The Jacksonville Planning Commission has placed on maintain a rezoning request for a proposed photo voltaic farm on Jacksonville’s east facet.
The plans fee denied property proprietor Jeff York’s request to rezone his present farm from a residential to a producing district with a particular use allow. York has entered right into a preliminary settlement with Summit Ridge Energy for the proposed development of a 5-megawatt photo voltaic farm on slightly below 60 acres of property positioned between Reynolds Consumer Products and the Prairie Knolls subdivision in East Morton. Ave.
Representatives from Summit Ridge Energy requested a zoning change and a potential variance to the town’s photo voltaic ordinance to permit the farm to be constructed inside 1,000 toes of an present residential district positioned at western boundary of the property.
Summit Ridge introduced the mission to the City Council in March and held a collection of metropolis open homes earlier than final evening’s rezone request that tried to handle considerations concerning the mission’s use and placement.
Plans Commission Chair Mike Oldenettel mentioned fee members have obtained communications from constituents and close by property homeowners saying they don’t seem to be in favor of the mission for a wide range of causes: “We’ve had a whole lot of actually wholesome dialogue – good questions from members of the fee panel and members of the neighborhood as properly. There appears to be – and I’ve obtained a whole lot of fee members as properly – [communications] from many people in the neighborhood who should not in favor of this transformation on this petition for the photo voltaic panel farm. My feeling is that it is due to its location – not that anybody must be in opposition to clear vitality – it isn’t. So the query is ‘Is this the proper location as a gateway to the City of Jacksonville?’ I believe that is the altering problem for many everybody. That’s how I really feel that the Planning Commission got here collectively tonight, and listened to what the constituents needed to supply, and we agreed.
The rezone request failed by a 5-1 vote, with fee member and Ward 3 Alderman Aaron Scott the one vote in favor of the mission. Scott moved a movement early within the dialogue to vote in favor of the rezone request but it surely died for lack of a second.
Neither members of Summit Ridge nor property proprietor Jeff York remained after the assembly to remark.
The denied rezoning request now heads to the Jacksonville City Council for its subsequent assembly on July 22n.d who can override the advice of the fee.
Disclosure: The writer of this text is a property neighbor who has supplied private and written objections to the Plans Commission and the Jacksonville City Council relating to this mission citing considerations, questions surrounding property taxes, native visitors and street use settlement considerations. , and daylight/reflectively issues and shielding {of electrical} present in photo voltaic panels that intervene with AM radio transmission alerts. This disclosure is to offer transparency and current to the general public that an try and sidestep this reporting has been tried.
