Wind energy to key discussion at March land values conference
Source: Morris Daily Herald
February 08, 2008
Events affecting farmland values, the impact of the slowdown in urban development, and the advent of wind energy as an income source will be topics discussed at the 2008 Illinois Land Values Confer-ence.
The program for the two-day event, set for March 20 and 21 at Jennifer's Garden in Mor-ris, is designed to attract both real estate professionals and the general public.
“There are a lot of questions going around the state regarding what is happening with farmland values, the impact of the slowdown on urban development, and the advent of wind energy as an income source for landowners,” says Bob Swires, AFM, Swires Land and Man-agement Company, Danville, and overall chairman of the annual conference.
“We hope to provide a program that will shed some light on some of the dynamics we are seeing happening around the state.”
“The overall focus of the program is on factors affecting prices being paid for Illinois farmland and what trends are in place,” Doug Deininger, AFM, Capital Agricultural Property Services, Inc., based in Plainfield, adds.
“We all know that commercial and private development of what was farmland has driven the market for a number of years. Now that there has been such a tremendous slowdown, particularly in new home construction, we want to take a look at how this is affecting prices being paid for land, and what the impacts will be in short- and long-term.
Deininger is charged with planning the program for the conference.
Wind energy will be one of the topics receiving close analysis at the meeting, Deininger ex-plains.
“We have invited Dwight Farber, a project manager with Horizon Wind Energy, to give an overview on what his in-dustry sees as the potential growth of wind ‘farms' across Illinois,” Deininger said.
Farber is set to address the group during the afternoon of March 20.
Horizon Wind Energy is the force behind Twin Groves Wind Farm, which has 240 turbines generating 1.3 billion megawatt-hours over 21,000 acres of leased land east of Bloomington/Normal.
The wind topic will continue on March 21 with presentations by Kurt Williams, a landowner with wind towers on his property near Ellsworth. Joining Williams will be Thomas Jennings, an attorney with Livingston Barger Brandt & Schroeder, based in Bloomington.
Jennings will discuss some of the legal points landowners need to consider before entering into wind tower lease arrangements.
What a difference a year makes
Following the wind energy discussion will be a presentation by Chris Huecksteadt, director, Chicago Region, Metrostudy. This is an encore visit by Huecksteadt, who addressed the group in 2007.
His discussion will focus on the radically slowed development of land in the Chicago collar counties and the impact it is having on demand for rural land.
Sharing the podium with Huecksteadt will be John Grueling, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development.
The final presentation of the day will be on the results of the 2008 Land Values and Lease Trends survey, which is conducted by the membership of the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Copies of the group's official report will be distributed to those in attendance.
The opening program on March 20 will be professionally oriented, with a continuing education course on “Licen-sing Law” taught by Kerry Kidwell. Kidwell is a broker/associate with Pru-dential Snyder Real Estate in Bloomington and is a licensed real estate trainer.
The two-day program is co-sponsored by the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Apprais-ers and the Illinois Farm and Land Chapter of the REALTORS Land Institute in conjunction with the University of Illinois' College of ACES.
Advance registration is required. More information is available online at www.ispfmra.org.
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