Committee approves zoning text amendment to extend special-use time limits and add extension process

The McLean County Land Use and Transportation Committee voted unanimously on Sept. 2, 2025 to forward a proposed text amendment to the county zoning ordinance that extends certain special-use permit time limits and creates a process for one-year extensions. The change was described as a response to longer permitting timelines for "controversial cases or large cases like wind and solar farms."

Committee members said the draft amendment—requested by Chair Leah Klein and drafted largely by Don Rude—would allow some special uses to have a three-year approval period instead of the current two years and would permit a one-year extension if county staff deem the request reasonable. The director of planning explained the existing two-year timeframe remains the default; applicants seeking extensions would file a request and pay a $400 fee. "It would be, the normal 2 year, time frame would be intact," the director said when explaining the proposal.

Member Fagan moved the item to the floor; Member Ziebarth seconded. After questions about whether existing two-year approvals would be automatically extended (they would not), the committee voted "aye" and the measure passed unanimously to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a public hearing.

Committee members said the draft reflects existing practice in some large projects that routinely require 36 months to proceed, and the amendment was presented as aligning the ordinance with that practice while leaving the ordinary special-use term at 24 months. The committee did not adopt additional substantive use standards in this vote; the amendment is a procedural change to the ordinance text and would follow the ZBA public-hearing process before any final county-board approval.