Illinois Valley Times

Illinois State Sen. Win Stoller (R-Germantown Hills) has helped pass legislation that seeks to protect long-term plans and investments in the Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone from being impacted by potential wind farm developments.

House Bill 4412 was signed into law during the Lame Duck session which established siting standards that would supersede local zoning authorities for renewable projects across the state. Filed by Rep. Kathleen Willis, HB 4412 passed the House on March 3, 2022, and passed in the Senate on Jan. 8. The bill created a statewide sitting standard for renewable projects. According to a press release, under HB 4412, long-term plans and investments in the Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone in Lee and Ogle Counties could potentially be threatened by potential wind farm projects.

"Local leaders and officials have spent years and millions of dollars creating and building an Enterprise Zone in Lee and Ogle Counties," Stoller said, according to the press release. "All of their years of hard work and investment faced the serious threat of being undone because of new and controversial statewide siting standards for renewable projects that ignored preexisting enterprise zoning."

Stoller’s Senate Bill 1127 exempts the Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone from the state’s new siting rules. SB 1127 was originally filed by Sen. John Curran on Feb. 2, and the chief sponsor was changed to Stoller on March 22, 2023. It passed the Senate on March 31, and passed the House of Representatives on May 8. It went into effect immediately upon passage.

"This legislation ensures that local officials no longer have to worry about an outside renewable energy company deciding that they want to come into this enterprise zone and disrupt years of economic development to help attract new businesses and jobs," Stoller wrote in a May 10 Facebook post.

According to the text of the bill, “In provisions regarding county regulation of commercial wind energy facilities and commercial solar energy facilities, provides that changes adopted by Public Act 102-1123 do not apply to a commercial wind energy or commercial solar energy development on property that is located within an enterprise zone certified under the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act, that was classified as industrial by the appropriate zoning authority on or before January 27, 2023, and that is located within 4 miles of the intersection of Interstate 88 and Interstate 39.”

Stoller resides in Germantown Hills and was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 2021, according to the Illinois Senate. A Republican, his legislative experience includes serving on the Environment and Conservation Committee and Senate Higher Education Committee.

The Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone program was created by the Illinois Enterprise Zone Program (administered under the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) to boost economic growth and neighborhood revitalization in economically depressed areas. Under the program, businesses located in the zone may be eligible for certain state and local tax incentives.