May 15 - Lee County, Illinois

LEE COUNTY REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION
William O'Keefe, Chairman
Robert Logan, Vice Chairman
James Book, Member
John Hilleson, Member
Wendy Ryerson, Member
Chris Henkel, Zoning Officer
Alice Henkel, Clerk
The Lee County Planning Commission met on Monday, May 7, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lee
County Courthouse, Dixon, Illinois. Chairman William O'Keefe called the meeting to order
and took roll with the following members present: Robert Logan, James Book, John Hilleson,
and Clerk, Alice Henkel.
The first order of business was the approval of April 2007 minutes. John Hilleson made a
motion to approve and James Book seconded it. All were in favor and the minutes were
approved.
Chairman O'Keefe asked if anyone present was not on the agenda and/or had questions or
comments on anything not covered in the agenda (attached, List of Visitors, Exhibit A).
Gary Burrs approached the board and presented his intentions to purchase a 9-acre parcel of
farmland from his family. He has farmed the parcel for approximately 40 years and intends to
keep farming the land. However, he only wants to purchase the land ifhe will be able to build
his family home on the parcel. Mr. Burrs wants the board's opinion on whether they would
waive the LESA, given the family-farm situation, because the LESA will score too high due
the prime soil scores.
Chairman O'Keefe suggested to Mr. Burrs that he only do a LESA on the 1-2 acres he
intends to build on. He explained to Mr. Burrs that the board would be more willing to
consider waiving the LESA if it is done only on the intended building site. If Mr. Burrs were
to try to get the LESA waived on the entire 9 acres, the board would likely deny the waiver to
prevent further construction on prime farmland.
The next visitor to approach the board was Jennifer Dallas. She explained to the board that
owner of the 1.6-acre lot next-door to her is building a garage to store equipment and house
his vehicles for his business. The lot is currently zoned Ag-l, Rural Residential. Ms. Dallas
feels this should be in commercial zone and doesn't understand how the owner is allowed to
build.
Discussion was held by the board and Mr. Henkel as far as how the current ordinance for Ag-
1, Rural Residential is written and how it applies to this 1.6 acre, ag-zoned lot. The board was
not able to provide a resolution for Ms. Dallas, as the matter need to be further examined.
Chairman O'Keefe advised Ms. Dallas to seek legal counsel should she wish to pursue
stopping the construction of the garage.
Chairman O'Keefe then asked Chris Henkel for the Report of Action from the Lee County
Board from last month. Mr. Henkel reported that Petition No. 06-P-1433 by Stephen Haliczer
to rezone a Ag-l parcel to R-2 for the purpose of an 8-lot subdivision was passed by the
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