The city of Aurora is looking to force annex an unincorporated pocket of about 40 acres on the far West Side to stop a proposed solar energy farm there.
City officials have said the proposal for a solar farm goes against the city’s comprehensive plan that has long held that area to be estate-type, residential use.
The city already has five such subdivisions west of Orchard Road that fit that category, and this is in line with those, officials have said.
Aldermen already voted 10-1 to protest the use to the Kane County Zoning Board of Appeals, which voted anyway to recommend the solar farm to the full County Board. The board’s Development Committee also recommended the solar farm to the full board, which will vote on the plan July 9.
Alex Alexandrou, Aurora’s chief management officer, said the Zoning Board recommending the plan despite the city’s protest is “unlike” what the county has done in the past.
“So we were left with what legal remedies we have,” he said.
That remedy, according to city officials, is for the city to force annex the property into the city.
According to an outside legal consultant, the city can force annex up to 60 acres of property if it surrounds the property. Aurora’s corporate boundaries are next to this property to the east and north. To the west is a forest preserve, which meets the contiguity laws, the consultant said.
On the southern edge of the property are Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks, and the railroad has agreed to annex its easement into the city. That would make the city surround the property in question.
The lone vote against protesting the solar farm was Ald. John Laesch, at large, who said he thought it was a good location for the solar farm. He appeared before the county Zoning Board to voice his support for the project, which angered some of his fellow aldermen.
“It’s disturbing that one of our aldermen would go to a meeting to lobby against the will of the people,” said Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward. “We’re doing the right thing for the people in my ward, I know that.”
Laesch responded that he went to “represent my one voice,” and not to represent the council.
“I made it clear I would do so,” he said.
Ald. Michael Saville, 6th Ward, who came up with the idea of the force annexation, said the city spent a long time working out the estate zoning for that part of the city’s master plan.
“This is a way to protect us and our comprehensive plan,” Saville said.
City officials have said their protest against this site is not a protest of solar energy.
Alexandrou pointed out the city is building a solar farm at the Aurora Municipal Airport, and is working with its energy consultant, Progressive Energy, to find local public buildings and locations throughout the city where solar panels can be built.
He pointed out that just because a development has not taken place on property does not mean the city should settle for just any use. He pointed out that the city fought a number of uses in defense of its master plan on the far southeast side, where the Del Webb development is now going in.
“The city is replete with locations that have been undeveloped for decades,” he said. “The city is charged with looking for the highest and best uses for those properties. We’ve told the county there are hundreds and hundreds of acres on which to put solar. This is not the right fit.”
slord@tribpub.com
