(A) Authority. The County Board may from time to time amend, supplement or change by ordinance the boundaries of districts, or regulations herein established.
(B) Kinds of amendments.
(1) An amendment to this chapter may be one of the following:
(a) A change in a district’s boundary (re-zoning);
(b) A change in a district’s regulations; and
(c) A change in any other provision of this chapter.
(C) Initiation of proceedings. Proceedings for amending this chapter shall be initiated by at least one of the following three methods:
(1) By application of an owner or owners of property which is proposed to be rezoned, or for which zoning district rule and regulation changes are proposed. Any application for a rezoning or for a text amendment shall be accompanied by the required filing fee as established by the County Board;
(2) By recommendations of the Planning Commission; and/or
(3) By action of the County Board.
(D) Exhibits. Required exhibits for rezoning or district regulation changes initiated by property owners:
(1) The boundary survey and plot plan as required for building permit application; and
(2) A certified listing, by complete name and address, of all property owners within 250 feet of the property in question.
(E) Procedures.
(1) Upon any application for a proposed amendment, supplement or change being properly filed with the Administrator, the Administrator shall immediately cause a copy of same to be forwarded to the members of the Planning Commission and the members of the Zoning Board.
(2) The Planning Commission shall make an investigation as provided by its rules of procedure. The Planning Commission shall consider the proposed amendments of its next regularly scheduled monthly meeting; provided that, if 14 days have not elapsed since the above mailing of the proposed amendment, it may defer action on it until their next regular monthly meeting. In determining the 14-day period, the day the letter is mailed shall be excluded, and the day of the meeting shall be included.
(3) The recommendation and report stating reasons for the decision of the Planning Commission shall be forwarded to the Chairperson of the Zoning Board and to the Chairperson of the County Board without delay.
(4) The report of the Planning Commission may be considered by the Zoning Board in arriving at its decision, whether or not a member of the Planning Commission appears at the public hearing.
(5) The Zoning Board shall forward its report and decision, setting forth the reasons therefor, to the Chairperson of the County Board within a reasonable time after the public hearing.
(F) Notice of public hearing for amendments.
(1) The Zoning Board shall cause notice of a public hearing to be duly published, as prescribed by state statute.
(2) Hearings on text amendments shall be held in the courthouse of the county. Hearings on map amendments shall be held in the courthouse of the county; provided that, if the owner of any property affected by the proposed map amendment so requests, in writing, the hearing shall be held in the township or road district in which the affected property is located.
(3) The published notice of a hearing affecting a particular township or townships shall be published in a newspaper qualified to accept legal notices, in general circulation in the area affected.
(4) In addition, where a proposed amendment affects a particular area of the county, notice shall be mailed to all municipalities within one and one-half miles thereof, and the Administrator may provide courtesy notices to all owners of property within 250 feet of the property in question.
(G) Passage of amendments.
(1) Text and map amendments may be passed at a County Board meeting by a simple majority of the elected County Board members; except that, in the following instances, no amendment shall be approved, except by the favorable vote of three-fourths of all members of the County Board:
(a) Written protests against a proposed text amendment are signed by at least 5% of the land owners of the county;
(b) Where land affected lies within one and one-half miles of the corporate limits of a zoned municipality, and a written resolution by the corporate authorities of the zoned municipality is filed protesting any amendment; and
(c) Written protests against any proposed map amendment, signed by the owner or owners of 20% of the land to be rezoned, or signed by the owner or owners of land immediately touching, or immediately across a street, alley or public right-of-way from at least 20% of the perimeter of the land to be rezoned.
(2) In all instances involving protest of a proposed amendment, the protests shall be in writing and shall be filed with the County Clerk not less than five days before final action on the proposed amendment is scheduled to be taken. Additionally, a copy of the written protest shall be served by the protestors on the application for the proposed amendment and a copy upon the applicant’s attorney, if any, by certified mail at the address of the applicant and attorney not less than five days before final action is scheduled to be taken.
(Prior Code, § 152.126) (Ord. passed 3-9-1976; Ord. passed 6-12-1986; Ord. passed 7-12-1990)