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McHenry County Board Chair Mike Buehler has cast a tie-breaking vote to allow for a solar farm near Union.
The solar farm was originally on a consent agenda with other zoning matters before the board Tuesday evening, but board member Mike Shorten pulled the item off it.
Buehler asked Shorten if he wanted to say anything before the vote, but Shorten indicated he just wanted to vote on it. Nobody on the county board discussed the solar farm Tuesday before the vote.
The board was tied after the vote, so Buehler cast the tie-breaking vote to approve it. Buehler only votes in cases of an evenly split board and has been a tie-breaking vote on contentious issues before.
In 2023, Buehler cast a tie-breaking vote against a proposal to raise the county gas tax from 4.7 cents per gallon to 6.7 cents per gallon. The board voted instead to raise it to 8 cents per gallon. The tax is indexed to inflation and currently stands at 8.5 cents per gallon, according to state records.
Some county board members have expressed frustration with state law that limits the county’s ability to restrict solar farms. While county board members didn’t discuss solar farms Tuesday, in the past the board has discussed the possibility of allowing solar farm approvals to bypass the county board.
The county’s zoning board of appeals unanimously recommended approving the solar farm in July. The farm is located off McCue Road, north of Hemmingsen Road near Union.
In 2023, the county board was sued by a solar farm developer over restrictions the board placed on the solar farms, and the lawsuit asserted those restrictions were not allowed because they were stricter than state law. The lawsuit was dropped after the county board voted to walk back those restrictions.
In October 2023, the county board voted down a solar farm but changed course and approved it on a second vote. One board member who voted against it the first time and for it the second time specifically mentioned litigation as why they changed their vote.