Peoria County Board advances stricter wind-and-solar application rules, adopts new review standards

Peoria County Board members on March 18 considered and moved forward with an update to the county's commercial wind-energy regulations that replaces subjective approval standards with court-derived review factors, tightens application completeness requirements and adds several new restrictions for commercial solar special-use approvals.

The Department of Planning and Zoning and outside counsel described the amendment as a response to recent developments and litigation risks. "We identified some of the deficiencies perhaps in our restrictions and the developments that have occurred," attorney Andy Kite said, and staff recommended changes to make review "black and white" rather than left to interpretation.

The ordinance changes include three main elements, officials said: converting certain approval standards in Chapter 20, Article 3 (section 3.5) into review standards using the LaSalle/Sinclair factors that Illinois courts apply in zoning litigation; clarifying minimum submittal requirements and timing in Article 7.2 so a filing means a…