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Iroquois County committee approves text amendment to allow temporary met towers in Ag-1 with permit rules
Summary
The zoning committee approved a text amendment allowing temporary meteorological towers as permitted uses in Agriculture 1 (A-1) with setbacks, security and a three-year limit; fees and other application requirements were specified.
The Iroquois County Zoning Committee voted Oct. 7 to approve a zoning text amendment that allows temporary meteorological towers as a permitted use in Agriculture 1 (A-1) subject to a building-permit process and specific operating conditions.
The amendment requires towers to be set back at least 1.1 times the tower height from parcel lines, limits temporary towers to a three-year term (extendable by the zoning administrator for one additional year), sets a building-permit fee of $5,000 per year per tower, and requires each tower and its equipment to be enclosed by an 8-foot fence with locking gates. Each tower must have a separate permit application and a scaled site plan showing all real property within two times the tower height.
Committee staff member Andrew said the proposed rules would place met towers in A-1 under a permitting process rather than leaving them unregulated in that district. "All towers must be set back at least 1.1 times the tower height from the parcel," Andrew said. He explained the three-year cap is intended to keep early testing towers temporary, and that permanent towers would need to undergo the county's full project site-plan and special-use review if a developer later sought a permanent installation.
Committee members discussed how a temporary tower could later become part of a permanent wind project. "This would allow just for a three-year term on a temporary tower. If they're going to make it permanent, it would be part of their site plan and project," Andrew said. Committee members also emphasized the county must periodically re-evaluate decommissioning financial assurances for long-term projects.
A motion to approve the text amendment carried on the committee vote. Parkinson, Hughes, Barr, Evelyn and others voted yes on the measure. The motion was made on the record and seconded before the roll call vote.
The ordinance language approved by the committee also calls for a separate application form and lists minimum application materials the zoning administrator will require. That list includes the site plan noted above and the security fencing requirement. The amendment does not add A-2 to the permitted list for met towers; committee members said the permitting pathway was deliberately narrower in A-1 to preserve more opportunity for adjacent-property input in other districts.
The county will transmit the committee recommendation to the county board for final action, subject to the county board's agenda and notice processes.
