A. General Purposes: The general purposes of this UDO are to promote the public health, safety, convenience, and general welfare by:
1. Conforming with the comprehensive plan for Grundy County.
2. Preserving, enhancing, and protecting the rural character of Grundy County by:
a. Promoting compact urban form;
b. Promoting the continuation of agriculture as the predominant land use in the unincorporated area of the county;
c. Ensuring that whatever residential development occurs in the agricultural areas does not disrupt agriculture and preserves agricultural land; and
d. Coordinating with the general plans and land use regulations of the incorporated villages and cities within the county.
3. Protecting the quality of life of county residents by:
a. Preventing the overcrowding of land and undue concentration of population;
b. Securing adequate light, air, convenience of access, and safety from fire, flood, and other danger;
c. Minimizing conflicts among adjacent land uses; and
d. Preserving and protecting places and areas of historical, cultural, scenic, or architectural importance and significance.
4. Ensuring that highway systems are carefully planned to:
a. Lessen or avoid congestion in public ways;
b. Enhance opportunities for multimodal and nonvehicular travel; and
c. Reduce vehicle miles traveled.
5. Ensuring that the community grows with adequate public way, utility, health, educational, and recreational facilities by:
a. Promoting the orderly growth, development, improvement, and redevelopment of the community; and
b. Protecting natural resources and the environment including water supplies, sensitive ecosystems, and scenic vistas.
6. Ensuring that the needs of business and industry are recognized by:
a. Providing for sufficient commercial and industrial property to allow for economic development within the county;
b. Providing for a fair, orderly, and efficient development review process; and
c. Protecting the value of property and buildings.
7. Ensuring that residential areas provide healthful surroundings for family life.
8. Protecting the fiscal and functional integrity of the county by:
a. Ensuring that the growth of the county is commensurate with and in support of the efficient and economical use of public funds; and
b. Encouraging development in areas where transportation, water, sewers, schools, parks, and other public requirements exist, and limit development where such facilities do not exist.
B. Specific Purposes: Specific purposes of this UDO are set out for individual chapters and for some sections. (Ord. 10-001, 1-12-2010)