Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Definitely cooler than yesterday. Yesterday was like a summer day. Number four. Mr. Weise, is the ball on me to start the meeting then? Since we have a quorum, I think I should.

Are you the vice chairman? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So, if we don't have a chair, then yeah, everything that Q would normally do is is now on your shoulder, right? The one time we didn't have a quorum. So I purposely didn't call the meeting to order because then we would just have to postpone was I thought we do have Yeah, we have quum. All right.

All right. My iPhone says it's 5:32. So I'll call the meeting for February 17th, 2026 to order. We'll rise for the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Benhovven, you get the honors again. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, visible, with liberty and justice for all.

So, Commissioner Kefner is at the helm because our chairman is late. We're going to run on the assumption because he did not notify anybody that he was not coming. That means we only have four commissioners. So I should look at the first case. Is it a variance? Yes. So by law, we must have a majority of the commissioners to pass a case, which means all four would have to vote yes. If we vote 3 to one, even though 3 to one is a majority, it means you still fail. So, if the applicant on that case wishes to delay or maybe we could just move it to the end and see if our fifth commissioner shows up. What is the pleasure of anybody on the commission or the applicant? Is the applicant here? Did you understand what I said? Okay. So, I will make the executive decision to start with case number two and just hold yours up and is a much bigger case. You might have to sit for about an hour, but okay.

Did I miss a roll call? Roll call. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I completely jumped agenda. Yes. my inexperiences showing. Um, let me get back to the agenda that I have here that I'm supposed to follow. If we can have a roll call, please. John Keer here. Kimberly Mitchell. Hugh Tippen. Roger Ben Renhousen here. Karen Warwick here. Lewis Never. We have a quorum.

And since I am green, I do not mind staff. I do not mind if staff interrupts me any time to bring me back in line. Minutes approval. I did we have any minutes? No minutes. So, we don't have to approve any minutes. So, we will start with case number one, Baker Road. Uh, you do need to swear witnesses.

Oh, yep. Yep. So, uh, for the purpose of being under oath, everybody raise a right hand that thinks they're going to speak. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to help you God? I do. I'll take that as everybody. Everybody has said I do. Now to case number one. Oh, silence your cell phones. Well, we all know that by today's world. And the county needs extra money. So, if your cell phone goes off during the meeting, we'll take a five minute or $5 donation to the county fund. Mr. Van Patton, it's yours. So, I'm reviewing zoning case ZC2602. The owner of the property is Nicholas Peters. The applicant is requesting three variances to build an addition to their metal pole barn. Uh this image uh shows the zoning map with the of the subject property outlined in red. The property is zoned E2 with 2.5 acres of area and 499.83 ft of lot franchage along South Indian Trail. The E2 zoning district requires a minimum lot area of 105,000 acres and 180 ft of lot frontage. Uh this law is a conforming E2 law. Uh this is the 2025 aerial of the property. The property is improved with a single family home and a metal frame poleb barn. The owner plans to add a 30 footx 32 ft addition to the existing pole barn. Uh this is the pl survey that showing that addition uh to the pole

barn and that is outlined in red. Now looking at the physical uh character characteristics of the surrounding area. Uh this is view looking west at the subject uh property facing Baker Road. Uh this is the view of the subject property uh uh facing Indian Trail. Uh this is the view of the poleb barn that will uh have the proposed addition to it. Uh this is view south uh at the sub uh at the adjacent property. Uh this is the view uh looking east at the adjacent property. Um, so I'm gonna hide this thing that's on the screen. Okay, that's better. Uh, across Indian Trail. Uh, this is viewed northeast looking at the adjacent property across Baker Road. Uh, this is a view, uh, looking north at the adjacent property across Baker Road. This is a view looking west at adjacent property. Uh, this is the view north looking down Indian Trail. This is a view south down Indian Trail. This is a view looking east down Baker Road. And this is the view looking west down Baker Road. Now going to uh criteria one for the variance process. Sorry, let me flip to that. Pages are sticking together. Uh so for the maximum accessory building area and sideyard stepbacks uh staff finds that the play the owner is not due to unique circumstances. The property owner wants to build an extension on their metal poleborn that will exceed the maximum accessory building area and encroach into sideyard setbacks for the E2 district. Uh there is uniqueness with the location of the pole barn based on GIS aerials. There is a drainage coververt that would prevent

the proposed extension from sideyard stepbacks. However, a smaller addition could avoid the covert and meet sideyard stepbacks. Desire to build over maximum accessory building area into sideyard setbacks is a personal desire not cannot be considered a hardship. Uh these variants if granted will not alter the essential character of the locality. Looking at the surrounding area, there's one parcel has received approval of a variance for maximum accessory area and sideyard setbacks. uh to have received variance for maximum accessory building area. And there are several other properties that appear to have buildings encrossing the sideyard setbacks or exceed maximum accessory building area due to one property having a variance and several others uh in line with the character of the request. Uh these variances will not impact the character of the locality. As for front yard staff uh setback staff finds the player the owner is due to unique circumstances. The residence was issued a building permit on January 4th, 2000. The pole barn was issued a building permit July 28th, 2006. Both these permits were issued despite not meeting street back uh street setbacks on Indian Trail. The applicant is voluntary pursuing this variance to bring structures into compliance. Staff finds the variance will not alter essential character locality given the buildings have stood there for over 25 years while encroaching into street setbacks. It's already part of the character of locality. And then looking at set two of the criteria for maximum accessory building area and sideyard setbacks. Uh staff finds the particular physical surroundings um does not result in particular hardship. According to GIS aerials, these there is a drainage covert that prevents the addition of the proposed size from being built further uh from the side property line. However, a smaller addition to the current uh metal pole barn could meet sideyard setbacks and likely keep the um keep within accessory building area limit. For this reason, the request does not uh consist of a hardship based on the

physical characteristics of the property. A staff's professional opin opinions, the ledge of difficulty was created by the property owner. The property owner is proposing to build an addition that exceeds permit accessory building area and also encroaches sideyard setbacks. Um for street setbacks, staff finds that the particular physical surroundings, shape or topog topographical conditions of the subject property do result in particular hardship. Uh the two structures were both built with building permits despite not meeting street yard or street setbacks on Indian Trail. Uh however there's not enough information in our records to determine how uh these building permits uh were issued and how this was happened. Uh is staff's professional opinion uh difficulty of hardship was not created by the property owner. The recorded deed says the applicant acquired the property on May 26 2017. The current structures were built encroaching in street setbacks in 20 2000 and 2006. Uh, so staff is recommending denial of variances for maximum accessory building area and sideyard setbacks, but approval for street setbacks. And I can answer any questions.

Any question? Just for clarity, when you go back to the staff analysis, you mentioned uh minimum lot area of 105,000 acres. Is that that's not acres, right? Uh square footage. If I said acres, that's incorrect. Okay. Just for clarity reasons. And then I guess on the I would ask on the third variance. I'm looking at the aerial map here. It looks like almost every house on that street is the same distance off the road. So is this something that maybe wasn't even forced back then because this isn't really anything for the applicants choosing?

That definitely could be the case. Yeah, for that it's a corner lot, so it has to meet uh street uh setbacks for both uh Baker and Indian. And yeah, with our records, we just see that a permit was issued. We don't have any like comments that say what happened. So, it could have been on staff. And also sometimes with construction, they, you know, could have had an error and accidentally, you know, pushed it forward 7 ft. Uh, so we yeah don't have really enough information to tell exactly how that happened based on our records, but but it looks like every house on that street is close to the road or too close to the road. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? How large is the current building?

The current metal pole barn. Um, that I do not thought you said 30 by 30 was the that the addition is a 30 by 32 edition. I don't remember off the top of my head what the current uh dimensions of the metal pole barn is off the top of my head. Might be 30 by 50. We can find out. Yeah, I was just trying to picture in my head what the how big of an addition that they're putting on. I'm assuming they're just going to push straight back to make it longer. Yeah. Not an L. Yeah.

Yeah, that is what's proposed. the 30 by 32 edition uh on the current uh current one. So it's like on that diagonal. Oh, did I skip it? So like Yeah. Um let me Yeah, straight back. I can't see my cursor on here. If that building wasn't diagonal, they probably wouldn't end up with the uh Yeah. And that yeah, that is the problem is with it being diagonal and then they couldn't the L shape does get difficult with the drainage covert. But if they were to make it smaller, it could still meet it. It would have to be like around a third of the size of what they're proposing though to avoid the covert and meet sideyard setbacks.

Okay. See what the applicant says. Thank you. So Mr. Peters or Mr. Baker speak on this matter. Is there anybody here that would like to comment on this case? If they were, I would give you the chance to rebut anything they say. Okay. Lor's yours. All right. Thank you for your time. State your name for the record.

Uh Nicholas Peters. And uh basically this the shape, you know, we'd like to add some more square footage for, you know, storage space, hobbies, things like that. And um you know at the Morton is the company and he was also the agent. Um they built that building originally and I consulted with them and trying to figure out the best way to add to it and this is what they came up with as far as going backwards. Um you know aesthetically it it makes adding onto it easier. Um and then also structurally it's more sound. um as far as construction methods and stuff instead adding to the side and worrying about stone loads and stuff and reinforcing walls. This is their opinion as far as what's the best course of action as far as adding to it. Um and then based on the size was again you know I would leaned on them to get their recommendation as far as you know spacing of poles and things like that as far as on their construction method you know what the best size would be and and that is kind of where we came up with the 30 by 32 edition. Um

and the question was asked what's the size now? Is it 34? 30 by 60 is the addition is the the existing building. All right. Any questions for the Mr. Peters? Go ahead. I just have um just looking the way that picture if you're going back another 30 ft. Is that hole on the left side? Is that all covered back there? Um little shaded part like to the left of it. No, it's just that's kind of tall grass. Um I don't know if that was it. It's just like a tall grass. Not necessarily a culvert. It's just um Yeah, just kind of a grass natural grass there. Yeah. Is the 30 feet going to cut into that at all near that? No, that goes to about that the first tree that you see uh on the south side of the property.

There's a much better visual. Well, there is a couple ditches, but it doesn't look like it's okay. Correct. Yeah. All right. Thank you.

Google Earth has never lied to me, but it's been old. It's been an old picture before, but not lied to me. Anything else? Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Ask again if there's anybody who wants to speak on this case. I can't make any motions. I know I normally do them.

Mr. Vice Chairman case number ZC-26-00002 variance 26-006 move for the approval of variance for maximum accessory building area from 3,000 square ft to 3525 square ft. Second. We have our motion and our second vote, please. Karen Warwick. Yes. Lewis Neat. Yes. Roger Benton. Yes. John Kefner. Yes. Approved.

And same case number variance number 26-007. Move for the approval of a variance for sideyard southside setback from 20 ft to 17 ft. Vote please. Karen Warwick. Yes. Lewis Nat. Yes. Roger Benhousen. Yes. John Kefner. Yes. and same case number, variance number 26-011, move for the approval of a variance for street setback from 67 ft to 60.91 ft. Karen Norwick, yes. Lewis Narret, yes. Roger Benhousen, yes. John Kefner, yes. Passes. So that's 40 on all three.

I guess that's making it by the hair of your chinny chin chin because And this case is uh complete, correct? It will not go to the county board. And I suspect staff will follow up with you in the future. Case number two. There's so few people out here. Is our applicant for case two here?

Okay. Usually it's an entourage. So Jesus Peno will give us the lowdown on the special use permit for commercial solar energy facility on 2.65 acres.

Yes. So yeah, like I said, I'll be going over zoning case 25112. They are applying for a special use permit for a commercial solar energy facility along with variances for ground cover plant height and the number of required mowings. So the owner of the property is Helen A. Stumbris land trust with George Quan listed as a sole beneficiary and the agent for the project is John Proc of Synergy Power. Here we have a quick aerial view of the property. So the entire property is outlined in blue. The requested special use area as part of this zoning case is shown in dash red. And the dash green line shows a previous special use permit approval that was approved for a solar for solar farm through zoning case 2 ZC24102 in 2025 this past year. The proposed special use area in red is about 53 acres in size. Since the previous special use area did not include the entire property, a new special use permit is required for the developer to develop a new solar farm on the southern portion of the property. So, this property is within Will Township and there is no municipality located within a mile and a half radius of this property. Here we have a zoning map of the property and as you can see basically the property is surrounded by other A1 zone properties. There is an A2 zone property located southwest of the property and an E2 zone property located on the west side of the east side of the property. Sorry. Here we have a quick survey showing the basically the southern 53 acres that this special use permit will encompass. So, as mentioned before, the the northern about half of the property was issued a special use permit last year for a solar farm. But because that special use permit only applies to that northern portion to develop a new solar farm, the developer is back here again asking for a new special use permit. Now, for the

southern portion of the property, here we have a quick picture of the plan of survey of the property. There is an estimated 9,800 panels that will be on site. The developer will utilize the same access road that is planned for the northern proposed solar development. The access road will extend south from Eagle Lake Road. It will be approximately 20 ft wide. Two equipment pads are proposed to be located towards the southwest southeastern portion of the property away from any existing structures or residences. A noise memo was submitted stating that the expected noise levels will fall within the Illinois Pollution Control Board noise regulations. The applicant will be leasing the southern 53 acres of the property. Based on the terms of the lease agreement, if all options are implemented, the sort of facility could exist on the property for approximately 40 years. A glare study was performed which concluded that the only glare that was predicted was a green glare on pilots landing on runway 27 at Bolt Field. But the FVA policy considers green glare to be insignificant. Here we have a few pictures of the property. First, the view looking east down Eagle Lake Road. The view looking west down Eagle Lake Road. The view looking south down the existing driveway. The view looking south at the west side of the property. The view looking southeast at the subject property. The view looking north at the adjacent property. And finally the view looking northeast also at the adjacent property. So here we have the application submitted requirements for solar farms. The red bold is required for Illinois sighting requirements and the black bold is permitted for counties to require. The applicant has submitted a complete

application which includes the list of documents shown on the screen. Now looking over the special use permit and review criteria, a full analysis can be found in the staff report. But to summarize, if approved, the solver city will be required to comply with section 155-9.245 of the will county zoning ordinance, which is one of the attachments to the staff report to develop the site. They will also require approval of a building permit, which will require approval of the road district and fire district. And also a deconstruction bond will also be required at the time of permitting. Now looking over the varian standards every review criteria. Again the requests were reviewed based on criteria outlined on the screen. A more detailed analysis can be found on the staff reports in your packets. But to summarize the state encourages commercial solar energy facilities to use pollinator friendly species native to Illinois. For the native plant species to grow effectively they need to be grow they need to be grow higher than 13 in. The applicant did submit a preliminary operations and maintenance plan as part of their submitt outlining how mowing will be done on site. Staff will require a final version of the operations and maintenance plan at the time of permitting. For agency comments, staff did not receive any comments or concerns from any of the agencies notified. The applicant did provide a property value impact study that was sent out as a memo earlier today. And the NRI report gave the property a lease score of 211 out of 300, placing it in the central farmland category. And as part of the permitting process, just as a reminder, staff will require the applicant to work with the soil conservation district to develop a conservation plan at the time of permitting. With that said, staff is recommending approval of the special use permit and approval of the two variances requested. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Is this not in the airport property area? This is within the footprint of the airport property, but I believe the applicant I'm not sure if they reached out to the actual, you know, whoever's in charge of developing the property, the airport, but the only I guess submitt that they submit was that just that FAA glare study that they submitted basically saying that although it was that green glare that was predicted, the FAA official policy on green glare is that it's insignificant for for pilots. But to answer your question, this is within the ultimate footprint of the airport. And uh is the applicant for this the same one as the 20 acres that was to the north previously? It is the same. Yes. Kind of assume such but any

no more questions. Right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We'll hear from the applicant. Is there anybody here to speak on behalf of this? Uh okay. Let the applicant do their presentation. How many people want to speak about the solar facility? Just just one. Okay. Makes it easier. Thank you.

I have some slides. Uh first of all, I want to thank uh Jesus in the planning department here at Will County. My name is Ch. I'm actually Chad Jabazi. I'm one of the co-founders of Synergy. Um been with the company for 17 years. Uh we've developed and built close to half half a gigawatt 500 of these projects all across the US. Um in including 20 in Illinois. Uh so I I believe uh Jesus has the slides. Did you say 500 total? 20 in Illinois. Is that what I heard? 20 in nearly 20 in Illinois. And did you say 500 total of these or Yes. Yeah. So you're all over the country?

Yes. Yes, sir. And the first project was is actually owned by um Oko development partner called ESP uh solar. Uh this project is is actually owned by our company. So just wanted to clarify that um um our mission is to speed economic benefits of clean energy projects to local communities. Like I mentioned, we have 20 plus projects um working with different municipalities here in Illinois, mostly in northern Illinois. We also have some in downstate uh near the St. Louis uh uh area um on the Illinois side in Madison County. Um we've been in business for over 17 years and over 450 projects. Now, it's a little bit outdated. This is um we're out to project 500 or so. And um our annual bonding capacity, which we built up from zero uh to 300 million. Um this kind of a testament to our um ability to execute on these projects. Um, and uh, if you look at the picture, that's one of our largest projects in the Midwest. It's the airport project at Indianapolis airport. Three phases, uh, 25 megawws, um, serving the airport load there. Um, if you fly into Indianapolis, you'll you'll see that project. If you look out the window next to the runway. Next slide.

I was going to ask you about that because we've had people tell us that these would be a huge problem with airplanes. No, they're not. It's actually one at an airport.

Yeah, we actually developed several next to airports including here in Illinois. Two at Rockford airport, two at Pontiac, actually three projects at Pontiac airport. We have another one um I'm meeting with DuPage airport tomorrow. Um we have another one planned there. Next slide. So this project is uh um Jesus mentioned is near 5949 West Eagle Lake Road. Um it's close to 5 megawatt system. It's part of the community solar program called Illinois Shines here in Illinois. Um the construction is expected to take approximately six months. Um and scheduled maintenance will only be two to three times per year uh using a typical pickup truck. Um no on-site water is required. Um the great thing about this site is there is existing vegetative screening all pretty much all along the norththeast and west. Um, we did also receive the staff report which found I believe Jesus has already mentioned found that the Bavcoin solar application is complete, met all the county ordinance requirements and um was recommended for approval. Um, we also included a property value study that we conducted about six, seven months ago with a group called Kirkland Appraisal. um they worked um together along with the uh Illinois based appraiser to find that um and it's a 140 page report that there were no negative impacts um associated with property values in and around solar projects throughout the northern Illinois area. Um and that's in the executive summary I believe in the first few pages and then there's a more detailed conclusion on page 140. And then I'm going to get into three uh major economic benefits from the projects um in in a future slides. I did want to also mention that Mr. George Quain is here. He's the property owner. He's here if you like to hear him speak um in support of the project. He's he's

here with us tonight sitting in the back. Next slide. So this is I some of this is um Google Earth images that we've taken uh showing that some of the existing vegetative screening on the sides of the projects. Um these sites are compatible. We use a pollinator friendly mix seed mix where it's it's basically a meadowed habitat once the project's built. It's the quietest neighbor you'll have other than a cemetery. Um is and again uh the the visits for maintenance is two to three times a year with a pickup truck and and no other traffic or um uh issues as far as uh that type of thing uh for these projects. Next slide. Some of the same images that you saw uh uh of the project site looking west on on the north side of the project location uh and then looking east. Next slide. So the project again does allow for a pollinator friendly habitat. Um we will be uh meeting with the Wil and South County Soil and Conservation District prior to construction of the site. Um they have a pretty det as you know a detailed requirement and agreement. Um we just actually met with them on the first site that Jesus mentioned. Um that one is near construction. Uh and we'll be meeting with them once if once we get to the that point with with this site as well. Next slide. So we we basically took the ordinance and um broke down the major requirements from the ordinance and then uh as you can see we've pretty much met all the requirements as far as uh height restrictions um the the comed power lines and what needs to be put underground versus overhead. Uh the the setback requirements which is also a state standard. Um we did sir uh we did

conduct a glare study just to be safe um and found that there should be uh no glare issues and that's another reason why we're able to have these sites near airports um is because of of the fact that you know basically solar is basically meant to absorb light not to reflect it and that's why unless you're like at you know in Nevada with one of those um uh other types of projects where which reflect light and these panels are meant to absorb light, then you're not going to have reflection issues. And even with those projects in the desert, um the reflection doesn't cause uh an issue for their uh pilots because they fly right by them. But in this case, we're using what's called solar PV, photovoltaic modules, which absorbs the light. Um and then we exceed compliance on the height restriction for we we don't like to use uh we like to use the more a style fencing um and not have barb wires. So instead of 6 feet with barb wire, we do a minimum of 7 ft with no barb wire on the fencing. So that is something that uh meets the requirements of the county as well. Next slide. Um these are a few projects that we've either built or developed um uh recently. So there we have a project in Machznney Park uh and um we had we had a great relationship with that jurisdiction to develop it was a pro land that they owned and we developed a project um near residential neighborhood and then Carbon Hill uh similarly we're about to start construction on that project. We work the community um to provide benefits to them uh including donations um and uh that'll be a successful project that's built this year. Next slide. Just uh some outreach that we we like to do outreach with the community versus just, you know, coming up and presenting

and trying to get approvals on these projects. So, we we've um went out to the community and different uh folks that are uh uh uh prevalent within the community and requirements that we've had with different county representatives as well as the fire district um Manhattan fire protection district and then also some of the community engagement with local neighbors. We have one of the neighbors here today, Bruce Fberg, um who we've talked to several times about the project as well. Next slide. So, we talked about the community benefits from the project. Um, I'll just mention them really quickly. Uh, for the county government benefits, uh, there's a property tax regime under 35 ILCS 200. Um, so essentially they figure out it's based on the bas that tax basis is based on the size of the project. So, every megawatt is 218,000 from a tax basis, property tax basis. And then there's a tax rate that's applied. So there's a calculation. So on an annual basis, the county and it's the flow down that the county receives will receive anywhere from 20 to 25,000 per year for this 5 megawatt project. Um over the lifetime of the project, uh that's you know up roughly 400,000 in tax benefits. In addition to that, u for every project, we try to set aside um a budget for donations to local community stakeholders. In this case, we've set aside $200,000 and that'll be we're already talking to the local um uh nonprofits and agencies and we'll be um uh deciding on which entities for the first project ESP solar has decided to uh donate $100,000 to the village of Pieton. Um I believe there was an article about that recently and then in our case uh we'll be making those decisions over the next few months. Um, and then the final uh economic benefit uh from the project is this is a community solar project. So it essentially allows homeowners and

renters to save on their utility bills by signing on to the project. Uh our goal is to have as many Will County residents be a participant. Uh each project can take, you know, 700 or so uh subscribers. So we we plan on um having the majority of those folks here in Will County. Yeah. Go ahead. So I've heard about this before. I guess I don't know all the specifics. So, this is something that's written into the bill that goes to the community and this is something you have to do. Yes. And is it it's limited to 700? Is that what you just said?

It it roughly comes out to about 700 customers depending on their usage for each project and depending on the system size. So, in this case um we have we have about uh a 5 megawatt project. So, roughly 700 or so subscribers to the project. And how is that determined? By distance or there's no distance requirement. As long as you're in Kameed territory, you can sign on to the project. So you just have to be in the service territory. So it's not just people in Pon or Rooney. Somebody in Lockport. Yes. Can sign up. Yes.

Not necessarily because they have a community solar so close to their home. It's it's as easy as literally the company we use has a site that you can go on subscribe and then you see you start to see your savings within 30 days and you can you can you can basically leave the subscription anytime you'd like as well. No no no rep payment penalties, no uh obligations beyond the time that you've subscribed to the project. So then how do people know about this? Yeah. So basically it's up to us to make sure that residents know. Um, so we there's community outreach events that we have, um, webinars and the like. And so you don't necessarily do mailings.

Uh, I don't believe our company the the company we use does mailings. I could I could check on that, but I'm not sure if that's the case. Yeah. And I'm trying to learn about this about all cases though because I mean a common thing I hear from people is we get no benefit from this. And of course they have complaints sometimes, but no, there's definitely benefit. Anybody in Will County would benefit anyone in Will County. there's open spots because it's it's based on how many megawws you produce and percentage of what each home uses. Then any anyone that wants to subscribe can can subscribe and I can tell you we have other projects. So even if it's the you know if it's not the Quain project that is available we'll have other projects for Will County subs uh folks to subscribe to our projects with the same probably aware of this. Everybody's complaining about their electric and gas bridge.

Yes. Data centers, polar vortexes. So people tomorrow could probably go out somewhere, find a website and try to sign up.

We have projects right now, not even the will, you know, the will bath queen project. We have other count projects in KMED where if someone, you know, we reached out to the folks here that are here today, you know, we set up a webinar for other folks within Will County. You know, uh there there are projects that they can sign up to today for one of our projects that are active to subscribe to those projects and receive the savings. Thank you for that because this probably isn't completely pertinent to your case, but I I think that's something nobody really is aware of or taking advant I think our industry just needs to do a better job of educating the public. So frankly um I think I have one more slide which is just the takeaways. So just the takeaways uh existing conditions are applicable and suitable um for this project. It meets the state stand sighting law standards. it meets the ordinance. We received a recommended approval from the staff. Um traffic impacts are minimal because essentially there is no traffic once the project's built after 6 months. Um and then we've attempted to uh address local stakeholder concerns. We continue to meet with them. Um and then uh the benefit economic benefits that we talked about the $200,000 set aside the property taxes um that the estimated property taxes per year and that's a flow down from the county to school districts and townships and then the 10 to 20% electricity bill credit savings from the project to the Will County residents. Happy to answer any questions.

Sorry to interrupt during the No, no problem. just seems pertinent when you're on. Yeah. No, absolutely. Anybody else? Any Thank you so much. what the public has to say. Thank you.

We're ready for public comment. Anybody who wants to speak in favor or against this project, come on down. And I personally don't think we need to hear from the owner, but if anybody on the commission wants to certainly entertain that. Hello, Lester Batterman. I live on the road where the project is being proposed. Uh, as a local farmer, not not I'm opposed to losing more farm ground to more projects like this, especially being that they're not self-sustainable without federal funding to go support them. Uh, our area is also very depressed because of for the last 40 years because of the Poton airport project. Our neighborhood keeps getting look looking more desolate. uh part of this uh project. They also asked for variance for not cutting the weeds as often as and letting them grow higher. We've already got plenty of that in our neighborhood with the state taking over all of our properties and tearing down our homes, knocking down our tax base. And once they tear down the homes, there's no more maintenance done. And we have our neighborhood looks like crap. We got weeds growing everywhere. We got trees falling down which just brings in more people to drop off their trash in our neighborhood. And so I guess I know I can't stop this project, but I would like to put my support in and not pass any other two variances that go with this to keep our neighborhood at least looking decent. And that's all I got.

Thank you. Anybody else speak? Come on down. My name is George Queen. I'm owner and I'm just going to basically cover one thing. Uh, one thing that is important to me is the land itself. People complain about losing farmland. People complain about things going bad. One thing about a project like this is the land becomes better after 20 years of being instead of having tillillage whatever or putting up houses or doing all sorts of things there's going to be cover crop the ground will be better if that's needed the project can be pulled out you've got perfectly even better farmland than when you started. Uh, as far as looking bad, I agree with some of the problems we've had. They show picture of the land across the street from the project. Nothing but old trees. That's the state of Illinois does not take care of the land. We will take care of it with the variances. We keep it mowed. It's got a good growth. And the other thing is for people who need power. Uh I've uh been a professional photographer for over 50 years. I do a lot of work now that needs uh uh artificial intelligence and other computer work and we use electrical power and power is important and to be able to have it and to have it at a discount is better. So primarily the two

things the land comes off better at the end of the project. That's basically it. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Well, Chad, I know I butchered your name because I didn't write it down fast enough. Miss Chaposzi Chapazi, if you got any more comments after the two speakers, well, come on down. I We better make it official. And I I will ask you Since m Mr. Bannerman did bring up the trash and the weeds, how how will you be handling Yes. Will you be handling the outside of the perimeter? I I assume your fence is off the property line.

It's pretty close to the property line. So, how will we be handling outside the fence as well?

We're going to help manage all of it. So, we're going to help, you know, essentially whether it's like right outside the property line or inside, we'll be doing vegetative mowing. We do it on all of our sites, mowing, cutting, weed management at least two to three times a year. And that's especially during the spring and summer months. So yeah, if you come to any of our sites, you'll see they look I wouldn't say pristine, but they look very good, very professional. We maintain all of them. So, and then we do have a decommissioning bond for any concerns. Um I think Pesus brought that up as far as if you know we were to ever go away, there'd be a company that's stepping into our place with the bond issued. So u we do manage all of our sites. We don't just let you know weeds grow. We know how important that is. We, you know, like I mentioned, we have many sites here in Northern Illinois. Happy to give you a tour one of these days if you if you'd like. So,

um, the owner had mentioned cover crops. He's just talking about the vegetative that you're going to plant, the native plants you're going to plant there, not actual cover crops. It's totally different things, right? So, we're what we do is we we do a seed cover during construction. That's part of our best management practices is we went over that actually with the water uh conservation district today on on the first site. And then we do also plant the pollinators. So those will be planted lowlying and that's why we ask for the variance because they can grow pretty tall. So we we just ask the from a variance I believe of you know and you you plant those after the project is finished.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. We'll plant the pollinators. So it'll be in almost like a meadowed habitat. And how soon um since you already own part of that property, how soon will you start the first project? The first project starting this summer then this next project will depend on, you know, uh other factors. So, but soon if it were approved this year, then we'd probably start by next year at the latest.

And the discounts are only available to the well county itself. It's it's it's actually they're available to anyone within what's territory, but we what I was trying to say is we have existing if people don't want to wait, they can sign up to our projects tomorrow or today. They don't have to wait for that project. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

I did find it. They have a list of the grasses and setches in their seed mix. I I know most proposals have that. I will confess I did not flip through every page of this proposal. I flipped through a lot of proposals. They start all looking like a blur. But yes, it is in here. Any other questions? Did we adequately address any questions by the other speakers? Take that as a yes. So for the state sake of clarification, special use permit carries on to the county and the two variances will stay here and here tonight. Okay. What's commission's pleasure Mr. Vice Chairman KC25 225-044 approval for special use permit for commercial solar energy facility applies to 52.65 65 acres.

Second. Rogers. Vote please. Karen Warick. Lewis Nbrt. Roger Bentonous. Yes. John Kefner. Yes. Two. That will be the recommendation that goes on to the land use department and the county board. Then vice chair. Sage BC25-112 variance 25 51 var for maximum ground cover plant height from 13 in to 36 in.

I'll second. But you know, I stated before when it comes to these are variances, there's no enforcement authority. So I I just vote yes on them because it doesn't really make any difference. Other discussion on it? I kind of agree with you. I'd like to know that the state of Illinois is going to follow through 5 10 years later and what what's it going to look like 2530 years or 40 years down the road? Are the fences going to be up and you know it's like it's just it's ridiculous but it is what it is. That's what I think the fences they would have their best interest to not let it get in disrepair. They don't want scrappers or anybody coming in and trying to tear the place.

It depends how many times these projects get sold to different companies. It's just uh you know my opinion it's just going to be a total mess down the road. But that's what it's going to be. I I did shoot a proposal to a couple county board people about two years ago that we try to institute a inspection fee yearly that is attached to their application and that would pay for an inspector to come out and look at it because I don't think the county is going to inside their budget just up and send somebody out twice a year to make sure that it's been mowed that's not weedy and such. But if there was some kind, but maybe that wouldn't be allowed by the state law.

Well, the law can always change too, you know. I mean, even even as far as what uh they share with local communities, I mean, that that's what it is today. But is that going to be there five years from now? You know, it's just And I think the major thing about an inspection fee would be to make sure every year that that bond is still in place too in case of a bankruptcy or something because

I know somebody who once had a vehicle under loan catch on fire and then when they went to collect on the vehicle, he said, "Well, I didn't have it insured." and insurance was a requirement of the note on the vehicle, but nobody had double checked to make sure he had it insured. So therefore, they got to repossess a burnt vehicle that had many dollars owed on it. And that's kind of what I can foresee happening to some people 20, 30 years down the road here. Yeah. And you know, nobody knows what it's going to cost to decommission these things and at this point in time anyhow. So, right, we didn't cover this with decommissioned any

Well, we didn't cover it with this one, but other ones have submitted the decommission report and they say that they have an inflation factor into it, but I know they say a lot of things. It's blind faith. They say a lot of things, but blind faith. You want to vote on that second? Any other discussion then? So, we have a motion in the second. A roll call vote on variance or item two. Karen Warwick. Yes. Lewis Envousen. Yes. John Kener. Yes.

B-25-152.

Second. Roll call vote, please. Karen Warwick. Yes. Lewis Nette. Yes. Roger Benhousen. Yes. John Kefner. Yes. So, we're more definitive on the variances. One more. There's one more variance. Oh, no. Oh, never mind. Yep.

On both variances. The vote were four to zero. So, if you get your permit, you'll be allowed to plant pollinators would be my understanding. Correct. I'm not overspeaking my authority here. Easy to get myself in trouble here tonight. So staff will obviously be following up with you and you know how it all works to uh address the next round with the county government. And I think you need a motion to postpone case number ZC25-131 to our March 3rd meeting. We're advising that's still the same story, right? Correct. You're making that motion.

I made the motion and second motion by Roger. Second Karen to move case number four to 3426. Yep. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sorry, I misheard you. I thought you said something else. 33. Not 34. Wait, no. 34 or 32? 33. 33.

Oh, I wrote 34 when you talked to me about See, there's the dyslexia to me. 3326. Roger probably even said that. So, is there any other business? Any updates on the potential new cases? Well, in terms of announcements, um, county board will be voting to appoint a new commissioner to the commission Thursday. So, we should be up to full strength upon the vote. Good deal. And that would have take place immediately. They'd be at the next meeting then, right? No, wait. Correct.

Well, I hope they don't get thrown right into a big fire. Any public comment? Two gentlemen from the public still here. Any comment? No, it wasn't shower. Well, he's still public and we don't need an executive session. And can we is there any update on the other dates we were given like March 19th and April 6th or whatever? I'm pulling them out of thin air, but are they happening? Um, I think there's a strong consideration for the March 18th, 19th and then 30th, 31st are the two dates being thrown around both in March.

I planned a vacation for the last week of March, 30th and 31st. So 18th, 19th is Wednesday, Thursday and then 30th, 31st is Monday, Tuesday. So good on both of them. The March 30th, 31st, that's known as Holy Week, right? That's from I think from Good Friday to Easter. So that's when most kids are on vacation. That's not fun. Not when you want to go on vacation, but that does affect a lot of people's lives. That's when a lot of people plan vacation, I think. So, yeah.

Yeah. I'll have to look real quick. Easter is the 5th, right? Easter Sunday. Yeah. No other business. A motion to objourn. So, move. I have a motion by Lewis Neet and second by Roger. All in favor? I. I. 40. Oppose. Same. We're jerk have you got you