Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee approves circus license, extends carbon-sequestration moratorium, forwards battery-storage ordinance and MS4

The Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee approved four items and forwarded two zoning-related measures to the full county board on routine voice votes.

The committee unanimously approved a recreation and entertainment license for All American Entertainment doing business as the Great Benjamin Circus to perform at the Champaign County Fairgrounds, 1302 North Kohler Avenue in Urbana, from Oct. 16 through Oct. 19, 2025. The motion to approve was moved by John and seconded by Jennifer; the chair called the voice vote in favor.

The committee voted to extend by six months a temporary safety moratorium on carbon-sequestration activity (zoning case 178-AT-25) as described in the legal advertisement. The motion was moved by John and seconded by "Mullah." Committee discussion noted the task force working on related language has had difficulty convening a quorum and will meet again; staff said slightly different, more specific language is expected from the task force. The motion passed on a voice vote.

The committee recommended to the county board a text amendment (zoning case 1308-T-24) to add battery energy storage systems as a new principal use under "industrial uses, electric power generating facilities," and to allow battery energy storage systems by county-board special-use permit in Ag-1, Ag-2, B-1, B-4, I-1 and I-2 zoning districts. The motion, moved by Aaron and seconded by Jennifer, followed a revision agreed at the public hearing to make approval a county-board special-use permit rather than a standard special-use permit. Staff said the draft ordinance is based on NFPA 855 standards and that fire-protection districts previously consulted did not object to the proposed standards used for a recent solar-plus-storage project.

The committee also approved filing a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit for a five-year period, Nov. 1, 2025, through Oct. 31, 2030. Jennifer moved the motion; Aaron seconded. Committee staff noted compliance will require visual observations and routine inspections rather than sampling for the county's population level, and that much of the county's stormwater discharges into channels that are 25 to 30 feet below grade, creating practical challenges for observations during rain events. Staff said the county has historically collaborated with Urbana and other jurisdictions and may pursue similar arrangements for MS4 compliance; other counties handle MS4 obligations differently, including outsourcing to consultants or highway departments.

All four items passed on voice votes with no recorded no votes. The committee chair said consent items 9(a) and 9(b) would be placed on the consent agenda for the full county board.