LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Opposition wants judge to stop wind farm vote (revised) 

McLean County Board members won’t know until 30 minutes before their meeting today whether they will vote on a special-use permit for a proposed 100-turbine wind farm.

That’s when McLean County Circuit Court Judge Charles Reynard will give his decision on a request by wind farm opponents to postpone the vote.

Reynard took the issue under advisement late Monday after giving each side five minutes to present their arguments. Reynard was assigned the case late in the day after Melissa McGrath, the opponents’ attorney, asked for a different judge.

The case originally was going to be heard by McLean County Circuit Court Judge James Souk.

The County Board meets at 9 a.m. in Room 400 of the Government Center, 115 E. Washington St.

McGrath filed a petition Friday asking the court for an emergency temporary restraining order to stop the County Board vote, saying her clients did not get the required 35 days to review a Zoning Board of Appeals recommendation.

The zoning board recommended a special-use permit for the White Oak Wind Energy Center by Invenergy on Feb. 8 after 12 days of sometimes heated discussion.

But McGrath maintains the final findings of facts were not available to her clients until March 14, well short of the 35 days allowed by law.

But William Wetzel, the Bloomington attorney representing Invenergy, and McLean County Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Hug, who represents the County Board and the zoning board, argued the 35-day window applies to an appeal of a variance, not a special-use permit.

The zoning board makes a final decision on a variance request, but it only makes a recommendation on a special-use permit. The final decision is up to the County Board.

“The County Board can accept it, reject it, change it, add stipulations or find additional facts,” said Hug. “What that means is the zoning board of appeals decision was not final.”

Hug said the right time to appeal a decision is after the County Board votes. “This is not the time,” he said.

Wetzel agreed, saying McGrath’s petition was “fatally defective,” and would cause an “extreme hardship to my clients.”

But McGrath said her clients have the right to seek a court review. “If they can’t, the public and the court are being told they have no right to question the decision of the zoning board of appeals,” she said.

McGrath also voiced constitutional concerns about the zoning board’s process. She said the rules were changed after proponents presented their case. Proponents got unlimited time to testify, but opponents were limited to five minutes, she said.

Opponents were not allowed to present hearsay evidence, but proponents were allowed that right, she said. Invenergy also was allowed to submit testimony on studies but she was not allowed to cross-examine.

By Mary Ann Ford

pantagraph.com

19 March 2007

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon