A DeKalb commission, tasked with advising the City Council on planning and zoning matters, has given its nod of support this week to a developer’s plans for a solar farm at the southwest corner of Illinois Route 38 and John Huber Parkway.

A Denver-based developer, PureSky Energy, has asked for city approval to build a 5-megawatt ground-mounted solar system on about 38 acres of land.

The Planning and Zoning Commission’s decision this week is not the final say on the matter. The City Council still needs to weigh in on the developer’s request.

Michael Larkin, a manager on the development team at PureSky Energy, made a pitch to the commission asking for its support.

According to its website, PureSky Energy is also the developer behind community solar farms in New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maryland.

“We target these states that have this structure ... in order to develop these projects and share electric savings,” Larkin said.

Around this time last year, the DeKalb City Council approved an annexation and development agreement for the property. That measure required the developer to seek additional approvals this week for a final development plan and final plat for the solar farm.

City Planner Dan Olson urged the commission for its support.

“The plan pretty much matches the concept plan the commission previously saw last year,” Olson said.

The developer intends to subdivide the land at the northeast corner of the site and roadway and establish a utility easement along the southeast portion of the property to accommodate future roadway expansion, along with the construction of an overpass on John Huber Parkway.

The plans call for a grid-tied solar system with interconnection to ComEd’s distribution network that, once operational, would provide renewable electricity to approximately 900 to 1,000 homes per year, city documents show.

In supporting the development, project leaders have also been called upon to provide a landscape maintenance and monitoring plan. In it is guidance on seed plantings, tree and shrub installations and ground maintenance requirements.

Larkin said they plan to lean on pollinator-friendly species and others to help stabilize the ground and meet stormwater requirements.

City staff said they have reviewed the petitioner’s plans along with the DeKalb County Highway Department for the future extension of John Huber Parkway.

Olson said the city’s action may help lay the groundwork for extending the roadway.

“I don’t know when the extension will occur,” Olson said. “I think it’s going to be down the road quite a ways, but with this site and the planning, it sets things up [to] make sure that when that does happen, this site dedicates or reserves the area for that future extension of the roadway.”

Under the petitioner’s plans, the two residents living in the farmhouse along Route 38 may remain, city documents show. Neither of the existing farm buildings can be removed from the site, either.

The petitioner intends to lease the land in question from the property’s owner, city documents show. The land is primarily maintained as an agricultural field, with corn and soybean crops rotated in.

Once constructed, the solar farm is expected to operate for 25 to 30 years.

The petitioner has submitted a decommission plan to the city in the event that plans for the solar farm do not materialize or cease to operate, city documents show.

The commission unanimously sided with the petitioner to allow plans for the solar farm to proceed. Commissioner Maria Pena-Graham was absent.