A public hearing will be held on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m. in the office of the Champaign County Board of Commissioners, 1512 South U.S. Highway 68, Suite A100, Urbana, regarding the consideration of restricted areas in Champaign County for economically significant wind farms, large wind farms and large solar projects as set forth in Ohio Revised Code Section 303.58.
Accompanying this story is a map of proposed restricted areas of the county, as provided by the Champaign County Commissioners.
Substitute Senate Bill 52, which took effect on Oct. 11, 2021, included new wind and solar siting legislation. This legislation provides county commissioners with more power regarding proposed alternative energy projects. It provides authority for county commissioners to have control over certain aspects of large-scale wind and solar facilities including location and size.
“Any project that is applied for now will be subject to the new rules of Senate Bill 52,” Champaign County Commissioner Steve Hess told the Urbana Daily Citizen in July. “One of the other elements of Senate Bill 52, was that the commissioners have the ability to restrict alternative energy projects such as wind and solar in parts of the county or the whole county. We have asked the township trustees to give us their recommendations and input as to what they would like to see for their particular townships.”
Hess said the commissioners asked the townships to provide resolutions stating whether they would like their townships to be restricted or not. The areas noted on the map, to be discussed at the public hearing on Sept. 22, were drawn with input from the townships.
Maps of the proposed restricted areas will be posted at all public libraries in Champaign County and at the office of the Board of Commissioners.
