Wind farm case may get new judge
DeKALB – An effort by a citizens’ group to halt construction of a wind farm project in DeKalb and Lee counties could get a judge next week in Kane County court.
Judge Michael J. Colwell, whose courtroom is in the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles, is scheduled to assign a judge to the case during a hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 5.
Lawyers for Citizens for Open Government had asked DeKalb County Presiding Judge Kurt Klein to assign a judge from outside the county to the case. Kane and Kendall counties are in the same circuit as DeKalb.
On July 21, Citizens for Open Government filed a lawsuit against DeKalb County, all 24 county board members, and Florida Power & Light Energy Illinois Wind LLC, the parent company of NextEra. The group also asked for a temporary retraining order to stop work on the wind farm project.
The suit stems from the county board’s June decision to allow NextEra to build a 119-turbine wind farm in Afton, Clinton, Milan and Shabbona townships. The suit claims a wind farm is not a recognized special use in the county’s zoning laws, but county officials disagree. The project includes 151 total turbines; the remaining turbines would be in Lee County and in the villages of Lee and Shabbona.
The county filed its response to the lawsuit this week and asked a judge to dismiss the matter.
But none of the points of the case can be presented in court until a judge is assigned to it. Last week, Associate Judge William Brady suggested to the plaintiffs that they ask for an outside judge; one of the defendants named in the lawsuit – county board member Michael Stuckert – is married to DeKalb County Judge Robbin Stuckert.
In the meantime, work has begun on the Lee County portion of the project, and NextEra is in the process of getting permits for individual turbines from DeKalb County.
