Action has been taken by the Vermilion County Board to form a subcommittee to view wind and solar farm applications. County Board Chairman Larry Baughn explained some of the people who will be involved.
AUDIO: We’ve got EMA Director Rudd, as well as the Highway Engineer Adrian Greenwell representing the county; and then just some constituents, Former Finance Committee Chair and Former Board Member Steve Fourez is part of the committee as well. And what they’ll do is just go over the application, and make sure that the application meets all the criteria that the county has.
A few months back the new state law set setback requirements for wind towers that cannot be surpassed by counties. It’s now 1.1 times the maximum blade top height of the wind tower to the nearest point on the properly line of participating residences, and 2.1 times for nonparticipating residences. But in addition to looking out for that, the subcommittee will have other things to watch for when they meet, as member and Vermilion County Emergency Management Agency Director Russell Rudd explains.
AUDIO: To make sure nothing’s in a flood plain or would be disruptive of drainage and waterways and stuff like that. We take a look at their HazMat thing, mostly its just batteries and acid batteries on there; but make sure they got plans to take care of it in case there is an accident.
Chairman Baughn mentioned that next month the County Board will be voting on an updated ordinance to match the state’s updated ordinance.
