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In January 2023, Illinois enacted a Siting Bill that sets state zoning requirements for solar and wind projects. Counties are not able to set stricter requirements.
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It’s mostly just ominous to interests intent on suppressing the development of Community Solar, or renewable energy in general. According to the Illinois State Association of Counties ISSUE BRIEF – It was Illinois House Bill 4412. The vote in the House was 73-36 and the vote in the Senate was 33-17. It was signed into law on January 27, 2023, as P.A. 102-1123.
The short of it was that the law blocks counties from enacting blanket bans, or rules that act effectively as blanket bans, on development of commercial scale renewable energy. Each individual project still requires a variance, and public hearing on the proposal.
This, “Illinois becoming one of the first Midwestern states to remove local zoning authority in 2023,” reads very ominously.
What, exactly, does it mean that local zoning authority has been removed? Who has such in Illinois now and why would such occur?