(A) Authority. For the purpose of promoting the public health, safety, morals, comfort, and general welfare; conserving the value of property throughout the county; and lessening or avoiding congestion in the public streets and highways, the County Board may from time to time in the manner hereinafter set forth amend the regulations imposed in the districts created by this chapter. The chapter may be amended, provided that in all amendatory resolutions adopted under the authority of this section, due allowance shall be made for the existing conditions, the conservation of property values, the direction of building development to the best advantages of the entire county, and the uses to which the property is devoted at the time of the adoption of such amendatory chapter.
(B) Initiation of amendment. Amendments may be proposed by the County Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, or by any interested person or organization.
(C) Application for amendment. An application for an amendment shall be filed with the Administrative Officer in such form and accompanied by such information as may be required by the Administrative Officer. Such application shall be forwarded to the Zoning Board of Appeals with the request to hold a public hearing on said application for amendment.
(D) Hearing on application. The Zoning Board of Appeals shall hold a public hearing on each application for an amendment in the township or road district affected by the terms of such proposed amendment or in the County Office Building. If the owner of any property affected by such proposed amendment so requests, such hearing shall be held in the township or road district affected by the terms of such proposed amendment. For the consideration of general amendments to the chapter, hearings may be held in the County Office Building. A record of such proceedings shall be preserved in a manner as the Zoning Board of Appeals, may, by rule, prescribe.
(E) Notice of hearing. Notice of time and place of such hearing shall be published at least once in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the county not less than 15 nor more than 30 days before such hearing. Supplemental or additional notices may be published or distributed as the Zoning Board of Appeals, may, by rule, prescribe from time to time.
(F) Findings of fact and recommendation of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
(1) Within 45 days after the close of the hearing on a proposed amendment, the Zoning Board of Appeals shall make written findings of fact and shall submit same together with its recommendations to the County Board. Where the purpose and effect of the proposed amendment is to change the zoning classification of particular property, the findings of fact and recommendation shall include the following information:
(a) Existing use of property within the general area of the property in question;
(b) The zoning classification of property within the general area of the property in question;
(c) The trend of development, if any, in the general area of the property in question, including changes, if any, which have taken place since the day the property in question was placed in its present zoning classification; and
(d) The suitability of the property in question to the uses permitted under the existing and the proposed zoning classification.
(2) The Zoning Board of Appeals shall recommend the adoption of a proposed amendment when it finds that the adoption of such amendment is in the public interest and is not solely for the interest of the applicant. The Zoning Board of Appeals may recommend the adoption of an amendment changing the zoning classification of the property in question to any higher classification than that requested by the applicant. For the purposes of this division (F), the AG-1 Rural Agricultural District shall be considered the highest classification and the I-2 Heavy Industrial District shall be considered the lowest classification.
(3) A lot, lots, or parcel of land shall not qualify for a zoning amendment unless it possesses at least 200 feet of frontage or contains at least 25,000 square feet of area, or adjoins a lot, lots, or parcel of land which bears the same zoning district classification as the proposed zoning amendment.
(G) Action by the County Board.
(1) The County Board shall not act upon a proposed amendment to this chapter until they have received written report and recommendation from the Zoning Board of Appeals on the proposed amendment.
(2) The County Board may grant or deny an application for an amendment provided, however, that in case of a written protest against any proposed amendment, and signed and acknowledged by the owners of 20% of the frontage proposed to be altered, or by the owner of 20% of the frontage immediately adjoining or across an alley therefrom, or by the owner of 20% of the frontage directly opposite the frontage proposed to be altered, or in cases where the land affected lies within one and one-half miles of the limits of a zoned municipality, or in the case of a proposed test amendment to the chapter, by resolution of the corporate authorities of the zoned municipality with limits nearest adjacent, filed with the County Clerk such amendment shall not be passed except by the favorable vote of three-fourths of all the members of the County Board. In such cases a copy of the written protest shall be served by the protestor or protestors on the applicant for the proposed amendment and a copy upon the applicant’s attorney, if any, by certified mail at the address of such applicant and attorney shown in the application for the proposed amendment.
(H) Effect of denial of an amendment. No application for an amendment that has been denied wholly or in part by the County Board shall be resubmitted for a period of one year from the date of said denial except on the grounds of new evidence or proof of change of conditions found to be valid by the Administrative Officer.
(Ord. passed 5-16-2023)