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Community Corner

Geneva City Council Rejects Solar Power Plan

The Geneva City Council voted Monday night to reject a plan that would have brought a solar-power-generating "array" to Geneva—possibly at the Prairie Green open space on the city's far west side.

Geneva had submitted and received the OK for a $245,000 state grant to fund construction of solar panels that would have generated enough power to service as many as 18 homes for a year. The city would make a $370,000 investment in the project, gathered via existing electric rates.

Alderman Ron Singer said he would oppose the plan because residents who live near Prairie Green, in the area of Peck Road, were opposed to the construction of the solar panels in the midst of the nature preserve.

"My (constituents) have spoken to me," Singer said. "They don't want this."

The grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in the amount of $246,184 would have helped pay for for installation of 120 kilowatt solar array. The site named in the grant was 1 acre of the 580-acre Prairie Green.

Several residents expressed concern—as did aldermen—about building what some described as an unsightly panel array on property voters mandated via referendum to be preserved as open space.

"When I voted for that in 1990, I didn’t vote for solar panels," 3rd Ward Alderman Dean Kilburg said. 

Mayor Kevin Burns emphasized that Prairie Green did not have to be the site for the solar panels but Prairie Green was the "placeholder" for the grant application.

Fifth Ward Alderman Craig Maladra attempted to amend the original motion, suggesting the city forward with the grant application but exclude Prairie Green as the place to build the solar panels. That amendment failed by a vote of 5-3.

Aldermen then voted 6-2 to reject the plan.

The primary concern in addition to the location was the cost. All agreed that the amount of energy that would be generated would reduce the city's carbon footprint and be ecologically friendly, but that solar power was not the most cost effective "green" initiative.

Fifth Ward Alderman Tom Simonian said the initiative might "give people a warm and fuzzy feeling that we’re saving the earth," but he felt it was "fiscally irresponsible" for the state of Illinois to issue such a grant, based on the state's financial woes.

Burns indicated that Monday night's vote would end the city's chances of gaining the grant.

"This matter will go no further," he said. "Lights out."


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