Ogle County Board denies 2 special-use permits for solar developments

The Ogle County Board voted unanimously Tuesday to deny special-use permits for two solar energy developments.

The first proposed development was for a 5-megawatt community solar energy facility on 89.56 acres in the 7000 block of North Stillman Road in Scott and Marion townships. Those township boards also voted against the proposal, along with the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning and Zoning Committee.

Residents of the area near the proposed solar facility attended the meeting and held up signs thanking the County Board after the denials. One resident spoke during public commentary.

“You voted for your constituents and for your people, and you said no,” Heather Lalor of Stillman Valley said. “You said, ‘Not here,’ where it has the potential to negatively impact so many people who simply chose to live where they chose to live.”

A representative from U.S. Solar, the developer of the Stillman Creek Solar project, also spoke during public commentary and said he hopes to come to a compromise with the county for a project to go forward in the future.

“It’s obviously not the outcome we were hoping for,” Ryan Magnoni of U.S. Solar said. “U.S. Solar is open to hearing any conditions that could be added to the application to find a happy medium for residents and the public to eventually move this forward.”

The second special-use permit denied Tuesday was for Cenergy Power for the construction of a 5-megawatt community solar energy facility on 29.34 acres at 9336 E. Hales Corner Road in Scott Township.

The Ogle County Board has considered a number of special-use permits for solar facilities in recent years, often hearing public comments from residents against them.

At its June meeting, the board denied a special-use permit for a solar facility in Mt. Morris Township by a vote of 17-4, with residents citing the property’s value as farmland.

Back in December, the board narrowly approved a special-use permit for a solar project between Forreston and Polo after previously denying that project due to it being on productive farmland. That petitioner changed its siting to less productive farmland and filed a lawsuit against Ogle County for the denial, stemming from a new state law that set statewide standards for wind and solar farm siting and took away previous local controls such as at the county level.

Planning committee updates

The board heard a facilities update from long-range planning committee Chairman Don Griffin during the meeting. Griffin updated the board on work that has been done in the basement of the old Ogle County Courthouse and introduced Steve Nelson of Larson & Darby engineering.

Nelson said a roof replacement is planned for the old Ogle County Courthouse in the coming months and presented proposed plans for a memorial circle plaza on the south end of the old courthouse, the former site of the previous Ogle County Jail.

Nelson said the project would be broken into three phases due to needed funds and would involve fundraising. Three benches for the project already have been donated. The first phase would include a statue on a podium with a circular concrete sidewalk surrounding it, connecting to existing sidewalk. Landscaping and shrubbery would be included as well.

The second phase would include a curved walkway into the memorial from the east, with a total of seven benches. The third phase would include landscaping including trees and shrubs, along with a canopy, the most expensive aspect of the project.

Constellation approval

The board voted 16-5 to approve a rezoning of 184.98 acres of land in the 4000 block of North Black Walnut Road in Marion Township from agricultural to industrial use for Constellation Energy, the owner of the Byron Nuclear Plant.

The Ogle County Board voted back in August 2024 to rezone 524 acres of land owned by Constellation around the Byron Nuclear Plant from agricultural to industrial as Constellation considers attracting industrial development, such as data centers.

“I want to thank the board for its vote of support tonight on behalf of our nearly 800 employees, site vice president and our plant family,” Ryan Tozer, Constellation manager of local government affairs, said Tuesday.

Vehicle purchase

The board unanimously voted during the meeting to spend $52,464.20 in opioid funds to purchase a 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe for the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office. The new vehicle will replace a squad car that was recently totaled in a crash.