Legislation that would allow communities without a zoning ordinance to restrict wind development within a mile-and-a-half of their borders has cleared the Illinois Senate.

In a 46-4 vote Friday, the Senate approved Senate Bill 167 proposed by Sen. John Sullivan, D-Sullivan.

No House member has signed on to sponsor the bill yet, but most likely will get one when General Assembly returns to Springfield on Monday.

Update: State Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Mount Sterling, has signed on to sponsor the bill in the House.

Current law approved in 2007 allows communities to ban development in its “zoning jurisdiction,” though there are conflicting opinions on what constitutes a zoning jurisdiction.

Golden village trustees approved a 1.5-mile wind buffer in December even though it did not have a zoning ordinance.

One comment that often comes up when covering wind energy meetings in Adams County is that the energy produced is not used locally and usually benefits a larger city such as Chicago that doesn’t have to live with turbines.

However, there is  discussion of developing a wind farm near Chicago. An  Evanston committee is looking at the possible development of a wind farm in Lake Michigan.

The original concept that was submitted to Evanston officials called for 40 turbines.

Committee members heard about proposed legislation in the Illinois General Assembly would create the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Energy Council. House Bill 1558 was passed the House and is now in the Senate. The council would study offshore wind development in Lake Michigan and report findings to the General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn by the end of the year.

Right now, this is just discussion, but it would not be the first offshore project in the country. In April, a 130-turbine wind farm was approved off the coast of Massachusetts. The development was subject to many critics including the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and current Sen. Scott Brown.

Turbines will be 5 miles off the coast covering 24 square miles.

Legislation moved through an Illinois Senate Committee Thursday that would allow communities to restrict wind energy development within 1.5 miles of town without a zoning ordinance.

Senate Bill 167 passed on a 6-2 vote in the Local Government Committee.

Current law approved in 2007 allows communities to ban development in its “zoning jurisdiction,” though there are conflicting opinions on what constitutes a zoning jurisdiction.

Golden village trustees approved a 1.5-mile wind buffer in December even though it did not have a zoning ordinance. Clayton, which does have a zoning ordinance, approved restrictions in January.

Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, who introduced the legislation, said he was contacted by Golden officials about changing the law.

The Illinois Wind Energy Association expressed concerns over the legislation, with Executive Director Kevin Borgia saying it would allow towns to control land outside of their boundaries even though communities chose to not control land within their boundaries.

An amendment to the legislation was approved that allows wind turbines to move forward if they have received approval at the county level prior to the enactment of the legislation.

The wind energy legislation proposed by Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville,  is currently postponed in the Senate Local Government Committee.

Sullivan said he was looking at an amendment to add onto the legislation but will ask that it be moved forward even if an amendment is not tacked on. Thursday is the deadline to move legislation out of committee.

Senate Bill 167 would allow communities without a zoning ordinance to restrict development within 1.5 miles of town.

It would basically tighten up current state law that allows communities to restrict development 1.5 miles “outside of the zoning jurisdiction.”