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 As the meeting began the Planning Commission welcomed new member
Ryan Murphy. Murphy recently moved to the county from Danville, and
is an employee of the Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home in
Lincoln.
Proposed zoning ordinance changes
The big item for the evening was discussion of a proposed series of
changes to zoning ordinances.
The first proposed change centered on the process for conducting a
hearing that would either amend the zoning map or amend the
language.
Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea provided copies of the existing
language and the proposed changes. D’Andrea said the current
language can be very confusing and vague in referencing other areas
of the ordinances. In some instances, he had inserted state of
Illinois statutes, which could be read more clearly.
Changes in language also included an increase in the amount of time
required to notify nearby landowners from fifteen days (the state
minimum) to twenty-five days, and now uses State language under the
section concerning protest petitions.
Doug Muck was present as a guest at the meeting. Muck said he was
curious as to why the county would adopt an ordinance that was
different from state statute in terms of notification requirements
for time and distance (for Special Districts). “If the intent is to
give objectors more time to come in, your ZBA has the ability to
extend hearings anyway,” said Muck.
 D’Andrea said that requiring longer amounts of time for giving
notice or sending notices to greater distances than the state
statute is not in violation of said statutes. “So long as you’re not
less restrictive than state statute, you can do more. If you want to
go beyond just the adjoining property, you can.”
The Planning Commission only votes on matters such as these as a
recommendation to the Zoning Board of Appeals, who in turn make a
recommendation to the county board.
Zoning process changes pass unanimously
All of the members present voted to recommend the changes to the
zoning 'process' ordinances.
Zoning for M-3 extraction
The second set of potential revisions concerns the M-3 extraction
designation under zoning ordinances.
Currently 'Permitted uses' for M-3 include “sand, gravel, marl,
clay, limestone, salt, coal extraction, and related crushing
processes,” as well as “oil and gas extraction.”
Under current 'Conditional uses' “cement concrete or asphaltic
concrete mixing plants” is the only listed conditional use.
A proposed change to this section would be to add borrow pits to the
'permitted uses,' and to move all of the current permitted uses to
conditional uses. Borrow pits would also be added as a permitted use
under Agriculture zoning.
Additionally, an effective date clause of December 31st, 2014 would
be inserted into the language in order to allow existing extraction
designations to remain in effect.
According to D’Andrea, these revisions were looked into around a
year-and-a-half ago, but were delayed due to pending legal matters.
Keith Snyder asked if this change would affect the presence of pits
that are dug as part of a quarry. D’Andrea said those pits would
still be allowed as part of the reclamation process under
extraction.
Muck said he thinks the revisions are a bad idea. He said these
revisions would not be consistent with any economic development
plan, and it would give too much power to conditions that are
unrelated to zoning.
“If you’re going to change the permitted uses, then the standards
ought to be redefined, and they’re not being redefined,” said Muck.
Muck referred several times to the language in the existing
ordinances that read “the conditional use will not be injurious to
the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity
for purposes already permitted, nor substantially diminish property
values in the neighborhood.” Muck argued that this portion of the
ordinance is too vague, and the data on property values is too
inconsistent to be reliable.
“It’s very subjective, isn’t it? There’s no objective standard
here,” said Muck. Muck also said that extraction uses are all
heavily regulated, and the county should not try to force such
conditions onto businesses that already follow heavy state and
federal rules.
“I think you’re going to chase business away and bring on more
problems,” said Muck.
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Muck also said that adding the effective date clause as
proposed would be considered prohibited due to its retroactive
nature. Bill Graff said it would be an easy fix to change the
wording to begin at the date of adoption. Muck agreed with Graff
that the change in wording would make that section legal.
Jan Schumacher said the intent behind this was to provide
flexibility when determining conditions for extraction. “We may
not be able to anticipate the concerns for each project,” said
Schumacher. Schumacher said the zoning process could be sped up
if concerns are addressed up front as part of a conditional use
rather than a flat yes-or-no answer that comes with a permitted
use application.
Snyder said that from his perspective, the new ordinance would
create an extraction designation that did not permit any kind of
extraction. “So why have an extraction district?” asked Snyder.
D’Andrea said that the alternative, which would be eliminating
M-3 altogether, would create a problem for existing extraction
areas. D’Andrea said the county already has a similar problem
with the Country Homes designation, in which houses exist under
CH, a zoning designation that no longer exists.
Snyder said he worries making extraction function on a
case-by-case basis like this could create a sense of favoritism.
Muck said he disagrees with the idea that a set of conditions
applicable to all permitted uses could not be created in
advance. D’Andrea said it’s impossible to know all of the
circumstances that might come up during a given application
process.
M-3 extraction designation under zoning ordinances changes pass
5 – 4
The Planning Commission voted to recommend the changes with a
vote of 5 - 4, with Snyder, Fuhrer, Hoinacki and Murphy voting
no.
D’Andrea said the Zoning Board of Appeals would be discussing
both sets of revisions on the 5th at a public hearing before
they make their own recommendation.
The first item discussed was the IDOT Planning Funds the
Commission is set to receive. The Commission intends to use
these funds for Farnsworth (an engineering group working on the
bicycle trails) to begin working on bicycle trail markings this
summer.
 Logan County Highway Engineer, Bret Aukamp, said that IDOT still
has not officially signed and sent the paperwork back in order
for work to begin. Aukamp proposed that the Commission could use
some of their own funds to help begin the process until the
funds are sent.
“If we don’t get started now, we won’t be able to get done this
summer,” said Aukamp.
Jeff Hoinacki asked how much money Aukamp was looking at
spending. Aukamp said he imagined only paying for a portion of
the total at this time. Aukamp also said that he would imagine
paying no more than $5,000 would be a good starting point for
Farnsworth to begin the work.
Andy Anderson moved for the Planning Commission to spend no more
than $5,000 to begin the work. The motion was approved by all of
the members present.
Officers appointed
Before the meeting ended, officers were appointed for the
Commission. Graff will continue to function as chairman and
Hoinacki will continue to be the treasurer, with Schumacher
replacing Fuhrer as vice-chairman.
Graff also said that he had spoken to Dean Sasse, who was
absent. Sasse said he does not plan on seeking to be
re-appointed to the Commission, and his current appointment ends
in March.
Commission members present were Chairman Bill Graff, Lincoln
Mayor Keith Snyder, Jim Fuhrer, Bret Aukamp, Jeff Hoinacki, Andy
Anderson, Jan Schumacher, Gerald Lolling, and Jim Vipond, along
with new member Ryan Murphy. Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea was
also present.
[Derek Hurley]
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