Land Use: New Lenox Township Solar Project Fails on 3-3 Committee Vote

Will County Land Use & Development Committee | October 1, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Board Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, deadlocked 3-3 on a special use permit for two co-located 5-megawatt solar facilities on an 80-acre farm at 22939 Spencer Road in New Lenox Township, after roughly 100 minutes of staff questioning and public testimony. Because the motion failed rather than carrying, the case advances to the full County Board without a recommendation of approval.

Cosmos Solar Key Points:

• The committee split 3-3 on zoning case ZC-26-051 (S-26-027); the Will County Planning and Zoning Commission had already failed to recommend approval on a 2-3 vote at its Sept. 29 hearing, where six objectors spoke.
• The Village of New Lenox Board voted Aug. 24 to object, citing its comprehensive plan, and told county staff it will not grant access from Spencer Road; staff said that letter is not a statutory legal objection and does not trigger a County Board supermajority.
• Developer Arena Renewables committed to 360-degree landscape screening, a six-foot sound wall beside the inverters, setbacks exceeding 250 feet from adjacent homes, and a $100,000 community benefit agreement with the New Lenox Fire Protection District.
• The applicant’s attorney agreed to deliver a written storm-debris cleanup plan and insurance information, and to research pre- and post-construction well testing, before the case reaches the full County Board.

JOLIET — The Will County Board Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, failed to advance a special use permit for two commercial solar energy facilities proposed on an 80-acre farm at 22939 Spencer Road in New Lenox Township, with the motion deadlocked 3-3 after public testimony that stretched past 90 minutes.

The request, zoning case ZC-26-051 (S-26-027), was brought by The Wagner 80 Family Limited Partnership as owner of record, with Sam Walch of Arena Renewables as agent on behalf of Cosmos Solar 1 LLC and Cosmos Solar 2 LLC, and attorney Ben Jacobi of Polsinelli. The parcel, PIN 15-08-35-300-002-0000, sits in County Board District 2. The draft ordinance describes the land as the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 35, Township 35 North, Range 11 East of the Third Principal Meridian.

Each facility would generate 5 megawatts AC, for a combined 10 megawatts. The staff report describes the parcel as approximately 80.03 acres, of which roughly 2.98 acres sit within right-of-way easements along Delaney and Spencer roads. “These are, as noted, two collocated 5-megawatt projects using approximately 30 acres total, 15 each, on an 80-acre site,” Jacobi told the committee.

The roll call recorded Pretzel voting no, Newquist yes, Brooks yes, Bullock yes, Mitchell no, and a sixth no. Because the motion carried the three staff-recommended conditions and failed on a tie, the case proceeds to the full County Board with no committee recommendation. The chair told the room the item would reach the board “in two Thursdays.”

The Planning and Zoning Commission had already voted 2-3 at its Sept. 29 hearing, failing to recommend approval. A county staff member reported that six objectors spoke at that hearing, raising concerns about viewshed, water, environmental effects of the panels on soil, impacts on wildlife areas and the loss of corn fields where neighborhood children play.

Village Objection and Road Access

Staff told the committee the Village of New Lenox objected to the project and indicated it does not intend to provide access from the village-controlled road. “So the applicant would have to work it out with the township for access to the site,” the staff member said, noting a township road also borders the property.

In an Aug. 25 letter to Zoning Administrator Marguerite Kenny, New Lenox Planner Jennifer Neubauer wrote that the Village Board on Aug. 24 “concurred with the Plan Commission and voted to object,” finding the facility incompatible with the surrounding residential development pattern. The letter notes that Pheasant Lane, east of the site, “was intentionally stubbed to provide secondary access for a future residential subdivision on this property,” and states flatly that “the Village of New Lenox will not grant access along Spencer Road for the proposed solar farm.”

That objection carries no procedural weight. Asked by board member Daniel J. Butler whether the municipal objection would trigger a supermajority requirement, staff said it would not. “Under the state statutes for counties code, it outlines when a municipality can file legal objection and it’s under a map amendment only,” staff said. “It is not under a special use permit. They can submit a letter of objection. They could show up and object. They could say that they don’t like the project, but it doesn’t affect the county board vote in the sense that it requires a super majority vote.”

S. Spencer Road is under Village of New Lenox jurisdiction; W. Delaney Road falls under the New Lenox Township Highway Department. Staff told the committee there was no road commissioner agreement in place as of the meeting date, and that the applicant had instead satisfied the zoning code’s alternative requirement by sending notice to the highway commissioner’s office.

Butler pressed the point, arguing that the notice provision was written for commissioners who refuse to engage. “I believe that the difference between that clause is for people who just try to ignore and block by not participating,” he said. “But those road commissioners that actively participate do not fall under that clause.” Board member Judy Ogalla made the same argument, saying she had discussed the point with the state’s attorney.

Staff said the Will-South Cook Soil and Water Conservation District’s natural resource information report returned a Land Evaluation and Site Assessment score below the threshold at which land is treated as prime or essential farmland. The figure was stated variously as 156, 154 and 153 during the exchange; staff described the threshold as “the 200 number,” while the staff report cites 185 as the Will-South Cook recommendation.

Zinc, Drain Tile and Decommissioning

Much of the discussion centered on the galvanized steel piles that support the panel racking. Daniel Blalock, a professional engineer with Kimley-Horn, the project’s engineering consultant, told the committee the galvanization process produces a fine zinc dust that “remains local to like that pile itself,” is not water soluble, and is produced in negligible quantities over a 30- to 40-year project life — below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency thresholds.

Butler rejected that framing. “I heard your explanation of the zinc dust, which almost sounds like fairy dust,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s concerned about zinc dust. I think we’re concerned about zinc leeching from the pylons into the soil where the roots are and where the microbes would be, not on top.” He estimated roughly 2,500 pylons would be driven across the site and described three methods of remediating zinc-contaminated soil, each costly.

Butler, who said he has worked in construction his whole life, also questioned whether crews would know when driven piles struck drain tile. “These are like steel beams that get hammered from the top. So in all likelihood is that no one knows when those things are broken because there’s no evidence of it,” he said. “We won’t know about it until the next big rain.”

Blalock said the project’s drain tile contractor, identified as Pinion, would conduct a field investigation before final design to map tile locations, after which the pile plan would be superimposed and tile rerouted around foundations while maintaining existing inlets and outlets. Jacobi added that the company committed at the zoning hearing to trench the entire property boundary. “If we hit our own internal drain tile, you know, that’s our problem. But if we hit one that goes off site, that’s the neighbor’s problem, too,” he said. Walch said the agricultural impact mitigation agreement requires repair of accidentally damaged tile within 30 days.

On decommissioning, Jacobi said the Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement requires surety be posted in three stages — 10% of the estimate on the first anniversary of commercial operation, 50% at six years and 100% at 11 years — a schedule he said has been approved by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Staff confirmed the county holds no decommissioning bond at this stage and would not until a permit is issued, and read the decommissioning scope into the record: removing panels and concrete equipment pads, pulling racking posts and fence, disassembling wiring, conduits and inverters, excavating the access road, and site restoration including decompacting soils, filling excavations and reseeding disturbed areas.

Ogalla, who said three solar facilities are in development on the road where she lives, described excavations wide and deep enough for crews to stand in and topsoil moved to build gravel roads across sites. “The amount of heavy equipment that will be traveling on top of the property will totally negate anything positive that the native plants have done,” she said. “It’s a terrible shame that here in Will County we are having this happen to us where we are losing a lot of farmland. Granted, this one is not considered prime, but we are losing it all over under the guise that one day it’ll be farmed again. And I know that that will never happen, especially with all the disruption that occurs.”

Developer Points to Screening, Taxes and Setbacks

Walch said Arena Renewables is a 20-person development team with a Chicago office and more than 90 projects in development in Illinois, plus solar in Maryland and Pennsylvania and storage in New York and Maryland. He said the ComEd interconnection agreement has been signed and assumes one riser pole per project with the remaining equipment underground or ground-mounted, that the point of interconnection sits at the southwest corner of the parcel with access off Delaney Road, that the existing farmstead would be demolished, and that the project avoids on-site wetlands and a pipeline on the southeast portion of the property.

He described commitments beyond the ordinance: 360-degree multi-row screening of deciduous shrubs and evergreens expected to exceed 30 feet at maturity; setbacks more than 250 feet from the property lines of all adjacent homes, against a 150-foot requirement; wildlife-friendly woven wire fencing with a 6-inch gap at the bottom; pollinator plantings; U.S.-manufactured panels; and a sound wall beside the inverters that he said is not required. “We were very deliberate to design a project or projects that comply with every requirement in the solar ordinance,” Jacobi said.

Arena’s informational memo, dated Aug. 26, puts the site at roughly 80 acres against 241,269 acres of Will County farmland in the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture, or .033 percent. Walch said property tax revenue would increase more than eightfold, totaling more than $1.8 million over a 40-year life; that more than $725,000 in sales tax would be generated during construction; and that community solar subscribers receiving roughly a 10% discount would see more than $6.6 million in energy savings over 25 years. He said the company signed a community benefit agreement with the New Lenox Fire Protection District totaling $100,000.

Ogalla disputed the screening timeline, noting the trees would be planted at six to seven feet. “I live on a farm and I’ve planted evergreens and I know how long these things take to grow,” she said. “It’s probably 30, 40 years. So nearly the life of the project before any screening actually provides any benefit to the residents in the area.”

Three Generations, Listed Since 2023

Owner Amy White appeared with her sister, Ann Nadler, and told the committee the property has been listed on the MLS and advertised since 2023 without a buyer for the whole parcel. “Only a couple people that wanted maybe two acres or they wanted 15 acres, but we didn’t want to break it up,” White said. “We’re not developers, and I want the whole parcel sold together or it’s no sale.”

Nadler recounted the family history: a grandmother who grew up in the area in the late 1800s, grandparents married in 1926 who purchased the farm with its house in 1929 just before the Depression, a grandfather who died in 1960, after which the land was leased to tenant farmers, and a mother who moved back in 1963 and taught school for 30 years while maintaining the farm, dying in 2013. The land is still farmed by a tenant today. “We’re moving into the new era of solar farm, and I think we are ready,” Nadler said. “We’re ready to retire,” White said. “We’re just at that age.”

Jacobi said the use “does not foreclose the future residential development of this property. It holds the land. It allows the land owner to retire and it can be developed as residential in the future when that market matures.”

Neighbors Question Who Benefits

Jim Finn, who said he borders the farm’s northeast corner and shares roughly 200 feet of boundary, told the committee his home sits about 250 feet from the proposed panels. Finn cited a 2025 study he attributed to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences analyzing 8.8 million property sales around 3,699 large-scale solar sites, which he said found estimated reductions in residential property value of up to 7.9% for homes within a half mile with a view of a facility. On a home he valued at about $800,000, he said, that would be more than $63,000.

“There may be benefits associated with solar energy,” Finn said. “But none of those things answer the land use question before you. Why does this project have to be here? Why should people who already live here bear the change in character of their properties, loss of their views and potential loss of tens of thousands of dollars in home value so that the benefits which could be produced somewhere else can be realized here?”

Finn also pressed Arena to honor a commitment he said its representative made on the record at the zoning hearing — to strike provisions from the fire district community benefit agreement that could withhold funds if the district objected. “If it’s truly a community benefit, it should not depend on the community’s fire district remaining silent,” he said.

Gail Nester of Pheasant Lane said she counted approximately 1,250 houses in surrounding subdivisions on wells and septic systems, and asked the company to pay for well testing now and at the time of any future home sale. She said the longest chronic toxicity study she could locate ran 1.5 to two years, against a facility life of 30 years, and questioned whether the six-foot noise wall was tall enough to be effective. Janet Travaglio of South Farm Road raised panel composition, electromagnetic fields, glare and end-of-life waste. Sharon Jensen, who said she lives a block from the site, asked who would water and replace dying evergreens and raised wildfire risk in drought. “Companies come and go, and that’s what I have to say about that,” she said.

Finn also read a written statement from neighbor Dan Janser, who asked the committee to uphold the commission’s denial and, failing that, to impose conditions including a revised site plan routing all access from West Delaney Road with written approval from the New Lenox Township highway commissioner and an executed roadway use and haul route agreement; a vegetative buffer of not less than 20 feet, against the 10-foot minimum he said the applicant proposed; dust control; construction hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; a ground-verified drain tile study filed with the county engineering division before any permit; seasonal tree clearing limited to Oct. 1 through March 31; native seed mixes on disturbed soils; and exclusion of the existing residence and outbuildings from the fenced array, with no demolition permit until the County Board makes a final disposition of a landmark nomination pending before the county’s historic preservation body. Janser’s statement said the county’s 2003 rural historic structures survey classified the farmstead as contributing, and that the natural resource information report identifies 39.8 of the 80 acres as hydric.

Jacobi addressed the property-value study in rebuttal, attributing it to Virginia Tech and saying the nationwide figure was a 4.8% decrease within three miles, but that the study’s own breakdown showed roughly a quarter-percent increase in home values in the U.S. Midwest, which he called statistically insignificant. He said a Loyola University Chicago study reached the opposite conclusion in the Midwest. “I’m not a property value expert. I’m not here to suggest that I am,” he said, noting property valuation is not among the considerations in state law or the county’s solar ordinance.

Ogalla asked the company to return to the full County Board with answers on well testing and with specifics on what commercial liability insurance would cover if tornado debris landed on a neighbor’s property, citing a tornado-damaged facility at Aroma Park that she said had not been cleaned up months later. Jacobi said the company could not commit to testing at the meeting, citing the logistics of establishing baselines and causation, but said he and Walch would “address before the county board meeting in some more detail what we can or can’t do,” and would develop a cleanup plan and supply insurance limits and a draft declarations page.

Staff Findings

The staff report classifies the parcel as a conforming A-1 Agricultural District property. Staff recommended approval with three conditions covering right of entry for inspection, transferability of the special use to subsequent owners, and submission of an executed ComEd interconnection agreement at permitting with ground-mounted interconnection rather than utility riser poles.

Staff’s findings of fact note that under Equity Solar Illinois v. County of Grundy, 2026 IL App (3d) 250289, the special use permit criteria in Section 155-16.40(I) of the county zoning ordinance are not applicable to commercial solar energy facilities, and staff therefore did not review the request against those criteria.