By CHRIS RANDAZZO
of The Gazette
The people have spoken, and the village of Plover Board has listened - again. In a 5-2 vote the village board voted against granting Southern Energy Inc. a conditional use permit to build a gas-fired power plant in the village of Plover.
During a public hearing that was scheduled to last 45 minutes, but went on for over three hours, concerned citizens voiced their opposition to the plant.
"I'm not anti-power, I'm anti-power plant in a residential neighborhood," Kurt Jensen, 3331 Sandy Acres Drive, Plover said.
That complaint was the most common one of the evening. Many residents were willing to admit the area needs power, but were still against the plant, siting concerns about possible health risks from Electromagnetic fields and pollution from the plant.
Trustee Anton Anday voted against the proposal. "To me, quality of life for the community will have to overrule all economic factors in this decision," Anday said.
Board member Steve Eckels echoed Anday's sentiment but added that he was impressed with Southern's openness during the whole procedure. "We need, as a village, to work with Southern Energy and exhaust our efforts to find a suitable location for them," Eckels said.
Not all board members were so happy with the decision." Now we've sent a message to the whole state that the village of Plover has reached a crossroads, that we don't want to grow…we don't want to produce jobs in this village…and I think it's a sad day when we can't look to the future for something better for our children," Trustee Gary Krause, who voted in favor of the conditional use, said.
Southern Energy could still try to build the plant at the alternate sight in the town of Plover, but that isn't their immediate plan.
"It's back to the drawing board and explore everything as if it was day one again," Craig Ogletree, project director for Southern Energy Inc. said.