A proposed 1,730-acre solar development south of New Berlin is drawing growing opposition from residents, local officials and business owners who fear the project could permanently alter the rural character of western Sangamon County, even as developers argue the project could provide clean energy, stable tax revenue and economic diversification for farmers.
The project, which residents say largely involves land controlled by the Dowson family, has become one of the most contentious local issues in the New Berlin area in recent months.
“It’s a big project,” said Sangamon County Board member Craig Hall, a Republican whose district includes New Berlin. “There are a lot of people who have concerns with it.”
Hall said residents fear the project could depress nearby property values and discourage residential growth in an area where Springfield’s westward expansion already is reshaping rural communities.
“You have something adjacent to someone else’s property and it affects their quality of life or the value of property,” Hall said. “Is that good zoning? I don’t think it is.”
The controversy comes as local officials wrestle with how much control county and municipal governments still have over renewable energy projects under Illinois law. Hall is backing a proposal expected to come before the Sangamon County Zoning Board of Appeals in June that would establish up to a 1.5-mile buffer around municipalities, giving villages and towns more authority to weigh in on developments near their borders.
State law requires county boards to approve solar projects if the land is zoned agricultural, which is the case for the New Berlin-area parcels.
“The state of Illinois is wanting to have the only voice when it comes to these kind of projects,” Hall said. “At least we need to do a mile-and-a-half setback so local communities have a voice.”
But Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter cautioned that county officials are still trying to determine whether such restrictions are even legally permissible.
“The honest answer is, I don’t know,” Van Meter said when asked whether villages should have veto authority over projects within 1.5 miles of their borders.
Van Meter said there are competing proposals being discussed, including granting municipalities veto authority or changing zoning classifications, but he said the implications of either approach remain unclear.
“I do not know if we even have the authority to do those,” Van Meter said. “Nor do I know the process for implementing either of those changes, nor do I know the consequence of implementing any of those changes.”
Van Meter said any sweeping zoning changes would require extensive legal review and public input.
“That’s the kind of major change that we would typically have a board committee study and make a recommendation working with the professional staff and compared to comparable counties,” he said.
Hall said he expects his proposal to be considered by a committee in June and perhaps be voted on by the County Board in July, although Van Meter questioned whether the proposed timeline for adopting such restrictions is realistic.
“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to do that on the schedule outlined, but I would say we certainly want to be sure we know all the consequences of what we’re doing before we do it,” he said.
Van Meter also said property rights concerns weigh heavily on him as county officials debate possible restrictions.
“It concerns me quite a lot,” he said when asked whether landowners could unfairly lose the ability to use their property as intended. “That’s a major issue. We’ve got to think these things through before we make any changes.”
Meanwhile, developers say the New Berlin solar proposal itself remains in the early stages and has not yet formally entered the permitting process.
“We haven’t even started working on any permit application or anything like that. We’re very early stage. We’re just looking at land right now,” said Chris Nickell, chief operating officer of Highlander Renewables. His Springfield-based company is serving as a local development partner on the project, which would be operated by Houston-based ConnectGen, a subsidiary of Repsol, a Spanish company.
Nickell said maps circulating publicly showing roughly 1,730 acres under consideration are “still in flux” and that it remains uncertain whether the project ultimately will be built.
“In the development world, there are all kinds of economic and political climate issues and transmission issues,” he said. “This is too early stage of a project to put any kind of gamble on.”
Van Meter said he was unaware of the proposed New Berlin project until contacted about it by Illinois Times.
Supporters of the project argue solar development provides environmental benefits while also strengthening local tax bases.
“Once the panel is built and installed, there are no moving parts and no combustion,” Nickell said. “The energy is produced cleanly and they have very low maintenance.”
Nickell also argued utility-scale solar keeps energy production local.
“Once a solar project goes up on land here in Illinois, that energy is produced here and used here,” he said. “It’s a very local product.”
Nickell compared solar energy production on farmland to the longstanding use of corn for ethanol production.
“A certain percentage of our corn goes to run our cars anyway,” he said. “As we get a slow shift to electric vehicles, installing solar panels on farmland does the same thing. It’s still producing a product that’s used to power cars. It’s just the electrons instead of ethanol.”
Nickell said solar developments can dramatically increase property tax revenue in rural areas.
“If you put wind or solar on it, all of a sudden the tax base soars,” he said. “As we all know in Illinois, the lion’s share of property taxes goes to support schools.”
Nickell also said some farmers view solar leases as a form of financial diversification.
“It’s a guaranteed revenue stream that’s not dependent on the weather,” he said. “I think a lot of farmers see the benefit to diversification.”
Still, opposition in New Berlin remains intense. New Berlin Mayor Mike Krall said residents packed a recent village board meeting to express concerns.
“When people come to the village board meeting like they did the last time – people you’ve never seen before at a village board meeting – that are so concerned about what’s going to happen, it’s alarming,” he said. “They came because they’re looking for help.”
Krall noted New Berlin already faces geographic challenges expanding.
“We need to be able to expand in order to make the village grow,” he said. “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”
Krall said the logical direction for the village’s future growth is southward, directly toward the proposed solar project area.
Residents have raised concerns that the development could wall off future residential construction near the village. Springfield attorney Joe Craven said New Berlin already has annexation agreements and utility extensions south of town, making the area a logical path for future growth.
“Putting up a solar farm there prevents the natural expansion of those neighborhoods,” Craven said.
Nickell acknowledged the project could limit development directly on the land where panels are installed, but said he believes concerns about stopping New Berlin’s growth are overstated.
“That particular village can grow in more than one direction,” Nickell said. “I suppose that does cause a little bit of a roadblock, but only in one direction.”
Business owners also worry the project could alter the scenic countryside that draws visitors to the area.
Doug Danenberger, who operates a winery near the proposed development, said the project could hurt tourism and diminish the rural atmosphere customers seek out.
“Who wants to come out and try to enjoy rural America while sipping on a glass of wine and look at close to 2,000 acres of solar panels?” Danenberger said.
Danenberger also questioned claims that the project would create substantial long-term employment.
“All I hear is, ‘Look at all the jobs it’s going to create,’” he said. “It’s not going to create squat. The stuff just sits there.”
The issue has also become part of the campaign for the District 7 seat on the Sangamon County Board to replace Hall, who is not seeking reelection.
Democratic candidate Tara Bergschneider, a New Berlin-area nurse seeking the seat, called the proposed development “very consequential” and “very short-sighted.”
“People are upset,” Bergschneider said. “They’re talking about it, but they don’t really know what to do.”
Bergschneider said she decided to run for office because she believes rural communities are losing control over major industrial projects reshaping the county.
“District 7 is huge geographically,” she said. “We are prime land in this county, and it’s got price tags on it.”
She argued the solar project could limit future growth opportunities for the New Berlin school district.
“We’re having a problem with growing our school district and being able to afford things in our school district, and now we’re talking about industrializing all this land around us,” she said.
Bergschneider also expressed concern that renewable-energy incentives increasingly benefit large corporations rather than local residents.
“These companies are coming in and industrializing our land for their renewable energy systems and truly leaving the community in the dark,” she said.
Some opponents also have tied the solar proposal to broader concerns about data centers and industrial expansion in western Sangamon County. Several residents interviewed referenced rumors that a data center could eventually be developed within or near the proposed solar project area, though no formal proposal has been publicly confirmed.
The same landowner, Divernon-based Dowson Family Farms, owns the vast majority of the 4,000 acres in western Sangamon County and eastern Morgan County that make up the Double Black Diamond solar farm. The 4,000-acre project is the largest solar power development east of the Mississippi River. Dowson Family Farms is also the primary landowner for the CyrusOne data center slated to be developed across the road from the Double Black Diamond.
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Nickell said his company has no involvement with any proposed data center project.
“We are not a data center company, and we don’t currently work with any data center company,” he said. “This is just a solar project.”
Nickell said he had no knowledge of any plans for a data center near the proposed site.
“I certainly have no knowledge of any such thing being a possibility,” he said.
The Dowson family declined to discuss the project with IT. A Madrid-based media representative for Repsol did not respond to a request for comment.
Bergschneider said residents remain uneasy because they believe large-scale infrastructure projects are moving faster than local communities can respond.
“People think somebody else is going to take care of it,” she said. “But it’s us. We are the people who have to show up together and work together.”