THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: The Tilton Village Board discusses a draft solar ordinance and other agenda items at a special meeting Thursday night. (Jennifer Bailey/The News-Gazette)
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TILTON — Tilton board members discussed a draft solar ordinance Thursday night in a special meeting where Earthrise Energy officials brought up some objections and issues they’d like clarified or changed.
The requests included reducing the setback requirement of 1,800 feet, which Earthrise representatives called “very excessive.” If left intact, it would essentially kill their proposed Catlin-Tilton Road project, they claimed, and asked for it be around 300 to 500 feet. Another request was for the special-use permit to be for 35 years, not 25, to help cash flow and match the expected life of the equipment on the solar farm.
Earthrise officials also talked about adjusting the decommissioning time frame cited in the draft ordinance from six months to one year due to winter weather possibly affecting the process.
Mayor Billy Wear said notes and suggestions from Earthrise and audience members, as well as recommendations and comments from Paul Mwebaze, a research economist and visiting scholar at the University of Illinois Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment, will be used to form a final draft of the ordinance.
Mwebaze’s comments included that the draft ordinance “feels a bit restrictive” with some requirements, but “maybe that’s what’s needed.”
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