At the Nov. 15 meeting of the Stephenson County Board, protesters to the wind turbine projects in Stephenson County were handed a notice that we were not legally allowed to contact our County Board representative in any way concerning this issue once the question was before the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Under these rules, it appears I was only legally allowed to protest these projects to my County Board member during the time before I knew these plans existed.
Although those landowners approached by Navitas as potentially willing to lease turbine sites to them and Navitas itself have apparently been free to contact board members for two years to promote their viewpoint, I myself only learned from a neighbor of the existence of these plans and the proposed locations for turbines 10 days before the first meeting of the zoning board.
I learned the size of the wind turbines at the Navitas presentation to the County Board one day before the ZBA hearing.
Where was the time we unsuspecting citizens could make our opinions known to our representatives?
Since this newspaper, having expressed support for the projects, has never published a map showing the locations of all 96 turbines, or a single photograph or diagram in which the size of them could be judged, I think the majority of the residents you are responsible for informing are going to be shocked and horrified to see the changes to their horizons next spring if these plans are carried out.
Carol Johnson
Dakota
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/11/18/changes-on-the-horizon-with-turbines/