[ Search ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
[ Introduced ] | [ Engrossed ] | [ House Amendment 001 ] |
[ House Amendment 003 ] |
91_HB0060ham002 LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 60 2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend House Bill 60, AS AMENDED, by 3 replacing the title with the following: 4 "AN ACT to amend the Agricultural Areas Conservation and 5 Protection Act."; and 6 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the 7 following: 8 "Section 5. The Agricultural Areas Conservation and 9 Protection Act is amended by changing Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, and 20.2 and adding Section 11 11.5 as follows: 12 (505 ILCS 5/4) (from Ch. 5, par. 1004) 13 Sec. 4. Agricultural areas committee. 14 (a) A county board may establish a county agricultural 15 areas committee thatwhichshall consist of (i) 4fouractive 16 farmers, no more than 2twoof whom mayshallbe of the same 17 major political party, and (ii) a member of the county board. 18 (1) The committee shall select one of its members 19 to serve as chairpersonchairman of the county committee. 20 (2) TheSuch acommittee shall be established 21 whenever a petition is received by the county board for -2- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 the creation of an agricultural area underpursuant to2 Section 6. A, provided that no suchcounty committee may 3 not be established if one has already been established 4 for thesuchcounty. 5 (3) Members of thesuchcounty committee shall be 6 appointed by and shall serve at the pleasure of the 7 county appointing authority. 8 (4) The members shall serve without salary, but the 9 county board may entitle eachsuchmember to 10 reimbursement forhisactual necessary expenses incurred 11 in the performance ofhisofficial duties. 12 (b) TheSuchcommittee shall advise the county board in 13 relation to the proposed establishment, modification, and 14 termination of agricultural areas. The county committee shall 15 render expert advice relating to the desirability of such 16 action, including advice as to the nature of farming and farm 17 resources within the proposed area and the relation of 18 farming in thesucharea to the county as a whole. 19 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 20 (505 ILCS 5/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 1005) 21 Sec. 5. Agricultural areas; creation. Any owner or 22 owners of land may submit a proposal to the county board for 23 the creation of an agricultural area within thesuchcounty 24 according to the following provisions:.25 (1) An agricultural area, at the creation of the 26any sucharea, shallnotbe at leastless than350 acres. 27 (2) TheSuchproposal shall include a description 28 of the proposed area, including itstheboundaries 29thereof. 30 (3) TheSuchterritory shall be as compact and 31 nearly contiguous as feasible. 32 (4) An area created under this Act shall be 33 established for a period of 10tenyears. -3- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 (5) No land shall be included in an agricultural 2 area without the consent of the owner. 3 (6) No land within an agricultural area shall be 4 used for other than agricultural production as described 5 in Sections 3.01 and 3.02 of this Act. 6 (7) Agreements for the extraction of mineral 7 resources duly agreed upon beforeprior tothe creation 8 of an agricultural area shall be exempted from the use 9 provisions of this Section. In addition, the extraction 10 of mineral resources conducted underpursuant tothe 11 Surface Coal Mining Land Conservation and Reclamation Act 12 shall be considered temporary land use and shall be 13 exempted from the use provisions of this Section. 14 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) 15 (505 ILCS 5/6) (from Ch. 5, par. 1006) 16 Sec. 6. Duties of the county board. 17 (a) Upon the receipt ofsucha proposal to create an 18 agricultural area, the county board shall provide notice of 19 thesuchproposal (i) by publishing a notice in a newspaper 20 having general circulation within the proposed area or, if no 21suchnewspaper has a general circulation within the proposed 22 area then in a newspaper having general circulation within 23 the county and (ii) by posting thesuchnotice in 5five24 conspicuous places within the proposed area. A copy of the 25suchnotice shall be sent to the county or regional planning 26 commission for review or comment to be made to the county 27 board within 30 days.Such comment shall be made to the28county board.29 The notice required to be published or posted under this 30 Section shall contain the following information:.31 (1)1.A statement that a proposal for an 32 agricultural area has been filed with the county board 33 underpursuant tothis Act.;-4- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 (2)2.A statement that the proposal will be on 2 file open to public inspection at the county clerk's 3 office.;4 (3)3.A statement that any landowner, owning land 5 adjacent to or partially encompassed by the proposed area 6 , may propose a modification of the area to include or 7 exclude such lands, within 30 days of the date of 8 publication of notice. TheSuchapplication shall be made 9 on forms prescribed by the county board.;10 (4)4.A statement that any proposed modification 11 must be filed with the county clerk and the clerk of the 12 county board within 30 days after the publication of the 13suchnotice.;14 (5)5.A statement that at the termination of the 15 30 day period, the proposal and proposed modifications 16 will be submitted to the county committee,and that a 17 public hearing will be held on the proposal, proposed 18 modifications, and recommendations of the county 19 committee. 20 (b) The county board shall receive any proposals for 21 modifications of thesuchproposal thatwhichmay be 22 submitted by the landowners within 30 days after the 23 publication of thesuchnotice. 24 (c) The county board shall simultaneously, upon the 25 termination of thesuch30 day period, refer thesuch26 proposal and proposed modifications to the county committee 27 that, whichshall, within 45 days, report to the county board 28 its recommendations concerning the proposal and proposed 29 modifications. 30 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 31 (505 ILCS 5/7) (from Ch. 5, par. 1007) 32 Sec. 7. Public hearing required. 33 (a) The Agricultural Areas Committee of the county board -5- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 shall hold a public hearing on any proposal for the creation 2 of an agricultural area. TheSuchhearing shall be held at a 3 place within the proposed area or a place readily accessible 4 to the proposed area. 5 (b) Notice of the hearing shall contain (i) a statement 6 of the time, date, and place of the public hearing and (ii) a 7 description of the proposed area and any proposed additions. 8 TheSuchnotice shall in addition contain a statement 9 that the public hearing will beheheld concerning (i) the 10 original proposal, (ii) any written amendments proposed 11 during the 30 day review period, and (iii) any 12 recommendations proposed by the county committee or the 13 planning commissions. 14 The notice shall (i) be published in a newspaper having a 15 general circulation within the proposed area or if no 16 newspaper has general circulation within the proposed area, 17 then in a newspaper having general circulation within the 18 county,and (ii)shallbe given in writing to the persons 19 owning land withinsucha proposed area and adjacent to the 20 proposed area. 21 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 22 (505 ILCS 5/8) (from Ch. 5, par. 1008) 23 Sec. 8. Factors forConsideration information of 24 agricultural areas. 25 (a) County boards, county committees, and planning 26 commissions shall grant a preference to the recommendations 27 of the landowners within the proposed agricultural area. The 28 following factors should also be considered by county boards, 29 county committees, or planning commissions, with respect to 30 the formation of any agricultural area: 31 (1)1.The viability of active farming within the 32 proposed area and in areas adjacent to the proposed area. 33thereto;-6- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 (2)2.The presence of any viable farmlands within 2 the proposed area and within land adjacent to the 3 proposed areatheretothat are not now in active farming. 4;5 (3)3.The nature and extent of land uses other 6 than active farming within the proposed area and land 7 adjacent to the proposed area.thereto;8 (4)4.County developmental patterns and needs.;9 (5)5.The existence of a conservation plan 10 approved by the local soil and water conservation 11 district.; and12 (6)6.Any other matter thatwhichmay be relevant. 13 (b) In judging viability, any relevant agricultural 14 information shall be considered, including: 15 (1) Soil.,16 (2) Climate.,17 (3) Topography.,18 (4) Other natural factors.,19 (5) Markets for farm products.,20 (6) The extent and nature of farm improvements.,21 (7) The present status of farming.,22 (8) Anticipated trends in agricultural economic 23 conditions and technology., and such24 (9) Other factors as may be relevant. 25 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) 26 (505 ILCS 5/9) (from Ch. 5, par. 1009) 27 Sec. 9. Municipal notice and objections. 28 (a) If the proposed agricultural area includes real 29 estate within a 1 and one-half1/2mile radius from the 30 corporate limits of any municipality, the county board shall 31 notify the municipal authorities of thesuchaffected 32 municipality of this proposed area. 33 (b) TheSuchmunicipal authorities may object to the -7- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 proposal if thesuchobjection is presented to the county 2 board within 30 days of the receipt of the proposal by the 3 municipal authorities. 4 Upon receipt of thesuchobjection by the county board, 5 the proposed area shall be modified to exclude the real 6 estate within the 1 and one-half1/2mile radius of the 7 corporate limits of thesuchmunicipality, unless the 8 property in question is approved for inclusion in the 9 agricultural area by a favorable vote of three-fourths of all 10 members of the county board. In counties where the county 11 board consists of 3 members, only a two-thirds vote is 12 required. If no objection is received within the specified 13 time period, the affected real estate shall be included in 14 the agricultural area. 15 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 16 (505 ILCS 5/10) (from Ch. 5, par. 1010) 17 Sec. 10. Adoption of plan by county board.The county18board,After receiving the reports of the county committee 19 and other comments,and after thesuchpublic hearing, the 20 county board may adopt as a plan the proposal or any 21 modification of the proposal it deems appropriate. The 22 proposal may include, including the inclusion, to the extent 23 feasible,ofadjacent viable farmlands,and may excludethe24exclusion, to the extent feasible,ofnon-viable farmland and 25 non-farm land. The county board shall act to adopt or reject 26 the proposal,or any modification of it not later than 45 27 days from the date that the county committee's recommendation 28 on the proposal was submitted to it. The county board shall 29 notify the Department of Agriculture of the adoption or 30 rejection of the proposal and shall provide the Department 31 with a description of the agricultural area within 45 days of 32 taking thesuchaction. 33 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) -8- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 (505 ILCS 5/11) (from Ch. 5, par. 1011) 2 Sec. 11. FilingRequirement thatdescription of area 3Agricultural Areas be filedwith county clerk and recorder. 4 Upon the creation or alteration of an agricultural area, the 5 county board must file the description and the accompanying 6 board resolution or ordinance:thereof shall be filed by the7county board8 (1) With the county clerk. 9 (2)Such description shall also be placedOn record 10 in the office of the recorder. 11 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) 12 (505 ILCS 5/11.5 new) 13 Sec. 11.5. Stewardship agreements. The Department of 14 Agriculture may enter into agreements with any federal or 15 State agency, other entity, or with any landowner within an 16 agricultural area or proposed agricultural area as may be 17 necessary to furnish surveys, engineering, and assistance for 18 the formation, expansion, maintenance, or renewal of 19 agricultural conservation practices. The Department of 20 Agriculture must develop, by rule, an incentive program for 21 land stewardship that pays up to 75% of the costs of these 22 conservation practices for land that is designated or 23 proposed to be designated as an agricultural area. 24 (505 ILCS 5/12) (from Ch. 5, par. 1012) 25 Sec. 12. Petition for Withdrawal. Any person owning land 26 within an agricultural area may submit a petition to the 27 county board requesting the withdrawal of land from the 28 agricultural area located within that county. Such petition 29 must contain: 30 1. A statement indicating the proposed alternative use 31 of the land. 32 2. An explanation of the necessity for changing the -9- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 current use. 2 3. An explanation why land outside the agricultural area 3 would not be suitable for proposed use. 4 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 5 (505 ILCS 5/13) (from Ch. 5, par. 1013) 6 Sec. 13. Procedures for Consideration of Petition for 7 Withdrawal. 8 1. Within 5 days after the receipt of a petition for 9 withdrawal of land from an agricultural area, the county 10 board shall provide notice of such petition by certified mail 11 to all record owners of property in the agricultural area and 12 by publishing a notice in a newspaper having general 13 circulation in the immediate area of the affected land or, if 14 no such newspaper has a general circulation within such area, 15 then in a newspaper having general circulation within the 16 county, and by posting such notice in 5 conspicuous places 17 within the immediate area of the affected land. Such notice 18 shall contain the following information: 19 (a) a statement that a petition for withdrawal of 20 land from an agricultural area has been filed with the 21 county board pursuant to this Act; 22 (b) a statement that the petition will be on file 23 open to public inspection at the county clerk's office; 24 (c) a brief, narrative description of the location 25 of the affected land; 26 (d) a statement of the proposed non-agricultural 27 use of the land; 28 (e) a statement that the petition will be referred 29 to the county committee and to the regional and county 30 planning commissions, if any, for review and comment; 31 (f) a statement that a public hearing will be held 32 within 60 days on the petition and on the recommendations 33 of the county committee and of the regional and county -10- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 planning commissions, if any, at a time and place to be 2 announced. 3 2. Within 5 days after the receipt of a petition for 4 withdrawal of land from an agricultural area, the county 5 board shall refer the petition to the county committee, which 6 shall, within 30 days of its receipt of the petition, report 7 to the county board its recommendations. 8 3. Within 5 days after the receipt of a petition for 9 withdrawal of land from an agricultural area, the county 10 board shall refer the petition to the regional and county 11 planning commissions, if any, which shall, within 30 days of 12 their receipt of the petition, report to the county board 13 their recommendations concerning the potential effect of the 14 withdrawal of land from an agricultural area upon the 15 development patterns and needs of the county and upon the 16 county's planning objectives. 17 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 18 (505 ILCS 5/16) (from Ch. 5, par. 1016) 19 Sec. 16. Review of agricultural areas by county board. 20 The county board shall review any agricultural area created 21 under this Act every 10 years after the date of its creation 22and every 8 years thereafter. In conducting thesuchreview, 23 the county board shall: 24 (1) Grant a preference to the recommendations of 25 the landowners in the agricultural area. 26 (2) Ask for the recommendations of the county 27 committee., and shall,28 (3) At least 120 days before the 10-yearprior to29suchdate, require the Agricultural Areas Committee to 30 hold a public hearing at a place within the area or other 31 readily accessible place. The Committee must give (i) 32uponnoticebeing givenin a newspaper having general 33 circulation within the area or if there is nosuch-11- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 newspaper, then in a newspaper having general circulation 2 within the county, and (ii) individual notice in writing 3 to the persons owning land within the area, to the 4 persons owning land adjacent to the area, and to the 5 county or regional planning commission. 6 Included in the notice to the landowners owning land in 7 the agricultural area shall be a statement that, by 8 submitting a letter to the agricultural areas committee at or 9 prior to the public hearing, any landowner of land within the 10 agricultural area may request that his or her land be removed 11 from the agricultural area to be reviewed. The letter must 12 contain: 13 (1) a request to remove land from the agricultural 14 area; 15 (2) an affidavit that the author is the landowner 16 of the land proposed for removal from the agricultural 17 area; and 18 (3) a legal description, map, and acres proposed 19 for removal from the agricultural area. 20 The land described in the letter shall no longer be included 21 in the agricultural area. 22The county boardAfter receiving the landowners' 23 recommendations and the reports of the county committee and 24 after the public hearing, the county board may (i) terminate 25 the area at the end of asuch10or 8year periodperiodsby 26 filing a notice of termination with the county clerk, (ii) 27 decide not to take any action, or (iii)the county board may28 modify the area in the same manner as is provided in Section 29 6 of this Act. If the county board does not act, the area 30 shall continue as originally constituted. The county board 31 shall notify the Department of Agriculture of any alterations 32 to an agricultural area or the termination of an agricultural 33 area within 45 days of taking thesuchaction. 34 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) -12- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 (505 ILCS 5/17) (from Ch. 5, par. 1017) 2 Sec. 17. Petition for dissolution. Ten years after the 3 date of creation of any agricultural area and every 10 years 4 thereafter, owners of land within thesucharea may petition 5 the county board to dissolve the area. TheSuchpetition must 6 be submitted in writing to the county board during the year 7120 day periodimmediately prior to the 10th anniversary of 8 the creation of the area. IfShouldthe petition contains 9containsignaturesof at least two-thirdsof the landowners,10their heirs, assigns or representatives,owning at least 11 two-thirds of the land within the area, the area shall be 12 dissolved. The county board shall notify the Department of 13 Agriculture of the dissolution of any agricultural area 14 within 45 days of taking thesuchaction. 15 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) 16 (505 ILCS 5/18) (from Ch. 5, par. 1018) 17 Sec. 18. Limitation on local regulations and on suits. No 18 local government shall exercise any of its powers to enact 19 local laws or ordinances within an agricultural area in a 20 manner thatwhichwould unreasonably restrict or regulate 21 farm structures or farming practices, including the 22 acquisition of land by annexation or eminent domain, in 23 contravention of the purposes of this Act. 24 The owners of land within the agricultural area may not 25 be subjected to a civil action for nuisance by a private 26 party. The Department of Agriculture may give technical 27 assistance and provide other resources for owners of land 28 within an agricultural area if subjected to any other private 29 civil action. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as a 30 limitation or preemption of any statutory or regulatory 31 authority arising under subsection (a) of Section 9 of the 32 Environmental Protection Act. 33 Theunless suchrestrictions or regulations may be -13- LRB9100462PTpkam03 1 adopted and the nuisance suits may be allowed if bearingbear2a direct relationship to the public health or safety. 3 (Source: P.A. 81-1173.) 4 (505 ILCS 5/20.2) (from Ch. 5, par. 1020.2) 5 Sec. 20.2. Adding land to designated agricultural areas. 6 Any petitionproposalfor adding land to a designated 7 agricultural area shall be subject to the same procedures for 8 creating a new agricultural area as specified in Sections 5 9 through 10 of this Act. No minimum acreage shall be required 10 for adding land to an agricultural areabe submitted to the11county board which shall forward the proposal to the county12committee within 10 days. Within 45 days from the date the13proposal was submitted to it, the county committee shall14review the proposed addition and shall recommend the15approval, disapproval or modification of the proposal. The16county committee shall submit a report of its recommendations17to the county board which shall act on the recommendations18within 30 days. The county board shall notify the Department19of Agriculture of any addition of land to a designated20agricultural area within 45 days of taking such action. Any21land added to a designated agricultural area under this22Section shall be subject to review under Section 16 at the23same times as the original area is subject to such review.24The dates for such review and the period during which a25petition may be filed under Section 17 shall not be affected26by the addition of land under this Section. 27 (Source: P.A. 84-456.) 28 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 29 becoming law.".