Pistakee Country Club near Lakemoor could become a solar farm, over residents' objections

A new solar farm could be coming to Lakemoor on land now home to the Pistakee Country Club.

The Lakemoor zoning board gave the solar farm a thumbs up Wednesday night, but some on the board indicated their vote was more to keep the process in Lakemoor’s hands.

The zoning board’s vote came after a hearing that lasted several hours and was standing room only and at times contentious.

Nearby residents for the most part were staunchly opposed to the proposal, citing environmental concerns such as the potential impact on the nearby Chain O’ Lakes and potential solar panel runoff in addition to home values and wells.

Resident Scott Giles said the proposal didn’t make sense and it came down to “a dollar-and-cents thing, not about a community, not about people, not about lives.”

Suzana Draginis, who also lives by the proposed solar farm, read the zoning board a statement opposing the development. She said she was speaking on behalf of many neighbors and community members.

Some of the issues Draginis raised include the effects of noise, natural sites and endangered species and solar waste.

“I am not advocating for the continued use of this land as a golf course, mainly as the load of toxins used to maintain such an entity requires a large toxic load, namely that of pesticides and fertilizers,” Draginis said in the statement, adding that fertilizers have damaged local waterways by encouraging algae blooms that harm aquatic life and damage ecosystems' balance.

She later said in her statement that solar waste contains toxic materials that can get into the soil and groundwater if not disposed of properly, and allowing that contamination would undermine the benefits of solar.

Representatives for the project, when asked if solar panels contain toxic materials, said they do not, and elaborated the panels contain glass, aluminum and silicone.

One resident who spoke at the meeting said other large parcels in the area have ended up being gravel pits, suggesting a solar farm is preferable and adding that people can’t specify what others do when they sell the property.

Gloria Foxman, who works for Turning Point Energy, the company behind the project, said its planning, development and construction “does bring jobs locally.”

Foxman said the project would bring in a projected $1 million of tax revenue over the lifetime of the project.

Other benefits touted include electricity savings opportunities, increased grid resiliency and reduced erosion, according to the presentation.

“Our vision is that it would be quiet and screened,” Foxman said, adding there was a glare study conducted that said there wouldn’t be any glare.

The proposal involves the property at 815 Bay Road being annexed into Lakemoor. Village Administrator Todd Weihofen said annexing it would allow the village to put more controls on it and it would raise that property’s value.

Weihofen said in the meeting that the solar farm was going to happen one way or another, and that the McHenry County Board – where the proposal would go if the land remains unincorporated – would “rubber-stamp” it. County Board member Carl Kamienski, who was in attendance, said that if a solar project came to the county, the board has little choice but to approve it because, if board members say no, the company seeking the permit could sue them.

The proposal is for a solar farm of about 32 acres, which would be screened from nearby homes that would include “extensive existing vegetation and additional buffer and native pollinator plantings.” The farm’s entrance is proposed to be off Cuhlman Road, which runs north-south on the east side of the property.

It wouldn’t be the first solar field in town. Weihofen said there was one at the Thelen gravel pit off Route 120.

A Pistakee Country Club representative could not be reached for comment.

The solar farm heads to the village board with a “yes” recommendation from the zoning board, but the village board will have the final say.