DIXON – A Rockford attorney representing Hamilton Township and a handful of residents who oppose wind farms wanted to see a company’s proposed application thrown out Thursday before hearings on it got under way.

At a meeting of the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals, attorney Rick Porter presented an 18-page motion contending Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power’s application for a wind farm was invalid.

The public hearing was held to hear Mainstream’s application for 58 turbines in the southwestern area of the county: Hamilton and East Grove townships. It is part of a three-county project that reaches into Whiteside and Bureau counties.