County planning staff reported Dec. 2 that the county board packet includes 12 petitions to be considered in the coming cycle, including rezoning requests, renewals and variances; several items relate to conversions of A1 parcels and to conditional uses tied to variances.

"There's 12 petitions on this county board recycle," staff told the committee, noting two solar petitions remain active, one solar application was withdrawn, and one petition was continued at the board floor. Staff identified a petition labeled 'Finsell' that involves converting seven A1 parcels and said some parcels are under three acres and will require careful frontage and ordinance review.

Staff also provided a solar litigation update. A staff member said a memo to the state's attorney's office has been drafted and is ready to be finalized depending on a Will County judge's ruling, which the staff said was scheduled to be issued that day. "The judge is ruling today," staff stated; the committee said they would await the ruling and the state's attorney's guidance before taking further action.

Committee members asked for clarifications about which petitions require variances to enable conditional uses. Staff said they would break down ordinances and sequence items so that variances and conditional-use eligibility are handled appropriately in board recommendations.

Finally, the committee briefly discussed the county 2050 plan and agreed to defer in-depth review to the January meeting to ensure fuller committee participation and input.