Paul Irby, senior project development manager for Dimension Energy of Atlanta, goes over details of a commercial solar project in Jerseyville.
JERSEYVILLE — City Council has unanimously passed three ordinances to annex a tract of land along Illinois Route 16 for a commercial solar project.
The property owners will sell the land for the solar farm to Dimension Energy of Atlanta.
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Based on a presentation this week, the commercial solar project is expected to generate $531,028 in tax revenue for the city over three decades.
The company plans to use 20 acres of the 25-acre parcel, and the solar energy produced is expected to power 800 homes. 
The annexation agreement also includes a $650,000 contribution from the developers to the city.
After the council approved the minutes from its last meeting on May 26 and the bills as presented for June 9, Mayor Kevin Stork opened a public hearing on the solar project.
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Attorney Nick Standiford of Schain Banks Kenny & Schwartz. law firm in Chicago spoke first, walking council members through the steps previously taken to get the solar project off the ground. He introduced Chad Bartels of Edwardsville, one of the property owners who will sell the land for the solar farm to Dimension Energy of Atlanta; the agent for the company is Cogency Global of Springfield.
“His grandparents owned the property, and he’s one of the landowners who signed the petition for annexation,” Standiford said of Bartels.
Bartels, 54, said his grandfather bought the property sometime in the 1930s. He said he would be pleased to see the land, currently being farmed, used to produce electricity.
“This would be something to put it to good use, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s an easy thing to clean up and do something else,” he said.
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Standiford noted his firm used some of Jerseyville’s previous annexation agreements as a template for the deal with Dimension Energy.
“We basically used what the city had already done, and we modified it for a solar farm,” Standiford said. “The key to this one, the big difference, is we’re only wanting to be annexed to the city if we go forward with the purchase of this property.”
Standiford also noted the city will need to issue a special-use permit for the solar facility.
“I think this project is good for drainage,” he said. “These solar farms are good for strengthening the grid and helping enhance electricity in the area, and to make it so that there are not going to be as many blackouts in the future, things like that. And it’s good for Jerseyville.”
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Paul Irby, senior project development manager for Dimension Energy, gave a slide presentation showing the location and layout of the proposed installation. He said the company would use about 20 acres of the 25-acre parcel.
Irby said the solar farm will be capable of generating 3.75 megawatts of AC electricity — enough to supply the power needs of 800 homes — when completed, and that output will be supplied to the grid.
Irby emphasized Dimension Energy will not only be the developer of the project but also intends to be the long-term operator of the facility.
He described Dimension’s plans to meet the city’s requirements for screening vegetation to reduce the solar farm's visibility to neighbors and passing motorists. The plans call for using evergreens and conifers on three sides of the tract to provide the vegetative screen.
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A pollinator-friendly seed mix using native species of grasses and wildflowers will be planted under the solar panels themselves, Irby said.
“With these native species, they have much deeper root systems than soybeans and corn, so they provide a lot more in terms of soil stability,” he said. “So as stormwater comes in, it’s better absorbed.”
Irby also detailed the Agricultural Impact Limitation Agreement the developers have signed with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, which the state requires to preserve the integrity of any agricultural land affected by the construction and deconstruction of a commercial solar energy facility.
The Dimension Energy representative pointed out that the project won’t require municipal services such as water and sewer.
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Irby also displayed a slide showing the estimated tax revenues the city of Jerseyville could expect to receive from the tract over the next 30 years: $64,702 with no changes to the land use, whereas the same property with the commercial solar project would be expected to generate $531,028 in tax revenues for the city over three decades.
Standiford pointed out the estimate uses extrapolated data based on recent trends in property tax rate increases for the property.
The annexation agreement also includes a $650,000 contribution from the developers to the city, Irby said.
“We’re beefing up the benefits that we’re going to bring locally,” he said. “So, the big headline is this $650,000 contribution. Having done a couple of these, I will say it’s the biggest one we’ve ever done.”
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Following the public hearing, council voted unanimously to approve three ordinances: authorizing the annexation agreement, rezoning the property to M-2 manufacturing, and granting a special-use permit.
Before the meeting, Stork said a number of people turned out earlier for Planning and Zoning Committee meetings about the project, so he hadn’t expected any opposition at the City Council meeting. No one spoke against the plan at this week's meeting.
“As of June 1, the state really limits what we can do as a town, how we can limit the growth,” Stork said in his office ahead of the meeting. “So, the state sort of took some of our power away. This was a project that came in the midst of that change. We felt like, at this point, we can control a little more about the project. We can control the setbacks, we can control the greenery, we can set some expectations, whereas later on down the road, we won’t have a lot of that control.”
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The city then wouldn’t be able to set any restrictions more stringent than state rules, he said.
Steve Whitworth is a reporter with The Telegraph who brings 40 years of experience in news reporting, writing, editing and public relations. He previously worked at The Telegraph in a variety of reporting and editing roles from 1996 to 2013. After a 10-year stint with a St. Louis public relations firm, he has returned to news, his first love.
Whitworth has lived in Glen Carbon, Illinois, for nearly 30 years. His hobbies include swimming laps, birdwatching, attending concerts and spending time with his 12-year-old Maltese-Pomeranian mix, Daisy.
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