Will County Judge Victoria Breslan on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order to stop a planned vote on the 6,100-acre Pride of the Prairie solar complex.

A vote on the project is on the agenda for the Will County Board when it meets Thursday morning.

At that same meeting, the board will be under a separate court order to approve six other solar projects that it previously rejected.

“I talked to a lot of people, and this is definitely unprecedented,” board Speaker Joe Van Duyne, D-Wilmington, said Wednesday.

Breslan’s order requires the county to provide prospective neighbors who own land adjoining the proposed solar complex an opportunity to make their case against the plan with evidence and cross-examination.

Attorney Steven Becker is representing 16 clients and has filed a lawsuit contending that they should have been allowed to make that case at a public hearing that ran two nights on March 30 and 31.

“These are critical Constitutional rights, and they cannot be pigeon-holed into a five-minute comment period,” Becker said, remarking on restrictions on comment at the public hearing when in court on Tuesday.

Becker and attorneys for the county and developer Earthrise argued at that court hearing over the latitude that should have been given to adjoining property owners at the March public hearing.

Breslan in her order said the county does not need to restart the entire hearing. But it does need to allow Becker and his clients time to present evidence and conduct cross-examination.

At the public hearing held by the Will Bounty Board Planning and Zoning Commission, Becker tried to present evidence against the solar plan and wanted to cross-examine representatives of developer Earthrise.

But county officials said all speakers were limited to five minutes during a public comment period.

Breslan in her order agreed with the plaintiffs that the five-minute comment period provided to the general public does not satisfy state and county law, which allows adjoining property owners to present evidence and conduct cross-examination when a special use permit is proposed for neighboring property.

“While they were permitted to submit questions, that process did not allow for follow-up, clarification, or meaningful testing of testimony,” Breslan wrote in her order. “Cross-examination serves a distinct function that cannot be replaced by general public comment or delayed responses.”

The planning and zoning commission in an advisory vote recommended against the Pride of the Prairie project.

But the final decision has to be made by the county board, which is already under the separate court order to approve solar projects that they had previously rejected.

Breslan sided with plaintiffs who argued that they need to make a case at the public hearing level so it becomes part of the record for any future litigation and debate on the project.

“Because Plaintiffs were denied the opportunity to develop that record through cross-examination and evidence, any later review would necessarily be based on an incomplete and one-sided record,” she wrote.

Van Duyne said the county board on Thursday will take a vote to remove the Pride of the Prairie project from the agenda and send it back to the planning and zoning commission.

The meeting, which starts at 9:30 a.m., has been moved to the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center in Joliet to accommodate what has been expected to be a large public turnout.

At the same meeting, the board will vote on another controversial Earthrise project – Plum Valley Solar, which covers 2,400 acres in Crete, Monee, Will, and Washington townships.

The board also will vote on the six previously rejected solar projects with legal advice that it could be held in contempt of court if they are denied again.

Will County Judge Ben Braun last week ordered that the county approve the projects by April 17 after solar companies went to court.

State law aimed at encouraging the development of renewable energy takes away county authority to determine where solar complexes can be built.

Van Duyne issued a statement on Tuesday saying the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office has advised that individual board members could face jail time or fines ”if they defy the court order and vote ‘no," and the county, too, could be subject to fines and sanctions.

“The Will County Board respects the court and the rule of law,” Van Duyne said in the statement. “However, recent developments have placed our members in a terrible bind in which they are ordered to cast votes they sincerely believe are against the best interests of our community. We must fight to restore local authority to regulate solar facilities and allow our County Board to vote in good faith.”