Yorkville aldermen have sent back to committee a proposal for a solar farm on about 10 acres of agricultural land on the southeast side of the city.
Cenergy Power is seeking special use permit approval to install and operate 7,000 solar modules with a maximum height of 7 feet at its farm land near Routes 126 and 71.
Ald. Carlo Colosimo said he has concerns with the proposal that need to be addressed.
“There are issues with how close it would be to the subdivision that I don’t like about this solar farm. It is way to close to our residents,” Colosimo told The Beacon-News.
He said there are issues that need to be addressed with the plan.
“There are things we have to hash out at committee,” he said.
The property is part of a 91-acre site that was zoned for Windmill Farms, a planned unit development that came to a halt at the start of the 2008 recession.
The solar power project was scheduled to go before the City Council’s Economic Development Committee on May 1, but due to a lack of a quorum the meeting was cancelled.
The city appointed Planning and Zoning Commission had a public hearing May 9 and forwarded a favorable recommendation to the City Council. The plan commission’s vote of approval was 5-1 with one abstention.
However, aldermen voted unanimously to send it back to the Economic Development Committee for discussion rather than consider a vote.
According to city documents, Oswego Family Church recently purchased three parcels at the site and is looking to renovate a building, possibly for the start of a new worship facility, and to lease another parcel to California-based Cenergy Power for the solar farm.
