LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Posted October 27, 2018
Dear Editor:
I live in Farmer City and started attending county board meetings when I learned of their plans to bring industrial wind turbines to the western part of the county. I observed the board members hear, then dismiss the zoning ordinance changes recommended by the Regional Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals that would have exercised some reasonable control over the project.
One would expect that a tower could not be erected so close to a landowner’s property line that the safety perimeter recommended by the turbine vendor would overlap the landowner’s property. One would expect the board to limit the maximum height of the towers in consideration of the surrounding residents. Since the county board dismissed those recommendations, the county residents can now look forward to 600 ft. towers 660 feet from their property, with the whooshing noise, shadow flicker from the turning blades, and constant blinking red lights at night.
One needs only to listen to someone living in the teeth of the Macon county wind complex to understand what is coming to Dewitt county. The county board has upended a way of life that we came here for and stay here for.
The board members have no doubt done this because of the appeal of the bloated and unsubstantiated tax revenue projections that Tradewind Energy has submitted. I can’t speak to all of the claims, but I do know that state aid to the school district will decrease in proportion to the property tax gain from the project.
The Tradewind Energy Alta II complex will likely not be visible from my home in the country in the eastern part of the county, but phase two of the project will be, and more will come after that because of the decisions of this board.
I will vote for Travis Houser, Christy Pruser, and Terry Ferguson in District B, and urge others to vote for Melonie Tilley, Nate Ennis, and Dan Matthews in District D, for Dewitt county board with the hope that the county residents will be considered in future decisions.
Patrick Ryan
Farmer City, IL 61842
