City Council says no to solar farm project on Ellington Road

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council agreed with the Plan Committee’s recommendation to reject a request for a special permit to allow the development of a solar farm at 3622 Ellington Road.

The Plan Commission’s meeting was busy last week with 14 speakers sharing their enthusiasm for and against the project. The Plan Commission unanimously agreed to recommend denying the application.

There were eight speakers during public comment portion of Monday night’s City Council meeting who shared their thoughts on the project. Five were in opposition of the solar panels, three were in favor.

Gerald Rose had “concerns related to aesthetics, health implications, potential property value declines, inefficiency and other risks associated with the proximity of solar arrays in residential areas.”

Dennis Klauser questioned where the special permits would end if this one was granted.

“If you give them a permit to do it there, what’s going to say they don’t want to go across the street on the other open field?” he asked aldermen.

“We have millions of acres in Adams County. Why do we have to have it here?” said Butch Schutte, who lives near the proposed solar project. “Why don’t we have it somewhere where it’s not visible, like the one down the road? You can’t see that from Ellington Road. I just think that there’s a lot of other places that we could build something like this.”

Moira Cronin, who worked on the proposal on behalf of Summit Ridge Energy, said communities all around Illinois are doing their part to use solar energy.

“We are asking the City of Quincy to do their part,” she said.

Both Harold Ellerbrock, owner of the property, and his son Brad spoke about supporting the project. They wanted the city to honor their freedom to use their land as they pleased. They also emphasized the financial benefit for the county, as they would be paying more taxes.

“My part of the world, where I live in Northern Illinois, solar farms are happening all day long, everywhere … the world knows we don’t have enough power,” Brad said.

Harold was dismayed at the community reaction he received.

“I was shocked that (the citizens of nearby Country Meadows subdivision have) attacked it and were so vicious and cruel to me,” he said.

Alderman Kelly Mays (R-3) motioned to deny the request and Mike Adkins (R-3) seconded. The motion passed 8-4, with two members of the council — Eric Entrup (R-1) and Jake Reed (R-6) — absent. Entrup had requested for the City Council to table the request for one week.

Jeff Bergman (R-2), Laura McReynolds (R-5), Ben Uzelac (D-7) and Jack Holtschlag (D-7) voted against the request, supporting the solar farm.

The council’s discussion was brief. Uzelac asked that “if there’s an opportunity for (residential development in the same area) down the road, they remain committed to that development.”

“This council did approve solar farms on certain already zoned properties … and this is not one of them, which is why they need the special permit,” Mays said. “I personally am not in favor of giving special permits for solar panels.”

She later elaborated that she didn’t want to change the Future Land Use already issued to the property.

“If you buy a house out in the country … people (use that) to see what could be done with the land near [their] house,” Mays said.

McReynolds explained after the meeting that she supported the solar project because she believed the need for power outweighed the citizen’s concerns.

“The objections were visual. They don’t want to look at it,” she said. “I don’t blame them, but I do believe we need more power and development.”

The Ellerbrocks did not want to comment after the City Council’s vote.

The state of Illinois aims to use 100 percent clean energy by 2050, according to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act of 2021. The Illinois Environmental Council says the state is on track to use 25 percent renewable energy by the end of 2025, up from 10 percent in 2019.

New solar projects will continue to be proposed in Quincy — just not at the corner of 36th and Ellington Road.

Annie C. Reller is a Seattle native and a recent Stanford graduate working as an intern for Muddy River News this spring.