Grundy Reporter

Grundy County Land Use Committee met June 26.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

I. Call to Order

Attendee Name	Title	Status	Arrived
Ann Gill	Vice Chair	Absent
Harold Vota	Board Member	Present
Joshua Harris	Board Member	Present
Jerald White	Chair	Present
Christina Jenkins	Board Member	Present
James Riley	Board Member	Present
Nathanael Greene	Board Member	Absent
Linda Baker	Public	Present
Michael Synowiecki	Attorney	Present
Alan Anderson	Attorney Cypress Creek	Present
Christy Winer	Cypress Creek	Present
Mark Hansen	Owner	Present
Matt Melvin	Finance Analyst	Present

II. Public Portion

Chair White asked for any public comments.

Ms. Linda Baker came forwarded and asked if there was going to be any buffer of the solar farm to the adjacent properties.

Mr. Michael Synowiecki; Attorney representing the Myers and the Bakers provided a letter to the Land Use Committee members at the meeting. He stated that their was no proof of the IDNR consultation, construction baseline, road use agreement, letter of credit, and decommissioning bond. He concluded that the petition should not be recommended.

III. Approval of Minutes

1. Land Use Committee/ - Regular Meeting - May 22, 2024 4:30 PM

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Harold Vota, Board Member SECONDER: James Riley, Board Member AYES: Vota, Harris, White, Jenkins, Riley ABSENT: Gill, Greene

IV. Land Use Department

A. Official Business

1. Petition 23-ZBA-016 Special Use for Dupont River Solar

Miller summarized the petition for the Special Use for the Dupont River Solar farm and provided the details of the public hearing for the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on June 18, 2024.

She continued by stating that the landscaping requirements were removed from the code for buffering based on the IL State code requirements, IDNR's ECOCat was completed and then terminated (see attachment), and that the decommissioning bond/plan, and the Road Use Agreement are included as conditions for the solar farm and the developer would follow those under the Site Development Permit following County Board approval. If the conditions are not followed, the special use approval may be revoked by the County Board.

Chair White asked for a motion. Motion and second were made and discussion continued.

Vota asked for clarity on what the petitioner was requesting. Miller provided information in regard to the special use and that the A-Agricultural zoning would remain.

There were no further questions.

Roll call vote was taken.

RESULT: RECOMMENDED APPROVAL [3 TO 2] Next: 7/9/2024 6:00 PM  MOVER: Joshua Harris, Board Member SECONDER: James Riley, Board Member AYES: Harris, White, Riley NAYS: Vota, Jenkins ABSENT: Gill, Greene

B. New/Old Business

1. Solid Waste Update - Monthly Report

Miller completed a summary of the Solid Waste plan and the reason for the five year update this year (2024).

The Solid Waste Update Steering Committee (SWUSC) met and discussed many ideas that will be reflected in the draft that the Land Use Committee members will review at their July 24, 2024 meeting. She furthered by stating that the IEPA requires that all draft plans be placed on file with the County Board for 90 days.

She asked the committee members if they were interested in being a part of the meetings that they see her after the meeting for a packet and that the meetings were TEAMS.

2. Budget FY25

Miller completed the review of the Land Use Department budget mentioning that based on the New Development Director position that some line items were increased for the next year to accommodate for that additional staff position.

Based on the code year adoption of the 2024 codes in 2025, the budget values for education and books were increased accordingly.

She mentioned that revenue for building permits and school site donations were down as we are currently at 39% of the projected amount. The budget for FY25 reflected lower amounts in revenue based on current.

There were no questions on the budget draft presented.

C. Monthly Reports

1. Land Use Monthly Summary June 2024

Miller went through her monthly summary of the ERCO events, planning, and the building projects. She mentioned that the monthly property maintenance table was provided and many of the cases will be moved to the States Attorney's Office for further action.

2. Development Director Monthly Report

Macdonald went through his summary of the month's activities stating that he was working with the Grundy Resiliency Project and offered flyers for all the committee members to take to complete for the benefit of years to come. Felt that now was a good time to add community projects like the Comprehensive Plan. Updated the committee that the NCIGC stated that it would be hopefully this month the IDOT will release the grant recipients that Kucharz and Miller worked on.

D. Future Agenda Items

Miller stated that there will be two map amendments for consideration for the July meeting. 

E. Claims

1. Approve

Claims were reviewed and approved.

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Joshua Harris, Board Member SECONDER: James Riley, Board Member AYES: Vota, Harris, White, Jenkins, Riley ABSENT: Gill, Greene

V. Budget Reporting

1. Budget Reporting for June Land Use Committee

Kucharz stated that there was nothing remarkable to report on the budget tracking for June for the Land Use budget.

VI. Executive Session

VII. Action Taken as a Result of Executive Session

VIII. Adjournment

1. Adjourn

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Harold Vota, Board Member SECONDER: James Riley, Board Member AYES: Vota, Harris, White, Jenkins, Riley ABSENT: Gill, Greene

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