By WMBD-TV
MORTON – In a 10-8 vote, a solar farm proposed to be built in Morton was denied.
In the Tazewell County Board’s meeting Wednesday, the special use request by Unsicker Solar was denied by the board.
One part of the decision was with the high amount of solar farms in the state already, the board took into consideration the amount of farmland available to the state.
David Zimmerman, Tazewell County Board Chairman, said among other factors, one was the uncertainty of what they were able to approve for solar farms.
“When the state passed the statute taking away our zoning, they said villages still have zoning authority over wind farms,” he said. “But they were silent on solar farms. So that’s where we’re kind of in a grey legal area here.”
Other topics covered in Wednesday’s meeting included land acquisition and the purchase of a new generator in Pekin.
WMBD-TV can be reached at [email protected].