Iroquois County begins ordinance work on solar, battery storage and considers moratorium for data centers

Iroquois County officials told the county board March 5 they will begin revising local land-use rules to conform with a new state law and to address several renewable-energy applications currently before planning and zoning.

A planning representative said two US Solar conditional-use and variance applications — for sites described in the meeting as near Loa and near Gilman — will be forwarded to the county board with recommended conditions. The committee recommended replacing a required single tree species in the living buffer with a flexible, site-specific landscape plan, allowing staff and applicants to tailor screening to local conditions rather than mandating one tree type around every perimeter.

County staff also said Commerce Street Solar submitted the county's first building-permit application for a solar installation. Committee members noted that building permits are the point at which decommissioning agreements and landscape plans become critical and that the committee will allot extra time for review and public notice to ensure those documents are complete before final approvals.

The board was advised that state legislation takes effect June 1 and local ordinances governing wind, solar and battery storage must be updated within a 120-day window. Staff said battery-storage rules in particular will require substantial revision. For emergent data-center proposals the county attorney recommended either a temporary moratorium or a requirement that data centers be treated as conditional uses with public hearings; the attorney will draft proposed moratorium language.

Planning staff said they will schedule additional committee review and workshops and will route any draft ordinance changes through the Zoning Board of Appeals for public hearing before returning to the full board.