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May 5th Zoning and Economic
Development Committee Meeting
[May 08, 2025]
On Monday, May 5th, the Zoning and Economic Development committee of
the larger Logan County Board met for their monthly meeting. This
meeting began just after 6:30 p.m., following the Transportation
committee meeting. All five of the committee members were present,
including Chairman Michael DeRoss, Vice Chairman Kathy Schmidt,
Hannah Fitzpatrick, Joseph Kuhlman, and Bob Sanders. Also in
attendance were Cindy Gleason and Zoning Officer Al Green.
Once the meeting had commenced, DeRoss directed the committee to old
business, starting with energy projects updates. DeRoss deferred to
Green for this portion, and Green stated that there was a lot this
month. The first thing Green shared was that his office had just
received the solar project plans from Sugar Creek. He said that the
binder was very large, stating that he “didn’t even know they made
binders that big.” This is something that will be coming before the
committee before too long.
Green continued with solar projects stating that the Zoning Board of
Appeals (ZBA) has one solar project hearing this Thursday night. He
also stated that there are going to be three more before the ZBA
next month and three more the month after that. Green then brought
up the idea of increasing fees for applications for energy projects,
and that the increased income may be used to help fund the highway
department. At the end of the previous Transportation meeting, Bret
Aukamp, the head of the Logan County Highway Department, was talking
to the committee about the need for an increase in his department's
funding to help maintain and, when necessary, replace some of the
vehicles that his department has been needing to for a while. The
committee was receptive to this idea.
DeRoss then brought up that the solar farm data center on Nicholson
Road is looking for a decrease in their insurance. As it stands,
they have a ten million dollar per occurrence insurance policy.
DeRoss’s primary concern is that this decrease in insurance may
unfairly hamper economic development for the county. Green then
stated that this same company is looking for a variance from the ZBA
this week, stating that one of their solar farms does not have
direct access to a road. They are wanting to build a dirt path off
Woodlawn Road in Lincoln to give them access to their solar farm.
Green stated that Aukamp was certain that the Illinois Department of
Transportation would not give the solar farm company a permit to do
this unless they are looking to build a city street.
Green then stated that there are quite a few more updates, but he
could save them for his Zoning Officer Report later in the meeting.
The next three pieces of old business were handled swiftly. It was
stated that the ZBA is going to be voting on the new home
occupations ordinance on Thursday, as well as the new ground mount
solar ordinance. It was also shared that the issue of battery
storage and legal council is still with Brad Hauge, the Logan County
State’s Attorney, as it has been for a couple of months now.
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This led the committee to new business. DeRoss read two
brochures that he had been sent by two separate companies. These
companies are looking to purchase the same parcel of land in the
county to build a solar project. The parcel number was provided,
but no one was exactly sure where the parcel was located. Green
thought he knew where it was, but DeRoss stated that he would
look up the parcel number and bring that information back at a
later meeting.
Kuhlman then shared that there is a new state program coming out
of the Logan County Tourism Bureau. Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch
shared an administrative code with Kuhlman regarding funding for
the Tourism Bureau. Kuhlman stated that the committee may want
to look into that, as the county may be financially responsible
for a portion of this new program.
This then led to the Zoning Officer Report. Green started by
sharing that he issued eight permits in the month of April. He
also stated that he had a meeting with Heartland Community
College. They are looking to start offering classes on daycare,
as well as other types of classes, to help with things people
may need for home occupations.
Green also addressed a concern that people have been having, and
that is the wind towers being shut down during severe weather.
Currently, Logan County has nothing in its ordinance to enforce
this. DeRoss shared that the turbines could be having an effect
on the doppler radar that is used to measure the weather. The
movement of the turbines can supposedly interrupt the radar, and
that can make it difficult to measure the severe weather and
give people proper notice.
It was also shared by Green that, as the ordinance stands, the
only thing they can do to enforce this is to pull their permits,
also referred to as the “nuclear” option. Pulling the permits
would shut down the turbines, but it would also shut down the
entire windfarm. It was stated that they would like to see the
ordinance updated to give the ordinance “teeth.”
The last thing Green brought up in his report was the
possibility of looking at permit fees and adjusting them as
necessary. According to Green, the permit fees have not been
adjusted for a while. What brought this on was a couple of
applications for permits in flood plains. Green stated that
these applications require “quite a bit more work than just a
standard permit.” The committee added this to the agenda for
next month’s committee meeting.
[Matt Boutcher]
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