Lee County board moves several zoning and subdivision petitions forward; church special-use approved

The Lee County Board approved a string of zoning and planning items Tuesday, advancing several petitions to the zoning hearing officer or planning commission and approving a special-use permit for a church at 174 Rocky Ford Road.
Zoning staff identified multiple petitions. The board approved petition 25P1651 for Rosie Tales, who requested a special-use permit to operate a church on roughly 5 acres at 174 Rocky Ford Road in May Township; after no questions, the board voted by voice to approve the petition.
The board also voted to move several matters to the zoning hearing officer or planning commission for further review: petition 25P1652 (a variance request related to side and rear yard setbacks for a property on Illinois Route 38 in Franklin Grove), 25P1653 (a map amendment to rezone a small parcel in Palmyra Township from Ag-1 to R-2 to resubdivide lots with a woodland preservation easement), and two preliminary-plat petitions (25PC81 and 25PC82) related to subdivisions in Palmyra Township. In each case, a motion was made and carried to forward the petition to the appropriate hearing body.
From the zoning hearing officer this month, petition 25P1647 (Donald and Annette Early) asked to amend the zoning map from R-2 to R-1 at 602 River Lane in Dixon to allow raising livestock; the board approved the resolution after the zoning hearing officer recommended approval.
Where applicable, the board relied on the zoning hearing officer’s recommendations; votes were by voice or roll call depending on the item. When the planning commission’s review of changes to residential-district animal limits (Title 10, Chapter 5 and R-2 provisions for chickens) reached the board, the planning commission’s recommendation to amend R-1 was accepted but the R-2 portion (allowing six chickens, no roosters) was tabled for further discussion and scheduled to resume October 6.
Discussion vs. decision: Several petitions were forwarded to the zoning hearing officer or planning commission for public hearing and recommendation; other petitions were approved by the county board during the meeting. No single petition combined into multiple board approvals was split into separate articles; related petitions were grouped for planning commission consideration where the record connected them.