BLOOMINGTON -- A recommendation that a proposed 333-turbine wind farm should be given a special use permit is on its way to the McLean County Board.

The McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to recommend Horizon Wind Energy LLC's plan for Black Prairie Wind Farm, which would dot 3,500 acres north of Illinois 9 east of Bloomington-Normal.

The County Board likely will not take up the issue until its January meeting.

Horizon owns and operates the 240-turbine Twin Groves Wind Farm, which is south of Illinois 9.

One opponent of Horizon's application, Kim Schertz of Hudson, was not surprised by the results.

"I think they ignored everything the public had to say," Schertz said. "It's beginning to be that you can't tell the difference between a board member and a wind farm executive."

Schertz, the wife of a pilot and the mother of two pilots, testified previously before the zoning board that turbines can create a safety issue for crop dusters.

The zoning board added 17 tasks for Horizon to complete to receive the special use permit. They include: conducting a wetland study approved by the Army Corps of Engineers; establishing an escrow account of $25,000 per turbine to be used for decommissioning the turbines in the future; and finalizing road agreements with the county highway department.

Zoning board members deliberated for about and hour and a half over testimony for and against the project collected during four hearings that began last month.

Among the concerns raised about the turbines was the noise and the moving shadows created a nuisance.

Board member James Finnigan was among board members who said he did not notice much noise associated with the turbines. But he added, "If you don't like it, you aren't going to want to listen to it."

Horizon project manager Caton Fenz said he was excited the project will move forward.

"McLean County has been a good place for us to build," Fenz said. "We look forward to moving forward on the project."

If the County Board issues the special use permit, construction likely will begin in April 2011 and could take up to five years, Fenz said.