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90_SB0748
55 ILCS 5/5-12001 from Ch. 34, par. 5-12001
Amends the Counties Code. Provides that the county board
has the power to regulate poles, towers, wires, cables,
conduits, vaults, laterals, or other similar distributory
equipment for a competitive telecommunications service.
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1 AN ACT to amend the Counties Code by changing Section
2 5-12005.
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 5-12005 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; nor shall they be exercised so as to impose
27 regulations or require permits with respect to land used or
28 to be used for agricultural purposes, other than parcels of
29 land consisting of less than 5 acres from which $1,000 or
30 less of agricultural products were sold in any calendar year
31 in counties with a population between 300,000 and 400,000 or
32 in counties contiguous to a county with a population between
33 300,000 and 400,000, and other than parcels of land
34 consisting of less than 5 acres in counties with a population
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1 in excess of 400,000, or with respect to the erection,
2 maintenance, repair, alteration, remodeling or extension of
3 buildings or structures used or to be used for agricultural
4 purposes upon such land except that such buildings or
5 structures for agricultural purposes may be required to
6 conform to building or set back lines; nor shall any such
7 powers be so exercised as to prohibit the temporary use of
8 land for the installation, maintenance and operation of
9 facilities used by contractors in the ordinary course of
10 construction activities, except that such facilities may be
11 required to be located not less than 1,000 feet from any
12 building used for residential purposes, and except that the
13 period of such temporary use shall not exceed the duration of
14 the construction contract; nor , except as otherwise provided
15 in this Section, shall any such powers include the right to
16 specify or regulate the type or location of any poles,
17 towers, wires, cables, conduits, vaults, laterals or any
18 other similar distributing equipment of a public utility as
19 defined in The Public utilities Act, if the public utility is
20 subject to The Messages Tax Act, The Gas Revenue Tax Act or
21 The Public Utilities Revenue Act, or if such facilities or
22 equipment are located on any rights of way and are used for
23 railroad purposes. As used in this Act, "agricultural
24 purposes" do not include the extraction of sand, gravel or
25 limestone, and such activities may be regulated by county
26 zoning ordinance even when such activities are related to an
27 agricultural purpose.
28 The county board has the authority to regulate poles,
29 towers, wires, cables, conduits, vaults, laterals, or other
30 similar distributing equipment for a competitive
31 telecommunications service in accordance with the following:
32 (i) the uses and zoning of nearby property; (ii) the extent
33 to which existing zoning diminishes the property's value and
34 the proposed zoning enhances the value; (iii) the suitability
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1 of the property for the uses permitted under the existing
2 zoning; and (iv) the relative gain to the public compared to
3 the hardship imposed upon the property owner by the existing
4 and proposed zoning. The county board or its designee may
5 impose conditions on the use of the poles, towers, wires,
6 cables, conduits, vaults, laterals, or other similar
7 distributing equipment that will protect the health, safety,
8 and welfare of the public. Initial determination of the
9 permitted use shall be by the county board or its designee.
10 All appeals from the decision of the county board or its
11 designee shall be to a circuit court that has jurisdiction.
12 Nothing in this Division shall be construed to restrict
13 the powers granted by statute to cities, villages and
14 incorporated towns as to territory contiguous to but outside
15 of the limits of such cities, villages and incorporated
16 towns. Any zoning ordinance enacted by a city, village or
17 incorporated town shall supersede, with respect to territory
18 within the corporate limits of the municipality, any county
19 zoning plan otherwise applicable. The powers granted to
20 counties by this Division shall be treated as in addition to
21 powers conferred by statute to control or approve maps, plats
22 or subdivisions. In this Division, "agricultural purposes"
23 include, without limitation, the growing, developing,
24 processing, conditioning, or selling of hybrid seed corn,
25 seed beans, seed oats, or other farm seeds.
26 Nothing in this Division shall be construed to prohibit
27 the corporate authorities of a county from adopting an
28 ordinance that exempts pleasure driveways or park districts,
29 as defined in the Park District Code, with a population of
30 greater than 100,000, from the exercise of the county's
31 powers under this Division.
32 (Source: P.A. 88-623, eff. 1-1-95; 89-654, eff. 8-14-96.)