About Shelly

Unfortunately, the requirements the Adams County Board agreed to are dangerously lenient, based on guidelines written to protect the wind company's profit margin instead of the health & real estate investment of the people.

These requirements lag far behind improvements to these kinds of ordinances found elsewhere in Illinois, the nation, and the world. This page outlines three constructive suggestions we hope the Board will make so this ordinance will result in less harm to people's lives and property. Other pages will give plenty of supporting evidence for these concerns.

Amendment # 1

Increase the distance between windmills and homes to at least 4921 feet, the standard set by the World Health Organization. The new Adams County Wind ordinance only requires a developer to put a windmill 1000 feet from a home (or even less if they can convince the homeowner to waive the requirement)! For health reasons alone, that would be a terrible, irrevocable mistake!

Some wind representatives claim that 1000 feet is "standard," or far enough from a home to avoid health problems or other issues. By contrast, the World Health Organization recommends a distance five times that far, and there are dozens of other articles and studies that stress the need for even greater distances from homes and schools...up to two miles or more.

Do you want the Adams County Board to gamble with your health (not to mention happiness--read about shadow flicker, noise, TV reception, etc.) that 1000 feet is far enough, just because a paid representative of a wind company says so?

Now that the ordinance has already been passed, only the County Board has the power to amend its own rules, and increase this distance to protect the people who live here.

We are asking, even pleading with them, to increase the setbacks to a safe distance, before it is too late!

Amendment #2

Require the wind company to guarantee fair compensation for the loss of land values, and include a real estate tax break for homes within a five mile "view shed" of the wind farm to reflect the lowered valuation of that real estate.

The "view shed" includes those homes within five miles of a wind turbine tower...a distance where research on comparative land values in Illinois demonstrated an average loss of 27% valuation on 40 homes that sold within the five mile view shed compared with similar homes that sold outside that distance. Some homes within the bounds of the wind farm itself, even after more than 100 initial inquiries, never found a buyer.)

Wind representatives often claim that "Wind farms do not affect the value of the real estate around them." Perhaps there are some reasonable people out there who believe this statement without being hired to make it, and who might even be willing to buy a house at full price whether or not it is surrounded by giant & noisy turbines like those pictured above. But just as being near an airport or railroad track or hog confinement can affect the value of a home, it seems self-evident that a home surrounded by wind turbines would suffer a loss in value. Why not just admit what is obvious, and then be fair and just about it?

Will companies that want to be our neighbors in Adams County agree that IF they hurt our residents, they will compensate them? There are wind companies elsewhere in the US who have agreed to do this; therefore, we do not believe our County Board should do business with any company who wants to offer the people any less than what is fair. Require compensation for lost land values in the ordinance.

Further, we believe that if the County Board brings in a development that harms land values, the tax assessment for those properties should also be lowered to reflect their new, reduced valuations. Why make people pay taxes for a higher amount than their property is worth? That is a second issue of economic fairness that is not reflected in the current ordinance. After all, would you want to continue to pay taxes on a home that used to be worth $100,000, but now is only worth at best $75,000 (if you can still sell it) because of actions taken by the very county you are paying the taxes to?

These amendments would protect the people instead of the company. If these expectations are not fair, then someone please write to us and explain why. If we are convinced, we will say so and withdraw this request.

Amendment # 3

Create a public and fully open process so citizens can help determine their own destiny. There is zero public input, discussion, or notice built into the new ordinance. No homeowner has to be notified about any phase of the planning until the heavy equipment shows up to dig 1000 feet away from your foundation. That is, simply put, not acceptable.

It is astounding that many dozens of wind turbine contracts with specific farmers have already been quietly signed in our county for more than 2 years now with no news coverage, adjacent landowner notification, or public input. Consider all the press coverage about just one cellular tower which is far shorter than these 100 towers, and the cellular tower doesn't even rotate! Yet we have nearly complete media silence. Even though specific locations for each wind turbine are being plotted right now by the companies "Global Winds Harvest" & "Acciona," those of us who will live in their shadow are not included in any phase of the discussion.

We have asked at the courthouse, and been told that there is not a public map available, even of the general boundaries of either of these two sprawling developments. So at this time, the Adams County Board has all the power to decide, without even holding a public meeting, whether or not you or your family/friends are going to be living in a wind farm for the rest of your lives.

Other Illinois counties such as Logan, Tazewell, and others have many public hearings about their wind farms, but in Adams our new wind ordinance does not give us that opportunity. We don't like being excluded completely from a process that will likely change our lives forever; it doesn't seem American or ethical. If it bothers you too, you still do have the right to mention it to your Board Members. They could hold hearings, educate the public, issue press releases, and be open about this process if they choose to do so. But the ordinance does not obligate them, and that is the troublesome part, especially given the breathtaking speed at which they approved the ordinance in one meeting, without consulting the public.

If you'd like to have a voice or vote about specifically where these gigantic towers are built, you can contact your County Board members and ask them to amend the ordinance to guarantee adequate public involvement.

Or if you prefer, don't call--just let them do all the thinking and planning for you. As for us, we plan to write them about all three of these amendments, and respectfully ask them to make these changes. It may have just been an oversight on their part, and we believe they want what is good and right, so we are optimistic that they will want to make some changes soon. We will keep you informed on this website regarding their replies, thoughts, letters, or actions.

County Board members, addresses, & phone numbers