1 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) )SS 2 COUNTY OF JO DAVIESS) 3 4 5 In the Matter of the Petition 6 of 7 Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation, 8 Jo Daviess County, Illinois 9 10 Testimony of Witnesses 11 Produced, Sworn and Examined on this 14th day 12 of February A.D. 2007 before the Jo Daviess County 13 Zoning Board of Appeals 14 15 16 Present: 17 William Tonne 18 Tom Heidenreich Nick Tranel 19 Susan Davis David Jansen 20 Melvin Gratton, Chairman 21 Linda Delvaux, Zoning Administrator 22 23 24 In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 2 1 INDEX 2 3 WITNESS: JOHN DIESCH 4 Examination Page 5 Attorney Heaton (Direct). 16 6 7 WITNESS: MARK IBSEN 8 Examination Page 9 Attorney Heaton (Direct). 46 10 11 WITNESS: JOHN IWANSKI 12 Examination Page 13 Attorney Sanders (Direct) . .108 14 15 WITNESS: KEVIN BOYER 16 Examination Page 17 Attorney Sanders (Direct) . .154 18 19 EXHIBITS Exhibit Page 20 Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1. 16 Petitioner's Exhibit No. 2. 16 21 Petitioner's Exhibit No. 4. .110 Petitioner's Exhibit No. 5. .153 22 23 End . .170 24 In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 3 1 MR. GRATTON: Good evening everybody and 2 welcome to this evening's proceedings. This is 3 the special meeting of the Jo Daviess County 4 Zoning Board of Appeals. I'm going to start by 5 calling roll so we can establish a quorum. 6 MS. SOPPE: Tom Heidenreich? 7 MR. HEIDENREICH: Present. 8 MS. SOPPE: Nick Tranel? 9 MR. TRANEL: Here. 10 MS. SOPPE: Bill Tonne? 11 MR. TONNE: Here. 12 MS. SOPPE: Susie Davis? 13 MS. DAVIS: Here. 14 MS. SOPPE: Mel Gratton? 15 MR. GRATTON: Here. 16 MS. SOPPE: Alternative Dave Jansen? 17 MR. JANSEN: Here. 18 MR. GRATTON: Okay. We have a quorum so 19 we can proceed. I'm going to dispense with the 20 approval of the minutes from our last regularly 21 scheduled meeting, and we'll take that up at our 22 February 28th regular meeting. We'll get right 23 into the business at hand this evening. We have 24 a request before us this evening, an application In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 4 1 by Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation, and they 2 are requesting a special use permit in an ag 3 district to allow for basic industry. They plan 4 to convert the existing plant into an integrated 5 fertilizer and Fischer-Tropsch fuels production 6 facility which will use coal gasification 7 technology to produce nitrogen fertilizer and 8 other products such as transportation fuels and 9 electricity. The address for this particular 10 request is 16675 U.S. Route 20 West in East 11 Dubuque. 12 I have a few items I'd like to just take 13 care of as far as housekeeping before we begin. 14 I would like to introduce some people. On the 15 staff, we have most of the people representing 16 staff over here in the jury box. And Linda 17 Delvaux, our zoning administrator. Linda, just 18 raise your hand so people know who I'm talking 19 about. And then normally we would have Terry 20 Kurt who is the legal counsel for the County, 21 and he has deferred to two people who have been 22 hired for this process who have expertise in not 23 only legal but environmental law. And the two 24 people representing Foley & Lardner, LLP are In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 5 1 Chris Zibart and Katie Licup, and -- sitting 2 over here, and they will be representing the 3 counsel from a legal standpoint. The County has 4 also retained a environmental engineer 5 corporation consulting group of URS. And we 6 have with us next to Linda over here Patty 7 Bryan, Michael Musial, and Bruce Dumdei. So 8 they are acting as consultants to County Staff 9 in this evening's proceedings. They will be 10 helping in the preparation of finding of fact 11 and things like that as we move forward, and 12 help us answer any environmental or other 13 engineering questions we might have. 14 The process -- or let me get the time line 15 out of the way, first of all. I'm not sure how 16 long this will take. I'm not sure how lengthy 17 the presentation might be on behalf of 18 petitioner, but we have set aside this evening 19 and again tomorrow night, and there are some 20 open dates in the courtroom next week if it 21 turns out that we have to, you know, take that 22 long. I hope it won't. I hope we can wrap this 23 up in a relatively timely manner. But tonight 24 and tomorrow night is open on the docket just in In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 6 1 case and this may be continued, so I'll just 2 tell you that up front just in case we don't 3 finish this evening. I would anticipate that we 4 will go no later than 9 o'clock this evening. 5 If it looks like we can see light at the end of 6 the tunnel and we can finish up tonight, then we 7 might go longer, but otherwise we will continue 8 until tomorrow evening. 9 We also will look at -- this might be -- 10 there might be some lengthy requirements and 11 contingencies in here as far as permitting, 12 things like that, and I think what we'd like to 13 do, to make sure we get this as correct as 14 possible, make up -- put together the finding of 15 fact and have staff and counsel and everyone put 16 this together as far as the finding of fact, and 17 then make the final decision on this request on 18 our regular meeting date of February 28th, so 19 that's the plan as of now. 20 I would like to explain a little bit about 21 the request and how it will be viewed this 22 evening. Like I said, this is a special use 23 request. The purpose of the Zoning Board of 24 Appeals is to look at this special use in light In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 7 1 of special use standards which are delineated in 2 the Jo Daviess County Zoning Ordinance, and 3 there are six standards in there that we will be 4 considering as far as whether or not this is an 5 acceptable special use in Jo Daviess County as 6 far as basic industry in an ag district. And 7 just real briefly I'll touch on those, and maybe 8 as you do your presentations, gentlemen, and as 9 anyone here wants to be heard, if you would 10 direct yourself to those questions, or those 11 areas, those will be the areas we will be 12 considering as we make a determination on this 13 particular request. 14 The first one, and like I said, there are 15 six of those standards, the first one is whether 16 or not the project will -- how it will affect 17 the health, safety, and welfare of the people of 18 Jo Daviess County. Secondly, whether the 19 project will be injurious to the use and 20 enjoyment of the other property in the immediate 21 vicinity and whether it will impair property 22 values. Third, whether the project will impede 23 the normal and orderly development of 24 surrounding property. Fourth, whether the In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 8 1 applicant is proposing adequate utilities, 2 access roads, drainage, etcetera. Fifth, the 3 effect on traffic congestion on public streets 4 and highways. And six, whether the special use 5 otherwise conforms to the applicable County 6 regulations. So if everyone would address 7 those. 8 I'm going to swear everyone in in a few 9 minutes, and I want everyone to remember that 10 you will be under oath when you testify, so the 11 truth in your testimony is very important. I 12 would ask that everyone be as brief and concise 13 as possible so that we don't tire or wear anyone 14 out before the evening is totally over. If you 15 have a cell phone I would ask you to either turn 16 it off or put it on vibrate, if you would. 17 Otherwise we'll stop and listen while you talk. 18 Does anyone have any questions as far as 19 proceedings this evening? Okay. Hearing none, 20 we will begin then. 21 Normally at this time what we would do is 22 hear the staff report regarding this case. The 23 staff report today is about 11-plus pages long, 24 and I would probably dispense with having Linda In Totidem Verbis, LLC (ITV) (815) 453-2260 9 1 read that at this time. I think the petitioner 2 has received a copy of that report. 3 MR. HEATON: I don't think so. 4 MR. GRATTON: Linda, have they or not? 5 MS. DELVAUX: No, I guess they haven't. 6 It was lack of communication, I think, 7 between -- 8 MR. GRATTON: I think probably you'll be 9 addressing most of the concerns that are in 10 there, but we will make a copy of that available 11 to you. And as you testify, anything that you 12 can get along with the standards and any 13 concerns that are addressed in there, why if you 14 would present those it would be helpful.