Morgan County has a tentative date for the public hearing on the Apex Clean Energy application for the Lincoln Land Wind project.
Morgan County Plans Commission Chair Dusty Douglas announced the tentative date yesterday morning during the weekly commissioners meeting: “As the commissioners know, we have been working towards the review of the Apex wind application and the subsequent setting of a date for a public hearing. I was wanting to bring to the board’s attention, we are tentatively looking at Tuesday, August 11th for that public hearing, probably looking at a 5:30PM start time to give folks a chance to get here if they might have to work during the day. We have a few details to work out but probably looking a physical, present meeting in the courtroom, probably try to keep it under 50 people and then go virtual from there. We are hoping to have some screening of folks outside for those coming in as to assure everyone’s well being. We have all of those logistics to work through, but most importantly, I was wanting to get it on the schedule for everyone and let everyone know we are angling for contacting folks at Apex and seeing if we can work out a meeting for the 11th.”
Douglas says they will also work on the logistics of setting up a teleconference option for those not wishing to attend the meeting in person due to concerns with COVID-19. Douglas says he hopes to have the date confirmed within the next week.
The public hearing is a state law requirement that needs fulfilled so that citizens can voice support or dissent of the application one last time before final approval by the Morgan County Commissioners. It is the last step in the process before construction of up to 120 wind turbines can take place in southeastern portions of Morgan County. The 302 megawatt project is expected to be developed across nearly 20,000 acres with the expectation of going online sometime late next year.