Proposed solar garden on drainage land splits DeKalb County Board

SYCAMORE – A proposed solar garden in rural DeKalb County split the DeKalb County Board recently amid concerns that the garden would sit on land meant to provide irrigation for multiple farmers in the southeastern part of the county.

A special permit request for the creation of a five-megawatt solar garden in Squaw Grove Township was sent back to the public hearing officer in a split vote by the DeKalb County Board.

DeKalb County legislators had three options for the special permit request from Ironwood Renewables, with Shenandoah Solar: approve the request, deny it, or send the petition back to the public hearing officer. The County Board chose the later option in a 15-8 vote. No final decision has yet been made on the request.

Seven Republican County Board members – John Frieders, District 12; Kathy Lampkins, District 2; Maureen Little, District 1; Joseph Marcinskowski, District 11; Roy Plote, District 11; Tim Bagby, District 3 and Patrick Deutsch, District 2 – were joined by Scott Campbell, a Democrat from District 7, voted against sending the petition back for further consideration.

The County Board’s decision was made after a handful of comments against the request by Ironwood Renewables, parent company of Shenandoah Solar, were made by members of the public during the June 21 board meeting.

“Renewable energy can be very helpful and useful in some situation, however, this specific proposed solar farm is not one of those situations,” area resident Kristen Faber said.

“There is a potential for flooding, crop loss, short and longterm effects,” said Alan Bark of Squaw Grove Township. “Drainage issues sometimes take a long time to show up, and the conditions on the permit do not account for this issue. This most definitely would prevent the use of the existing neighboring property.”

Project Developer Hamilton Carrier attended the County Board meeting and rebuffed Bark and Baker’s statements.

“The issues presented to this point are not unlike issues presented in other applications for this type of special use,” Carrier said.

Bark said the land the solar garden was proposed to sit on is a part the Devine Drainage District, an important system of waterways that help provide water for irrigation to farmers in southeastern DeKalb County.

“This is a great big spiderweb all through the ground that all of these farms are connected to,” said Jerry Osland, a Republican County Board member from District 12.

According to county documents, a private agreement between landowners created the Devine Mutual Drainage District in 1951, but that drainage district does not show up on DeKalb County maps of drainage districts.

“I do not fault the county, however, for not having the Devine Mutual Drainage District identified, nor the Petitioner, as it appears it was privately created, and has been operated privately by the participating members during it’s history,” DeKalb County Public Hearing Officer Dale Clark wrote of his findings from the April 27 public hearing on the petition. “I did not find any clear marker or recording numbers consistent with the County’s recording enumeration system. In any event, irrespective of the nature of that entity, it clearly exists, and is an important stakeholder in this process.”

Clark recommended the special permit request be approved. He also recommended the petitioners work with representatives of the Devine Drainage District – one of 32 conditions for approval listed in county documents.

Although the special permit request was sent back to the the public hearing officer for further considerations, according to county documents, Shenandoah Solar had hired Huddleston McBride Land Drainage Company to conduct a drainage tile survey, something that would need to be completed before a site development permit application could be submitted.

“Under most conditions, I’m a firm believer in property rights belonging to the owner of the property,” Frieders said. “But this is one of the rare occasions where I guess I would side with the idea that this drainage district is so vital to so many people who belong in that district, probably people who don’t belong in that district. ... When you sign up and are a part of a drainage district, you not only have a responsibility to yourself to take care of those [drainage] tiles, but you also have a responsibility to your fellow participants in that district.”