Wind farm hearing rescheduled for March 21
A public hearing on a proposed wind farm is rescheduled to 9 a.m. March 21 in the Sycamore High School gymnasium, county officials announced Tuesday.
A meeting last Thursday was canceled when almost 400 people showed up for the public hearing, filling a room at the DeKalb County Health Facility and spilling into the hallway. Because of the insufficient space, officials postponed the hearing until a larger venue could be attained.
NextEra Energy Resources wants to build and operate a wind farm consisting of 151 turbines in portions of DeKalb and Lee counties; 18 would be in Lee County and the rest in DeKalb County. The Lee County Board has approved its portion of the project, and DeKalb County officials may be voting on the plan in April.
Paul Miller, the DeKalb County planning director, said that a Saturday morning was chosen to give anyone wanting to speak a chance to be heard in one shot.
“We wanted to create the possibility that everyone could be heard at one setting on one day, instead of possibly having to come back,” he said.
An evening hearing, as originally scheduled, would have had to be continued to a second session if it went beyond about 10 p.m.
Miller said a morning hearing will save people the extra traveling expenses of coming back a second time, as well as saving money for people who hired expert witnesses and attorneys to speak on the issue if they had to hire them again for a continued hearing.
The gym’s capacity is 1,100, school officials told Miller.
“We’ll devote a day to it,” he said. “We certainly expect it will go past the noon hour.”
By ELENA GRIMM – egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2009/02/24/17375034/index.xml
