(A) Applicability. The "common provisions" of this section apply to all of the procedures in this article unless otherwise expressly stated.
(B) Review and decision-making authority (summary table). The following table provides a summary of the review and approval procedures of this article. In the event of conflict between this summary table and the detailed procedures contained elsewhere in this article, the detailed procedures govern.
Procedure | Zoning Administrator | Planning & Zoning Commission | County Board | Notice Requirement (N)ewspaper (D)elivered (P)osted |
Procedure | Zoning Administrator | Planning & Zoning Commission | County Board | Notice Requirement (N)ewspaper (D)elivered (P)osted |
Text Amendments | R | <R> | DM | N |
Zoning Map Amendments | R | <R> | DM | N,D,P |
Special Use Permits | R | <R> | DM | N,D,P |
Administrative Adjustments | DM | D | ||
Variances | R | <DM> | DM[1] | N,D,P |
Zoning Certificates | DM | |||
Appeals of Administrative Decisions | <DM> | N | ||
R = Review Body (responsible for review and recommendation) | ||||
DM = Decision-Making Body (responsible for final decision to approve or deny) | ||||
< > = Public Hearing Required | ||||
[1] The County Board acts as the final decision-making body on all variances denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission and appealed by the applicant, and all wireless telecommunications facility variances are decided by County Board after review by Planning and Zoning Commission. | ||||
(C) Applications and fees.
(1) Form of application.
(a) Applications required under this zoning ordinance must be submitted in a form and in such numbers as required by the Zoning Administrator.
(b) The Zoning Administrator must develop checklists of application submittal requirements and make those checklists available to the public.
(2) Application filing fees. Applications must be accompanied by the fee amount that has been established by the County Board.
(3) Application completeness, accuracy and sufficiency.
(a) An application will be considered complete and ready for processing only if it is submitted in the required number and form, includes all required information and is accompanied by the required filing fee.
(b) The Zoning Administrator must make a determination of application completeness within seven business days of application filing.
(c) If an application is determined to be incomplete, the Zoning Administrator must provide written notice to the applicant along with an explanation of the application's deficiencies. No further processing of the application will occur until the deficiencies are corrected. If the deficiencies are not corrected by the applicant within 60 days, the application will be considered withdrawn.
(d) No further processing of incomplete applications will occur and incomplete applications will be pulled from the processing cycle. When the deficiencies are corrected, the application will be placed in the next processing cycle.
(e) Applications deemed complete will be considered to be in the processing cycle and will be reviewed by staff and other review and decision-making bodies in accordance with applicable review and approval procedures of this zoning ordinance.
(f) The Zoning Administrator may require that applications or plans be revised before being placed on an agenda for possible action if the Zoning Administrator determines that:
1. The application or plan contains one or more significant inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of the plan's/application's compliance with zoning ordinance requirements or other regulations;
2. The application contains multiple minor inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of the plan's/ application's compliance with zoning ordinance requirements or other regulations; or
3. The decision-making body does not have legal authority to approve the application or plan.
(D) Public hearings (process and notices).
(1) Application processing cycles.
1. Determine completeness of application.
3. Schedule and hold a County Board decision vote within 30 days after the conclusion of the public hearing.
(c) For all other zoning applications, the Zoning Administrator, after consulting with review and decision-making bodies, is authorized to promulgate reasonable cycles and timelines for processing applications. Processing cycles may establish:
1. Deadlines for receipt of complete applications;
2. Dates of regular meetings;
3. The scheduling of staff reviews and reports; and
4. Time-frames for review and decision-making.
(2) Public hearings.
(a) Interested parties and citizens must be given an opportunity to appear and be heard at required public hearings, to present evidence and to cross-examine witnesses, subject to reasonable rules of procedure.
(b) Subject to division (D)(2)(d) of this section, a public hearing for which proper notice was given may be continued to a later date without providing additional notice as long as the continuance is set for a specified date and time and that date and time is announced at the time of the continuance.
(c) If a public hearing is continued or postponed for an indefinite period of time from the date of the originally scheduled public hearing, new public notice must be given before the rescheduled public hearing. If the applicant requests a postponement, the applicant must pay any costs of renotification.
(d) In furtherance of the intent of division (D)(2)(a) of this section, in the sole discretion of the Zoning Administrator, with costs to be borne by the applicant, new public hearing notice shall again be provided by the applicant pursuant to the provisions of division (D)(3) of this section, when the original public hearing has been continued.
(3) Public hearing notices.
(a) Newspaper notice. Whenever the provisions of this zoning ordinance require that newspaper notice be provided, the notice must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Will County at least 15 days before and no more than 30 days before the public hearing.
(b) Delivered notice.
1. Unless otherwise expressly stated, whenever the provisions of this zoning ordinance require that notices be delivered to property owners, the notices must be sent by the applicant via United States Postal Service Certified mail (return receipt requested) or by personal service or hand delivery. Notices must be deposited in the mail or delivered at least 15 days before and no more than 30 days before the public hearing.
2. Addresses must be based on the latest property ownership information available. Delivered notice is required to be provided as a courtesy. Alleged failure of parties to receive such notice does not constitute grounds to invalidate any action taken.
3. Prior to the public hearing, the applicant must provide certified mail receipts, courier service receipts, property owner signatures or other verification that notice was delivered in accordance with the requirements of this section.
(c) Posted notice (signs). When the procedures of this zoning ordinance require that posted notice be provided, the applicant is responsible for posting signs provided by Zoning Administrator in accordance with the following requirements. Failure to post signs in accordance with these requirements constitutes grounds for deferral or denial of the application.
1. At least one sign must be posted per 500 linear feet of street frontage with a minimum of one sign on each street abutting the subject property.
2. Signs must be posted at least 15 days before and no more than 30 days before the public hearing.
3. Prior to the public hearing, the applicant must provide a sworn certification to the Planning and Zoning Commission secretary that notice was posted upon the subject property in accordance with the requirements of this section.
4. The applicant is responsible for removing notice signs within five days of the conclusion of the public hearing. If the applicant fails to remove signs in accordance with these requirements, the Zoning Administrator is authorized to have the signs removed and to bill the applicant for the cost of removal.
5. The Zoning Administrator may modify the sign posting requirements of this section when the requirements are found to be inappropriate or ineffective in providing the intended notice to passersby. This authority rests solely with the Zoning Administrator and not with the applicant. Modifications may include sign content, format, size, material, quantity, and location.
(d) Content of notices. All required public hearing notices must:
1. Indicate the date, time and place of the public hearing or date of action that is the subject of the notice;
2. Describe any property involved in the application by address or by general description of the location;
3. Describe the general nature, scope and purpose of the application or proposal; and
4. Indicate where additional information on the matter can be obtained.
(E) Action by review bodies and decision-making bodies.
(1) Review and decision-making bodies may take any action that is consistent with:
(a) The regulations of this zoning ordinance;
(b) Any rules or by-laws that apply to the review or decision-making body; and
(c) The notice that was given.
(2) Review and decision-making bodies are authorized to defer action or continue a public hearing in order to receive additional information or further deliberate.
(3) Review and decision-making bodies are authorized to defer action, continue the public hearing or deny an application whenever the applicant fails to appear for a scheduled and advertised public hearing or whenever the applicant fails, at more than one meeting, to provide the documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the notice requirements of this zoning ordinance.
(F) Conditions of approval. When decision-making bodies approve applications with conditions, the conditions must relate to a situation created or aggravated by the proposed use or development and must be roughly proportional to the impacts of the use or development.
(G) Decision-making criteria; burden of proof or persuasion. Applications must address relevant review and decision-making criteria. In all cases, the bur-den is on the applicant to show that an application complies with all applicable review or approval criteria.
(Ord. effective 10-1-2012; Ord. 18-1, passed 1-18-2018; Ord. 23-70, passed 3-16-2023)