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90_HB2557
55 ILCS 5/5-12001 from Ch. 34, par. 5-12001
Amends the Counties Code. Provides that the county board
or the board of county commissioners may make provisions for
the gradual elimination of uses, buildings, and structures
that are incompatible with the character of the districts in
which they are made or located. Effective immediately.
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1 AN ACT to amend the Counties Code by changing Section
2 5-12001.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Counties Code is amended by changing
6 Section 5-12001 as follows:
7 (55 ILCS 5/5-12001) (from Ch. 34, par. 5-12001)
8 Sec. 5-12001. Authority to regulate and restrict
9 location and use of structures.
10 For the purpose of promoting the public health, safety,
11 morals, comfort and general welfare, conserving the values of
12 property throughout the county, lessening or avoiding
13 congestion in the public streets and highways, and lessening
14 or avoiding the hazards to persons and damage to property
15 resulting from the accumulation or runoff of storm or flood
16 waters, the county board or board of county commissioners, as
17 the case may be, of each county, shall have the power to
18 regulate and restrict the location and use of buildings,
19 structures and land for trade, industry, residence and other
20 uses which may be specified by such board, to regulate and
21 restrict the intensity of such uses, to establish building or
22 setback lines on or along any street, trafficway, drive,
23 parkway or storm or floodwater runoff channel or basin
24 outside the limits of cities, villages and incorporated towns
25 which have in effect municipal zoning ordinances; to divide
26 the entire county outside the limits of such cities, villages
27 and incorporated towns into districts of such number, shape,
28 area and of such different classes, according to the use of
29 land and buildings, the intensity of such use (including
30 height of buildings and structures and surrounding open
31 space) and other classification as may be deemed best suited
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1 to carry out the purposes of this Division; to prohibit uses,
2 buildings or structures incompatible with the character of
3 such districts respectively; and to prevent additions to and
4 alteration or remodeling of existing buildings or structures
5 in such a way as to avoid the restrictions and limitations
6 lawfully imposed hereunder: Provided, that permits with
7 respect to the erection, maintenance, repair, alteration,
8 remodeling or extension of buildings or structures used or to
9 be used for agricultural purposes shall be issued free of any
10 charge. The corporate authorities of the county may by
11 ordinance require the construction of fences around or
12 protective covers over previously constructed artificial
13 basins of water dug in the ground and used for swimming or
14 wading, which are located on private residential property and
15 intended for the use of the owner and guests. In all
16 ordinances or resolutions passed under the authority of this
17 Division, due allowance shall be made for existing
18 conditions, the conservation of property values, the
19 directions of building development to the best advantage of
20 the entire county, and the uses to which property is devoted
21 at the time of the enactment of any such ordinance or
22 resolution.
23 The powers by this Division given shall not be exercised
24 so as to deprive the owner of any existing property of its
25 use or maintenance for the purpose to which it is then
26 lawfully devoted, but provisions may be made for the gradual
27 elimination of uses, buildings, and structures that are
28 incompatible with the character of the districts in which
29 they are made or located including, but not limited to,
30 provisions (i) for the elimination of the uses of unimproved
31 lands or lot areas when the existing rights of the persons in
32 possession are terminated or when the uses to which they are
33 devoted are discontinued, (ii) for the elimination of uses to
34 which the buildings and structures are devoted if they are
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1 adaptable for permitted uses, and (iii) for the elimination
2 of the buildings and structures when they are destroyed or
3 damaged in major part or when they have reached the age fixed
4 by the county board or the board of county commissioners as
5 the normal useful life of the buildings or structures; nor
6 shall they be exercised so as to impose regulations or
7 require permits with respect to land used for agricultural
8 purposes, which includes the growing of farm crops, truck
9 garden crops, animal and poultry husbandry, apiculture,
10 aquaculture, dairying, floriculture, horticulture, nurseries,
11 tree farms, sod farms, pasturage, viticulture, and wholesale
12 greenhouses when such agricultural purposes constitute the
13 principal activity on the land, other than parcels of land
14 consisting of less than 5 acres from which $1,000 or less of
15 agricultural products were sold in any calendar year in
16 counties with a population between 300,000 and 400,000 or in
17 counties contiguous to a county with a population between
18 300,000 and 400,000, and other than parcels of land
19 consisting of less than 5 acres in counties with a population
20 in excess of 400,000, or with respect to the erection,
21 maintenance, repair, alteration, remodeling or extension of
22 buildings or structures used or to be used for agricultural
23 purposes upon such land except that such buildings or
24 structures for agricultural purposes may be required to
25 conform to building or set back lines and counties may
26 establish a minimum lot size for residences on land used for
27 agricultural purposes; nor shall any such powers be so
28 exercised as to prohibit the temporary use of land for the
29 installation, maintenance and operation of facilities used by
30 contractors in the ordinary course of construction
31 activities, except that such facilities may be required to be
32 located not less than 1,000 feet from any building used for
33 residential purposes, and except that the period of such
34 temporary use shall not exceed the duration of the
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1 construction contract; nor shall any such powers include the
2 right to specify or regulate the type or location of any
3 poles, towers, wires, cables, conduits, vaults, laterals or
4 any other similar distributing equipment of a public utility
5 as defined in the Public utilities Act, if the public utility
6 is subject to the Messages Tax Act, the Gas Revenue Tax Act
7 or the Public Utilities Revenue Act, or if such facilities or
8 equipment are located on any rights of way and are used for
9 railroad purposes, nor shall any such powers be exercised in
10 any respect as to the facilities, as defined in Section
11 5-12001.1, of a telecommunications carrier, as also defined
12 therein, except to the extent and in the manner set forth in
13 Section 5-12001.1. As used in this Act, "agricultural
14 purposes" do not include the extraction of sand, gravel or
15 limestone, and such activities may be regulated by county
16 zoning ordinance even when such activities are related to an
17 agricultural purpose.
18 Nothing in this Division shall be construed to restrict
19 the powers granted by statute to cities, villages and
20 incorporated towns as to territory contiguous to but outside
21 of the limits of such cities, villages and incorporated
22 towns. Any zoning ordinance enacted by a city, village or
23 incorporated town shall supersede, with respect to territory
24 within the corporate limits of the municipality, any county
25 zoning plan otherwise applicable. The powers granted to
26 counties by this Division shall be treated as in addition to
27 powers conferred by statute to control or approve maps, plats
28 or subdivisions. In this Division, "agricultural purposes"
29 include, without limitation, the growing, developing,
30 processing, conditioning, or selling of hybrid seed corn,
31 seed beans, seed oats, or other farm seeds.
32 Nothing in this Division shall be construed to prohibit
33 the corporate authorities of a county from adopting an
34 ordinance that exempts pleasure driveways or park districts,
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1 as defined in the Park District Code, with a population of
2 greater than 100,000, from the exercise of the county's
3 powers under this Division.
4 (Source: P.A. 89-654, eff. 8-14-96; 90-261, eff. 1-1-98;
5 90-522, eff. 1-1-98; revised 11-4-97.)
6 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
7 becoming law.
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