks. I think this was in response to the increased tax property taxes that will be paid. homeowners uh may see tax breaks. Um who will see those tax breaks? The individual homeowners is the question. And I can fill in some gaps here. I think um what this is referring to is

when the um when the project generates property taxes into the tax base, then those taxing bodies have an option to reduce taxes in order to keep a consistent budget. So for example, when the school receives 1.8 8 million new dollars it can keep its same budget and then reduce tax liability to homeowners in the in the area. So I think that's the question that that is referring to. And then finally um you mentioned KMED efficiency who will get rate reductions.

Um I don't think we mentioned that anyone would receive any rate reductions. I think the point that we were making about offsetting regional demand is that as the demand goes up, the only way to do that is with new supply and pride of the prairie will provide substantial new supply. Okay, I think those are all the questions that I had written out uh from the comments. Does anybody else from the commission want to address any questions to the applicant?

Hi. Um, regarding the decommission bond and be it a letter of credit bond, however, how is it um structured to survive bankruptcy? uh is if it's truly in the LLC, does it if that LLC goes bankrupt, who is responsible for that?

The the the decommissioning bond is deposited with the county um to the benefit of the county and that remains in place for the life of the project. It's it's there's a decommissioning estimate for the total amount that it will require to decommission the project minus uh salvage value of the materials that will be be brought out of the ground and sold. um under the agricultural impact mitigation agreement. That bond is required. So, it's a state requirement that we place that bond with the with the county. The county holds it uh as a beneficiary. It's staged um in payments. 10%'s paid after the first anniversary, 50% after the 6th, and 100% after the 11th. So, it's funded over the first 10 years of operation.

Understood. Is that reassessed every 5 10 15 years after it's after it's fully funded in 11 year? It's assessed each step of those ways and after it's fully funded at 11 years, it can be it can be reassessed by the county every 5 years thereafter. That's and that's pursuant to the AMA, right? Um and regarding the property values, because I know that's been a uh is a very near and dear to a lot of folks here.

Um aside from the study that was completed, did and maybe this is just more for staff, did was there an independent study done performed? So we did do an independent study. Uh Mr. Hardigan. So you heard from Mr. Lines yesterday. Uh his colleague Mr. Hardigan is here who can maybe tell you. But there were essentially two two studies done. One is a general study by Conresnic that looks after um the academic literature larger um larger studies nationwide studies and collects that data. And then they do a a sight specific study to this particular project and compares matched pairs of similar projects to determine whether this project would affect property values in ways that other other studies of similar projects have done. And andrew maybe you can explain that in a little bit more detail. Just take a couple minutes.

Yes. My name is Andrew Hardigan. I am with Cohen Resnik. Um much like was just stated. Um I am Andrew Lion's uh co-orker who spoke last night. Um the way that uh we study these things is we do it a three- tiered approach that we look at the published uh academic studies. Um I believe several were spoken to last night. So in brevity I won't go into them. Uh the second is we speak to the people who are involved uh with a lot of these transactions um the the assessors the the um the brokers that are involved. Uh and then the third, we conduct our own sales paired analysis. Uh we try to find transactions that are adjacent to properties that are you know not adjacent to properties and try to apples to apples a 1960s building to a 1960s building. Um uh and then in particular to uh this along with uh you know uh several dozens across the uh United States we conduct uh sight specific studies um and determine that there's you know ne no negative consistent impact to property value. Um, sorry. In regards to the uh, and switching gears here a little bit on the interconnection agreement with PJM, uh, is there any, I guess, other liabilities that maybe Will County would be put into place if there's any other interconnection agreements as that shifts down the road. Um and I and I guess it's just a matter of you know the hold period of this project is it necessarily just uh is this going to always be paired with the peaker plant or is this going to be subsected between

investments and and you know moved off in 5 to 10 years like a typical investment. Yeah. I think I'm trying to understand the nature of your question, but I think you're asking is that interconnection agreement permanent for the life of the project. Correct. Did I state that correctly? Yes, that it is. Our the agreement between the project company and PJM is valid for the life of the project regardless of whether uh the plan is is generating electricity. Okay, that's what I have for right now. So I I guess to follow up on that. So you're you're saying is the solar farm life expectancy may exceed the peaker plant actually. That's correct.

The peaker plant could be decommissioned and everything still operates the same as you're proposing here today. That's correct.

I I think I have some questions for you, but I I want to come back to address something. if uh Kelly could come up or maybe somebody else from staff and I've just a lot has been talked about the screening and so there was the mention that you would default to the screening requirements of the county. So I would like the county to clearly state what is required in that code because I'll admit I did not go look it up last night when I went home to see exactly what is required

for screening requirements by the state statute. um they're only required to provide residential screening for um any community buildings which is either homes or any occupied buildings within 300 ft. That's what's required. I believe they're providing more than that. Um I think they're doing for any that any any properties that are abuing residential residences. So is that part of a condition that's being added that they're agreeing to or they're just openly saying that they will do that? That is what they're proposing on their landscaping plan that they provided. And is it possible that if this was approved in the next couple weeks, they could alter that landscaping plan and it not include that?

Correct. Yes, they could alter the landscaping plan after it goes through the special use permit. So, the only way we could guarantee that what they're proposing would be what happens is if we add it as a condition, correct? Yeah. The only way to guarantee that it is or it could be or have it as a requirement would be adding it as a condition. Um yeah, the only thing I would note is we've noted this before, but you cannot um require a burm. You can require like trees, shrubs, those kind of landscaping, but um you would not be able to condition a burm.

And the one thing I learned in trying to add a condition at the last minute at one of these meetings is really messy. Yeah, sometimes the wording it could be tricky. I don't know if possibly the developer if they have anything they may have proposed for that since they do know what their landscaping um they'll be providing. So,

I think they're ready to contribute that then. Thank you. You know, I would only add I would I would add to the conversation that um the soil and water conservation district's a stakeholder in these landscaping and they they have sometimes different views on what landscaping should go where. And so that's why we leave flexibility where possible to work with land staff and the district um and the relevant stakeholders to determine what landscaping's best for everybody. Um but we do have the preliminary landscaping plan that shows where uh we would propose landscaping and then you know we'll receive feedback from those interested parties from other commissioners on landscaping

meeting we're at. Okay. Good job asking Kelly questions. Yes about the landscaping. Okay. I guess while you're up there then I'll ask one more then because we've talked at many of these meetings about our hands are tied by the state law and uh I can't remember how long you worked with the county. Did you work with the county doing these projects before the new state law basically superseded the county authority?

No. I I when I was started here about two and a half years ago, the state law was already in effect. So, you wouldn't be able to answer questions as to how similar or what are the main differences on setbacks or landscaping that in the previous county ordinance versus the state law. No, I would not be able to, but Margarite was here at that time, so she can speak to that. I'm just wondering in essence how close we are. I mean, maybe we're just trying to use ourselves as a scapegoat for the state law, but uh the county did indeed have a previous comprehensive plan that applied to solar farms. Correct.

They did. Um we actually changed the original screening requirements to implement the county's landscaping requirements to these types of developments. Prior to that, they did have specific screening um which were equivalent to um the land use buffer screening requirements we have which is typically um you need evergreen trees per I believe every 40 feet and then you'd have shrubs every 5t along the fence line. Um what we actually required with changing the ordinance was to require road frontage screening uh road frontage landscaping along the new development. So now they have to put in trees along the road frontage. Um they would have to place in terms of screening trees and shrubs. Um, and they can use our landscape requirements, but they also could request alternative compliance to give them a little bit more creativity and flexibility and apply the agrovoltaics that they um utilize as well as the native pollinators to help achieve the landscaping requirements that the county would require.

And did the new state law kind of uh diminish the amount of screening that was required by the county or did it complement about the same amount? No, I mean right now any residential properties within 300 ft of a solar facility has to be screened. Um the state requirements do authorize the counties to allow screening. The one restriction is we cannot condition a burm. It would be the um request basically would have to come from the developer itself um to put in a burm, but we could not mandate a burm for screening. Aside from that, um we would accept any signed affidavit from the adjacent property owners if they were waving their requirement for screening for a solar facility across from them.

And then so you mentioned setbacks for screening. So is the setbacks of the solar photovotayics from a residents the non I guess they use the term non-participating resident consistent the old law for Will or the old rule for Will County versus the new state? Pretty much. Yes. Okay. So it is somewhat apples to apples in terms of screening requirements. Yeah, I would say

and then the um the 20 foot height I guess I I guess I'm done with the the two of you. Thank you very much because I'll ask about the 20 foot height that was mentioned several times. And u I believe it's confirmed in this nice map I have. 20 foot height is the height of the solar panel. So I assuming at sunrise and sunset that's when they hit the highest. Yes. At max tilt. At max tilt. at sunrise and sunset. What uh they would be at at that um max height?

Well, it matters if it's dark, but do they reset to a flat position or Well, the Yeah, the Yeah, actually as they track the sun over the course of the day when they're at their maximum sort orientation, they're at their their height, but they will um refer to stow mode, which is an orientation that's parallel with ground level uh at night after sunset. Is there override per se in a u we'll say a weather alert? Yes. Hail is do. Yeah, they will respond to weather alerts. So basically are these uh being monitored I guess somehow by computer or somehow that they would uh like today I had hail at my farm,

hard wind coming from the northwest at 45 degrees. Would these be actually have a design that they would try to tilt away and protect them as much as they will respond to to weather alerts and uh it's being monitored? Joe, do you want to provide more context on it? Essentially, we use a SCADA system to to control this from um the orientation of the panels remotely.

Yeah. Uh hey there, Joseph, engineering manager with Earthrise. Thanks again for having me back this evening. Um so, a few things. Uh the project does have a stow mode. So the general stow is actually not flat. Usually it's back to the east at the end of the day. Um but there also is weather stow. And basically this is where the the computer that monitors and controls the facility is integrated with weather stations both existing local ones that you find at like airports but also uh weather stations that are installed as part of the project within the perimeter. And uh the two main things that these look for are, you know, wind or or hail alerts. And the panels are uh rotated from east to west to uh deflect those events if they were to come and it be a you know to reach a critical wind speed or for hail to be um detected. And that's something that's pretty gotten pretty common in the past two years for new projects within solar. It's a requirement that if you're a new solar project and you want to get insured, you you have to have this um because it makes the project much more resilient.

Uh so you mentioned insurance, it was mentioned if weather was to cause damage and it go into a neighbor's property, is that something that they would have recourse through the insurance? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The project is insured for any any damage to it or around. It's it's a it's a requirement for project financing. Okay. And I guess the only other thing um slow down guy hurry up.

Slow down. Everybody wants to go home. So I got a phone call yesterday. Didn't answer it. Be those farmen. And I guess full disclosure here. I I did actually the guy called me back and I tried to stop him from trying to talk to me about the zoning meeting. And I was quite rude to him. And then it occurred to me later that night that he did not realize that I would be one of the select seven people to hear this case. He just knew me from my beekeeping days. But he did leave me voicemail that I ended up reading. And so since it may have skewed my mindset here, I'm going to read it aloud and let you address it. He just said that he read some information that solar panels are only 22% effective and the best ones at most are 13%. And we have heard this from some of the other people and I think we addressed this at the last meeting about how efficient they become. So what is the effect or the efficiency of a solar panel?

We so we we call that capacity factor. That's the uh number of hours of a year that the the project is effectively generating a peak capacity for this project. We estimate that at around 26%.

So that's in a 24-hour day. So over the 8,760 hours of a year, 26% of those will will be effectively generating at the name plate capacity of the facility which is 600 megawatt. So if you wanted to understand the amount of energy that the facility will produce, say in megawatt hours, you would take 600 times. 26 times 8760 and that will give you the number of megawatt hours which I I think is around 1.4 4 million something like that megawatt hours a year. Now it's a it's a bell curve over the course of a day but that's effectively how you calculate it over the course of a year.

So and if you figure that in this area air conditioning is a huge electrical draw we would you would way more effective or efficient in the summer where we have longer daylight hours than in the winter. I'm assuming that that's a good assumption. Yes, I think so. And so uh you have the bfacial panels. That's correct. I've heard the rhetoric and seen the rhetoric all the people claiming about how they're a waste because there'll be snow on them or it's cloudy. The B facial, how much more energy will that provide by having the reflection off the bottom? I don't have that estimate at the top of my head. I know it is. It gives it a little There you go. He's anxious to go.

About 15 to 20%. And one other thing snow has been brought up several times. One of the benefits of having a a tracker system like this as opposed to fixed tilt is um there's also snow stow essentially. So if a a large snowfall is expected um you can tilt that panel in its steepest position which will be able to have most snow fall off that it won't stick. So in essence you couldn't pick up reflection off the snow on a sunny day if there's snow under the panel. Absolutely.

And so just my curious mind, can it on a bright moonlit night with snow cover produce electricity through the night? That's a really good question. Yes. Uh in like a full moon night and like that you can get about 1% of the normal like peak, you know, high noon daytime production.

I 1% is 1%. live living out in the country, I've seen sometimes with a beautiful fresh snow and a full moon, I swear I could go outside and read a newspaper. It's it is really quite amazing. Um, anybody else got questions? I'll just see what else. Too much. I think it's time to take a vote.

I think I got one. Yeah, I do have a condition I think that should be added then. So, we've got three townships that say you haven't played ball with them or you haven't come to agreements. I guess the only way to really make sure that this happens we could add as a condition I got rough language that no construction to take place until road use agreements and signed with Greenguard Wilton and Manhattan Township. And I'm thinking that would appease them better than nothing being said at this meeting. But would you be agreeable to something of that kind? Well, our concern is that, you know, we've we've initiated the process with them and they've kind of given us mixed messages about that. So, you know, the concern would be if, you know, we made that commitment in good faith and that was not returned to us, then we would be in a in a difficult position. They could obstruct the project indefinitely.

I can personally attest that the Wilton Township roads are not in good shape, and it's not because of lack of trying. There's just no funding. There is none. You know, we're very willing to work with both township. So, I, you know, in the spirit of uh cooperation, we would be willing to make that commitment. I know they have bridges that are very at risk. They've been probably very fortunate. I've gone over a bridge that I think says three or five tons. I'm thinking this can really hold it. I'm assuming somebody has verified it, but it's

it it's ultimately a benefit to us if the if the roads are capable of um you know supporting the construction traffic that we plan to utilize to build the project. We'll make that commitment tonight uh on a road use agreement with the three townships. No construction will begin before that. And is that legally is that legally binding the statement he just made? He's asking it. Everybody's under oath here, right?

Um I'm just going to note with you know the roads and everything. So they're going to be after if the special use permit is approved required to go through permitting at the time of permitting, site development, building permit, they're going to be required to get road authority approval. um if they don't obtain road authority approval, they'll not be able to get the permit issued and they will not be able to start construction. So, usually at the time of permitting, if they are requiring some kind of bond, um they'll withheld their sign off on the permit until that's received. So, they will be required to work with um any of the applicable road departments through permitting. I just want to point out specifically for solar um road use agreements are required as code. Um so it is part of section 9.245 as well as a road survey. Um what we've done in policy is we rely on the road commissioners to look at those requirements and they would be signing off approval with either acknowledging that they have a road use agreement in place or um we've had some road authorities wave those requirements and just sign off on solar permits. So it's really the road commissioner um following up with those two requirements at time of permitting.

So adding a condition is redundant. Correct. And it's going to be redundant many times. Okay. And I feel the daggers in my back and the eyes in my head. Everybody wants me to be quiet. We want because it's too late to be quiet if you're stupid. I've already spoken. Remove the doubt.

We want to continue on so we can get a vote in tonight. I guess I could ask uh staff or legal counsel. State mandate is that once the application is complete, we must hear the case within 45 days. Is that correct?

45 days was the old statute. The updated one is within 60 days. And this does comply with that requirement. Does comply. So if we tabled this, how long could we table it for? Is it when did the clock start ticking? So I believe the so from start of public hearing it has to be heard within 30 days. Um so really um you know after this it has to go to land use and county board. So in order to table it it's likely that the solar company would have to wave that requirement. They would have to wait. And so if if we don't have it heard from that, is it an automatic approval on their behalf?

If we if we tabled this and the clock ran over them 60 days, no, I don't believe so. I don't think so. We get a slap on the wrist from JB Pritsker. I I So I mean, what what is a rule without ramifications? Yeah. So what is to keep us from tableabling it for months? I guess we didn't address this July 1st, but I guess maybe maybe a lack of a second. Okay. I I mean, we had happened before.

And we would respectfully request, you know, consideration tonight. Um we've presented our evidence. We've heard from the public. Um we've answered all the questions. I think I have about two minutes of closing that just says we've complied with your ordinance and we're and we hope to have earned your vote. Um, so I I haven't heard a um I haven't heard a reason for a continuence, but um so that's speaking on behalf of the company. We'd hope to achieve a vote tonight. And I I won't comment on what the consequence would be if there is no vote. Um I I don't know that off the top. I don't I don't know how I would respond to that.

Ask any more of my questions. Matt, did you have a question?

Sorry, that escapes me right now. My apologies. You're okay. All right. Having no more questions. Thank you, sir. What? Found it. Okay. Go ahead.

Um, with the scope of the project being 6,6100 6600 acres, uh, what be it? Um, what is, I guess, the driver to do this all at once versus a tapered development of thousand acres at a time? Is it just mo like like uh mobilization of the construction cost uh cost fees? Is there a specific timing for any, you know, federal deadlines? Just more for my edification than anything.

Yes, we we develop at the utility scale. Um, at the transmission scale, so we're interconnecting at the um there's various layers of the grid. There's the distribution level, which the community solar projects, the 40acre projects you're probably familiar with. It's a very different business model than ours. We develop um a transmission scale. We sell into the wholesale market. And for that to be cost effective, you really have to do it at scale. And because of our strategy involves interconnecting at these peaking plants, that's really defining the capacity of it. And so we have to develop a project footprint capable of supporting that capacity.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. We're going to go ahead and call for a vote. Thank you. I have nothing further to add. hope to have earned your vote tonight. Thank you. But case number ZC-25-129.

Um, one more speaker that was located downstairs during the public hearing that would like to speak if that's okay with the commission. Uh, we have no objections. I thought we had all the public speakers done, but we're welcome. We will welcome the one last speaker. you you're you're troublemaker, huh?

Uh I there's a couple things I really wanted to get a point across is that so one question came up with regards to what the effect of the real estate cost to the real estate to the neighboring properties. I've been doing real estate in this area for 50 years. Um, and I will tell you that I've had a lot of people come up to me and tell me no, they will not buy property adjacent to property where the the solar is going. And um, we have a couple developments located in Green Garden Township that we're working on currently and the people are that's the number one question. Where's the solar going? And if it goes, they don't want anything to do with it. So, it will negatively impact rural development. Secondly is the magic terms about real estate. Location, location, location.

Give your name too so they know. Huh? Oh, location, location, location. I said give your name too so they know.

Gregory Clark, uh Jay Clark really Frankfurt, Illinois. Our 50th anniversary uh is this year. So, um, uh, but so location, location, location is you will look at some of these sites that they're asking for and those locations probably are not really good for the neighborhoods or the areas that they're in. Some places that may not have an impact or an effect, but I think that do the entire I I say if I would suggest maybe phasing this. I mean, there's some areas I I get that it's the size development that you want to do. It's a commercial wholesale system, but I can't imagine why you can't break this down into smaller sectors. Uh I think the closer you get to Frankfurt, the really it should be almost denied. That area there is a high growth area. The Pietone School District, Pietone relies on that area as for its future growth because the schools are hurting. They need population growth and the population is going to come from that direction. Um, so, so again, I would say location, location, location, phasing, and it does impact, especially in it certain areas probably more so than others. And I, I think this may be a good time to revisit the phasing of this, not doing it all at one big ultimate blue bill or whatever you call it. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, back to this. We're going to on case number ZC-25-129. I would solicit a vote. So, uh, may I have somebody make a vote? Mr. Chairman, before we take that vote, I just want to let you know that we need a motion to remove condition number five. Say that. We need a motion to remove condition number five. Oh yes,

chairman. On ZC25-129 S25-056, I make a motion to strike condition number five in staff report and Lewis is the second. Okay. Okay. So, would I have a roll call, please? Yes, sir. Lewis Navarret, yes. Karen Warwick, yes. Matt Garland, yes. Kimberly Mitchell, yes. John Kefner, yes. Chairman Hugh Tippen, yes. Six to zero.

Now, the original motion, do I have a motion in a second? Um, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve KCC25-129 S25-056 for a special use permit for commercial solar energy facility with four conditions. A second. Okay, I have a motion to second. May I have a roll call? Yes.

Lewis Netret, yes. Karen Warwick, no. Matt Garland, no. Kimberly Mitchell, due to the size and scope, the people affected and the quick time frame of this, I'm going to vote no. John Kefner. John Keer. I'm like the discussion with the commissioners, but I guess that ship has sailed. Yes. Chairman, you stippen. No. 42.

What is your total? What is your total vote there? 42 fail. Okay. Thank you. And that recommendation will follow through to the land use committee at what date? Do you know that? April 2nd is the land use committee meeting. Thursday in two days. Okay. Well, thank you all for attending this meeting tonight. Oh, variances. The motion for the variances. We would still ask for votes on the on the variances. On the variances. Okay. Yeah. But you did go the variances. I don't have a page.

Uh CC-25-1 then 129 uh variances for maximum ground cover plant height from 13 in to 36 in for 96 variances and one per pin. Before you guys make a motion, I just want to say if any commissioner disagrees with an item within the consent agenda or objects to an item, that item can and should be removed from the consent agenda and a separate vote will be made. Was an item within the consent agenda as far as I know. Has anybody changed that? No.

Okay. Changed, Mr. Chairman for ZC25-129. What's the variance number? Am I not figuring this out? Guess we don't have a approval of 96 variances for maximum ground cover plant height from 13 in to 36 in on 96 pins. Did we have to make a motion for a vote for consent agenda or is this just assumed? No, we are. Yes. I'm sorry. There's a motion needed for consent agenda.

That had to be done first, too, didn't it? And I knew that and I still screwed it up. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion for ZC25-19129 for consent agenda for the variances number 2 3, four, five, and six for the uh special use 25-056. Second. Okay. Lewis Netat, yes. Karen Norwick, yes. Matt Garland, yes. Kimberly Mitchell, yes. John Keithner. Yes. Chairman Hugh Stippen. Yes.

So for the same case 129, agenda item number two, approval for 96 variances for maximum ground cover plant height from 13 in to 36 in on the 96 pins as noted in the staff report. And I'm assuming I don't have to read these. No second. Thank you. Second. Gotcha. Okay. Lewis Netat. Yes. Karen Warwick. Yes. Matt Garland. Yes. Kimberly Mitchell. Yes. John Kefner? Yes. Chairman Hugh Stippen? Yes. 6 approved.

Same case 192 or 129. Agenda item three. Approval of the 96 variances for number of required mowings from five times to one time for 96 pens. Second. I have a motion to second. Lewis Nat, yes. Karen Warwick, yes. Matt Garland, yes. Kimberly Mitchell, yes. John Kefner, yes. Chairman Hugh Tippen, yes. Zero passes.

Same case 129, agenda item four, approve a variance for lot frontage from 300 ft to zero feet for pin 13-9-22-200-12-4 zeros. Second Narat, yes. Karen Warwick, yes. Matt Garland, yes. Kimberly Mitchell, yes. John Kefner, yes. Chairman Hugh Stippen, yes. 6 passes. Should for the record state that that should not be four zeros. It should be 00 0. That can be misinterpreted. Same case 129, agenda item five, approval of variance for lot fringe from 300 feet to zero feet for pin 13-9-22-400-005-0000.

Second. I have a motion to second. Roll call, please. Louis Nat, yes. Karen Warwick, yes. Matt Garland, yes. Kimberly Mitchum, yes. John Kefner, yes. Chairman Hugh Stippen, yes. Yes. And same case 129. Agenda item six, approval of variance for lot frontage from 300 feet to zero feet for pin 13-9-22-400-004-0000.

Second. Okay. Lewis Nat. Yes. Karen Warwick. Yes. Matt Garland. Yes. Kimberly Mitchum. Yes. John Kefner. Yes. Chairman Hugh Stippen. Yes. Okay. Passes 6. Now, I'd like to know what our next meeting is going to be datewise. Our next meeting is April 2nd, which is Thursday at the land use, and it is here at the Renaissance Center at 11:00 a.m. Not ours. I got packet today. Land use development committee.

Oh, you're our next meeting for PC, I'm sorry, is April 7th. at the V County Board room. Back in the smaller quarters. Yes. So, we're meeting here or we're She mistook you. She took said land use is here on Thursday. We're April 7th.

We're on our regular back to our regular regular. Okay. Uh do we have any public comments after this? No. Thank you. Okay. Well, that's our adjournment. Um I we we don't run that meeting. So I think if you ask staff, they can get you an answer. Yeah. I I would just be guessing. We would be guessing. Yeah. Yeah. see who they are. What do you do with all the um like a motion for ajourn?

Motion to adjurnn. Second and Louis is a second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Same sign. Okay. Thank you.