Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A week after being sued for saying Yes to a project, the Sangamon County Board is being sued for saying No to another one – a solar farm which would be located off Lenhart Road.
“Last week we talked about the group of residents that is suing to try to block the CyrusOne data center project, and now we have kind of the reveres situation,” says Springfield Business Journal executive editor Michelle Ownbey. “We’ve got a landowner and developer who are suing because their solar project was not approved. Just a year or so ago, the state had passed some legislation that essentially took away a lot of control from local municipalities. The whole idea is to attract more wind and solar developments and green energy and that kind of thing, and Gov. Pritzker was trying to give the developers a bit more certainty in attempting to woo them to come to Illinois, but that meant that local municipalities are not allowed to have stricter regulations than what was already outlined by the state.”
The Business Journal reports the developer is Summit Ridge Energy, and the landowner is Mark Roberts III.
Ownbey told the WTAX Morning Newswatch the board acted against the advice of its attorney and may have broken state law in denying the application.
A Sangamon County spokesperson has not responded to Capitol City Now’s request for comment.
CLICK HERE to read the 591 page lawsuit (PDF).
