The Will County Board Planning and Zoning Commission for a second time Tuesday recommended a no vote on Earthrise Energy’s plan for a 6,100-acre solar complex.

The board vote followed a hearing that lasted nearly three hours at the Renaissance Center in Joliet while attorney Steven Becker representing adjoining landowners questioned Earthrise representatives.

Becker made a case contending that Earthrise did not properly account for wetlands on 96 parcels of land it wants to use, provided insufficient information about more than 1 million solar panels it would install, and posed a threat to groundwater with 300,000 galvanized steel posts that would be used in the project.

Arguing that the Earthrise application was incomplete, Becker told the commission, “That gives you a perfect reason to vote no.”

The commission voted no by 4-1.

Earthrise representatives said Becker’s arguments against the application were off-base and issued a statement later saying they were confident the project would be approved by the Will County Board.

The board’s Executive Committee on Thursday will consider putting the the project on its May 21 agenda for a vote.

The hearing on Tuesday was a court-ordered continuation of a public hearing held on March 30 and 31, when dozens of people commented for and against the Earthrise project.

The commission then also voted against the project, but it turned down Becker’s attempt to present testimony and question Earthrise representatives on behalf of landowners abutting sections of the proposed solar complex.

A Will County judge ruled that owners of property abutting the project had a right to make the legal case and ordered that the hearing be reconvened.

Making that case mattered, Becker said after the Tuesday hearing, because “this is where the evidence is collected.”

Becker said his clients will continue to fight the Earthrise project in court if the County Board approves it.

The proposed project would spread through parts of Manhattan, Wilton and Green Garden townships.