The local legal battle over solar farms isn’t over despite a court order that forced the Will County Board last week to approve six projects.

The villages of Channahon and Shorewood plan to appeal the decision by Will County Judge Ben Braun that ordered approval of the projects.

The mayors of both villages look toward a Winnebago County case now in the state appellate court, hoping a decision that favors local control could eventually undo plans for three solar farms that would be built near their borders.

The legal battles test whether state law setting rules for solar farms takes away local control over where they can be located.

Joliet attorney James Murphy represents Winnebago County in that solar case and argues that state law does allow for local control by giving counties authority to issue special use permits for solar farms.

“Special use permits by their very nature allow for local control and discretion,” Murphy said, noting that the law also provides for public hearings on solar farm permits. “That in itself shows there’s some amount of local control.”

A Winnebago County judge ruled in favor of the county before that decision was appealed by the developer of the Tate Road Solar project near Rockford.

“The law was never designed to take away a county’s ability to rule,” said Shorewood Mayor Clarence “CC” DeBold, noting discussions he had with state legislators who voted for the solar law.

But the courts have yet to settle the impact of the law.

Braun ruled earlier this month that the Will County Board violated state law when rejecting six solar projects based on local objections to their locations.

The board reversed its previous decisions on April 16 under the threat of possibly being held in contempt of court and granted special use permits that would allow the six projects to move ahead.

Braun pointed to a recent decision in the state’s Third District Appellate Court against a Grundy County attempt to reject a solar farm.

The Third District also hears cases from Will County, and county officials here decided there was no point in trying to appeal the Braun decision.

The Winnebago County case was heard this week in the Fourth District Appellate Court.

“We are hoping that one will be different,” Channahon Mayor Missey Moorman Schumacher said.

A different decision in the Fourth District could move the legal fight over solar rules to the Illinois Supreme Court, where Channahon and Shorewood could eventually block the solar projects they oppose, Schumacher said.

Grundy County already has asked the state Supreme Court to review its case, said David Silverman, an attorney for both Shorewood and Channahon.

“That case is still alive if the Supreme Court agrees to hear it,” Silverman said.