Another solar energy project is headed for Will County, this time east of Volbrecht Road in Crete Township.
Seattle-based OneEnergy Renewables develops, owns, and operates solar energy projects across the United States in community solar, distributed generation, and large utility scale projects.
The company has 55 Midwest solar projects constructed and eight Community Solar projects operating in Illinois.
It sent notice of its plans for the Crete Township project to the village board last week.
“I think they are just getting the info out, just an informational notice,” Crete Village President Mark Wiater said later.
“No trustee had any comment (during the board meeting).
“We will be notified when the community meetings get scheduled in Will County, because it falls within a 1.5 mile planning jurisdiction of our village border.”
According to the PowerPoint presentation sent to the village board, they will schedule public meetings to seek community and village feedback before applying for a conditional use permit. A public hearing process would follow.
As a Community Solar project, it will generate energy that is put onto the ComEd grid. ComEd customers then can sign up for a portion of the project’s energy, and those subscribers receive a 10-20 percent discount over their previous rates.
The 10-acre solar field is 750 feet from the nearest residences and would power about 350 average homes.
Among the benefits of Community Solar, the PowerPoint presentation noted, were new jobs and local spending, increased tax revenues for the village, energy savings for subscribers, and a local source of energy for the community.
No date has been set for the public meeting to explain the project and gather community feedback.
In other business during the November 10 meeting, the Crete Village Board:
- Heard Administrator Michael Smith report he and President Wiater have begun the tax levy process and trustees should expect to see the levy ordinances at a meeting in December.
- Heard Police Chief Scott Pieritz commend Officer Khalin Niemeyer for his actions on a call involving a juvenile having a mental health crisis. Officers and code enforcement are stepping up efforts to address abandoned vehicles around town. Also, the police department is taking donations of food for the Crete Food Pantry and new and used coats for a winter coat drive. Donations may be dropped off at the police department lobby.
- Noted Fire Chief Neal Haemker received a card from a citizen that praised the fire department on a recent call to her house. She thanked the department for their professionalism. Chief Haemker is also working on the transfer of data to the new incident reporting system, which he said is a time consuming process.
- Learned videographer Nick Borrell has developed a few recent social media releases. He is also working on the Santa Tracker used in the Crete Santa Sleigh Parade that will be held December 8 and 9.
- Heard President Wiater report the auditors have all the necessary data to begin the financial audit. He thanked Administrator Michael Smith, Finance Director Nathan Pasbrig, and Collector Kim Adams for their hard work on the audit process.
- Heard Trustee Jamie Healy thank first responders for their work on Halloween. She also commended Director Ryan Allison and Emergency Management staff for the drive through Halloween event, where “Lots of children participated.”