 The first conversation of the night was the possible revamping of
laws concerning conditional use zoning for extraction.An issue
that arose during discussions surrounding a recent land rezoning,
for the purpose of mining, was the lack of a precedent for this
specific type of conditional use permit and the subsequent lack of
guidelines. D'Andrea said that other counties, such as McLean and
Peoria, do have such guidelines in place.
D'Andrea also provided an outline of the five regulations under
which current conditional use permits are granted. The regulations
are examined by the planning commission and the board of appeals.
Currently, the county allows for conditional use permits with the
creation of concrete mixing plants.
Committeeman Kevin Bateman said he believes it would be easier to
prevent such future issues if the list of permitted uses in an M-3
district would be moved under conditional uses.
D'Andrea said the downside to such a move would be an M-3
district with no outright permitted use.
Bateman asked if it would be possible to move the five
regulations in order to make them part of the criteria for a
permitted use. D'Andrea said it would not be advisable, as those
types of operations, such as gravel pits or coal mines, are outright
permitted by the county; those operations are already deemed
appropriate for that type of work.
D'Andrea said some counties do not have an M-3 district. The
county could remove those districts, and future operations would
file for conditional use permits under an ag district. Existing and
operating businesses could possibly be grandfathered under the old
regulations.
Should those operations become conditionally approved in an ag
district, they would have to follow the five regulations.
"I don't think these five things are so chokingly drastic that
we're going to stop people from coming into this county to do
business," said Bateman.
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Bill Martin said he would prefer not to change anything the night
of the meeting, as there was still research that could be done on
the subject. Bateman responded, saying that he just wants to see
progress begin on this issue. D'Andrea added that the actual process
would be a series of written drafts containing new language,
followed by approval from the committee with each draft.
The committee voted to approve the writing of such a draft to
begin reading next month, with David Hepler voting no.
The second discussion of the night concerned the lack of building
codes under county regulations in unincorporated areas.
D'Andrea said he strongly believes the county needs to adopt
building codes, but there is difficulty in determining what types of
codes to use and how to enforce these codes.
Bateman suggested that to keep things simple, the committee could
begin looking into codes for housing in rural areas before looking
at any other building codes.
"Since we're starting at zero, we need to work up some kind of
building codes for housing," said Bateman.
The committee members agreed that the creation of codes is not a
matter of gaining money through housing permits; it is considered a
quality-of-life issue. The committee hopes to continue discussing
the creation of building codes after more research is completed in
the interim.
The same discussion occurred between the committee members as to
the lack of fencing regulations in rural Logan County.
"This is a quality-of-life issue," said Jan Schumacher.
The last topic of the night was the application for an ITEP
grant. The county would be applying for the grant in order to
potentially look into bike trail planning. The full board is
expected to discuss the issue later this month.
[By DEREK HURLEY] |
