URBANA – Champaign County officials unanimously voted down a proposal from Mahomet to ban the burning of leaves within 1,000 feet of the village.
The ordinance would have applied to unincorporated properties in Champaign County that are not offered leaf pickup. It would have been similar to a measure the board passed in 2016 to ban leaf burning outside of Champaign-Urbana.
Many residents living just outside of Mahomet told the board they have nowhere else to dispose of leaves.
“I live on a wooded property. We deal with trees, branches, leaves, brush and other natural debris. This isn’t simply about wanting to burn a pile of leaves because it’s convenient,” Michelle Luksander, who lives in unincorporated Champaign County, said. “For people living on larger or wooded properties, managing that material is part of maintaining those properties. If burning is taken away as an option, what is the practical alternative?”
Mahomet Trustee Bill Schriver said the village should not have to offer an alternative for the ordinance to be passed.
“The county in 2016 did not make a collection program a precondition for the PBA [prohibited burn area] around Champaign or Urbana,” he said, “and it should not for Mahomet.”
Advocates for the ban said burning leaves is a nuisance to neighbors.
“I agree with many of the people who have written to you in opposition of the ban. They do have the right to use their property however they like,” Mahomet resident and employee Austin Shufflebarger said. “However, I have to side with the people who wrote in favor of the ban, many of whom live in the affected areas, because many of them say their ability to enjoy their property and their health is affected by their neighbors.”
Mahomet resident Abby Heckman said burning leaves has impacted her and her family’s breathing.
“The burning is very unpredictable,” she said. “I’d love to be able to open my windows or hang some laundry out and be able to leave my home and come back and it not smelling like someone’s campfire or their burning leaf pile.”
Schriver said one couple who live outside of the village wrote to him with similar concerns.
“They state that of the 40-plus homes, there are only a few burned leaves, yet the smoke from that burning is so intense that their grandchildren won’t visit in the spring and the fall,” he said. “They also report that some of their neighbors object to the burning but are reluctant to come forward.”
Residents opposed to the ban said they burn leaves responsibly.
“I do my burns only when the wind is from the south, which keeps smoke from blowing toward residences in the village,” Newcomb Township resident Philip Hult said. “On a dry day, the prairie grows quick, and it’s done.”
Residents like Hult also took issue with Mahomet officials recently being in talks with a data center developer.
“You piously claim to be concerned about the health of Mahomet residents, but in your dealing for the data center, you showed your true colors,” he said. “You didn’t care one iota about the health of the students and the schools nearby. You didn’t give a flying hoot for the health of Mahomet residents or the residents of the rest of the county.”
Mahomet officials announced on Monday they ended talks with the developer, Clean Cloud Energy, after backlash from residents.
Several residents expressed frustration that Mahomet officials didn’t attempt to talk to them before bringing the issue to the county, like Mike Murphy, the president of the Mahomet Spring Lake Association, one of the affected subdivisions.
“We are very unhappy that the village did not make any attempt to contact the affected residents concerning the ban,” he said. “Because of that, we were not afforded the chance to address the Mahomet board before matter came to you.”
County Board Member and Environment and Land Use Committee Chair Jennifer Locke asked Schriver why the village came to the county before trying to talk to landowners.
“Frankly, there’s already a county model for doing this,” he said. “Champaign and Urbana did not negotiate one-off deals with subdivisions. There’s a lot of subdivisions around.”