Ford County Board members meet again today (Thursday) to try to find solutions to ongoing concerns residents have with wind turbines. A 7 pm meeting is at the Courthouse in Paxton. The public is welcome.

A recent meeting actually generated some agreements in the continuing discussions to try to protect rural residents living near wind farms from nuisances that can be caused by the wind turbines. Included are low-frequency noise and shadow flicker.

The County Board’s 5-person zoning committee agreed to recommend the full board consider amending the ordinance to require that turbines’ noise levels remain within Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB) limits up to the property lines of any “non-participating” landowner.

Also agreed finds written complaints about too much noise going before someone considered an acoustic engineer to determine how to resolve the problem. That would be at the expense of the wind farm developer. Fines come into play ($1,000 per day) until it’s fixed. Setback distances and flicker issues are under discussion too. Committee suggestions include forcing turbines to be shut down if/when problems arise.

The County Board’s 10-year-old wind farm ordinance has been under review since 2017.

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