Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee Met April 8.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
Committee Members
| Present | Absent |
| Aaron Esry (Vice-Chair) – via Zoom | |
| Stephanie Fortado – via Zoom | |
| Mary King – via Zoom | |
| Kyle Patterson – via Zoom | |
| Jacob Paul | |
| Chris Stohr – via Zoom | |
| Eric Thorsland (Chair) – via Zoom |
Others Present: None
MINUTES
I. Call to Order
Committee Chair Thorsland called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
II. Roll Call
A verbal roll call was taken, and a quorum was declared present.
III. Approval of Agenda/Addendum
MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the agenda, seconded by Ms. King.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously to approve the Agenda.
IV. Approval of Minutes
A. March 4, 2021
MOTION by Mr. Esry to approve the minutes of the March 4, 2021 meeting, seconded by Ms. King.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
V. Public Participation
Mr. Thorsland read the letter from Sue Stimson into the record regarding the bee situation in Prairie View Subdivision. She is a friend of Mr. Bryson and has been stung by the bee’s multiple times while at his home. She has had so many bee stings she is now having bigger reactions and it is recommended she have an Epi Pen. She has a heart issue, so an Epi-Pen is not an option. Retirement plans they had have needed to be changed because the neighbor can’t take care of her bees properly.
Derald Seeds – had sent in a letter regarding the bee issue in their neighborhood and just wanted to be sure it was received and would appreciate any help from the committee.
Barney Bryson – Mr. Bryson had sent in information on the bee issue. It’s been brought to his attention that other neighborhoods close by are now being affected by the bees. The beekeeper not properly caring for the bees is having a damaging affect on their neighbors. He restated all the issues they are having with the bees.
Diane Koch – spoke to the bee issue. She has had issues with the bees around her bird feeders and bird baths.
Joan Mathis – had sent a letter regarding the bee issue. She wanted to re-state that they have lived there for 31 years and had not had a problem until after the beekeeper moved in. Feels that they are a residential area and not agricultural and the beehives are agricultural.
Scott Burge, architect with Farnsworth Group – spoke on item 8.A. regarding the proposed text amendment to add “Agronomic Research and Training Facility” as a special use permit in the AG-1 and AG-2 Agriculture Zoning Districts. He feels this facility will be a great asset to the County. At one time they had said the facility might hold up to 600 people. That number has been refined and it will hold 350-400 max. He also wanted to clarify that the facility closest to the road is the research facility but will also be used to educate the public.
Ryan Donaldson – he was present to answer any questions for agenda item 9.A. Zoning Case 002-AM-21.
VI. Communications
Mr. Stohr said that he had received a news feed regarding Choose to Refuse Single Use Plastics from the Lexington, VA News-Gazette. After reading it he felt that it fit well with his concerns with ground-water quality and litter. He thought that at some future time we might like to promote this locally and will speak further to that as he talks to other environmental groups in the area.
VII. New Business: For Information Only
A. Champaign County Solid Waste Management – Information Series (Part 4 of 5)
Ms. Monte presented Part 4 of 5 of the Champaign County Solid Waste Management – Information Series. Tonight’s presentation focused on Illinois Landfill Bans – Materials Banned from Illinois Landfills. Ms. Monte shared a chart that showed what was banned from landfills and why it is banned. The items listed included: Yard Waste, Lead-Acid Batteries, Tires, White Goods, Used Oil, Mercury-Switch Thermostats, Electronic Products (E-Waste) and Rechargeable Batteries. There are many reasons these items are banned from landfills including everything from containing toxic chemicals (sulfuric acid, lead, mercury, CFCs) to items that can be recycled or that are biodegradable.
The E-Waste ban was improved recently (2018) and is now a much better environmental law that bans E-Waste from landfills.
Ms. Monte shared a screenshot of the Champaign County Environmental Stewards (ccenvstew.com) home page where there is information on Yard Waste and Brush Collection. She reminded us that anyone in the county can use the Landscape Recycling Center.
In 2016 there was renewed interest in what to do with yard waste as there was a new ordinance prohibiting open burning of landscape waste within 1000 feet of the corporate limits of Champaign and Urbana. There are some exceptions though, like Champaign Township, as they have an option to drop off leaves and landscape waste at their township facility.
She spoke about the Extended Producer Responsibility (ERP) type of legislation. This is a mandatory type of product stewardship that includes the requirement that the producer’s responsibility for their product extends to post-consumer management of that product. Any electronic manufacturer doing retail business in Illinois has to enter into an agreement to help offset the cost to transport and recycle residential electronics that are collected. They take up a large portion of the costs of the program to recycle electronics collected. Other costs are shared by local governments. Hopefully, this is the wave of the future to have this type of structure to have manufacturers help with end-of-life processing of their items.
Kyle Patterson joined the meeting at 7:05 p.m.
Mr. Stohr asked if there were any materials that might be banned from landfills in the future? This will be topic next month in Part 5 of the series. There are 2-3 in the General Assembly currently. One is to develop a paint stewardship program, not necessarily a landfill ban, but an extended producer responsibility type of program and the other would be for carpeting. Mr. Stohr asked about mattresses, as that is another one that is hard to dispose of. She is not aware of any legislation at this time regarding mattresses.
B. Continued Complaints About Honeybees in Prairie View Subdivision
Mr. Thorsland said that Mr. Hall needs direction from the Committee regarding this issue. Do we need to add to the Nuisance Ordinance to deal with honeybees in residential areas? Do we want ZBA to look at this and bring it back to us? This issue is continued from last fall, and at that time, it was felt that the
State had taken care of the situation and it was something that wasn’t going to continue. At the time, we deemed it something we did not want to add to the Ordinance. That situation may have changed in this instance.
Ms. Fortado echoed those thoughts and stated that it doesn’t seem like there’s a tool to take care of the situation. She also stated that this is one of the issues that she’s heard the most about since being a County Board member and at some point, we need to resolve the situation. She feels sending it to ZBA is a good option to get public feedback.
Mr. Esry agrees. At the meeting in the fall to consider sending the Ordinance to the ZBA, the only public participation we had were those who were against any kind of ordinance. Due to that feedback, ELUC passed on having hearings on the ordinance. We also thought the State was taking care of the issue. We are just giving direction on this tonight. He is willing to have this brought back to the Committee so we can pass it on to ZBA for public hearings.
Ms. King asked for clarification of the Ordinance, that it would not keep people from having bees in residential areas, it would just limit the number of hives you could have. It does not preclude having hives, it gives specific amounts and things that can be done to help these types of nuisance problems.
The committee would like to bring this up again to look at and possibly pass on to ZBA.
VIII. New Business: Items to be Approved by ELUC
A. Proposed Text Amendment to add “Agronomic Research and Training Facility” as a Special Use Permit In the AG-1 and AG-2 Agriculture Zoning Districts
Mr. Burge was available to answer questions. Mr. Esry stated that he didn’t see any reason not to go ahead with this. There are several research farms in that area. This looks like this could be something that could bring more people to Champaign County. He’s all in favor of it. Ms. King asked if the training side would be for application or for the products they’re selling. Mr. Burge stated it would be some of both. They will have some demonstration fields that they’ll utilize their products on. A big part of their business model is a digital component so that growers can have onboard info on their combines/tractors, and they would also provide training on that. Mr. Stohr asked if this is for specific crops and where it will be located. The main focus will be on corn and soybeans, although they do have crops and they might do some research with those. The facility will be located on 900 North, about 2 miles east of Route 45, just southeast of Willard Airport.
Motion by Mr. Esry and seconded by Mr. Patterson to approve the motion as read.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
IX. New Business: Items to be Recommended to the County Board
A. Zoning Case 002-AM-21. A request by Ryan and Amanda Donaldson, 725 N. Maple, Paxton dba D5 Holdings Group LLC to change the zoning district designation from the AG-2 Agriculture Zoning District to the B-4 General Business Zoning District in order to establish and operate a proposed Special Use Permit in related Zoning Case 003-S-21 consisting of multiple principal buildings on the same lot, on a 7.05 -acre tract of land in the East Half of the Northeast Quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 33, Township 20 North, Range 9 East of the Third Principal Meridian in Somer Township with an address of 3804 N. Cunningham Avenue, Urbana.
Mr. Donaldson stated they were a construction company. They would construct one and possible two buildings. They would occupy half of one of the buildings and lease out the rest. They also run Illini Fire Service and are looking into expanding into a larger space. The packet contains a lot of information and touches on water management in that area. There were no questions.
MOTION by Mr. Stohr and seconded by Ms. Fortado to approve the motion as read.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
B. County Board Opposition to Senate Bill 1602
Before the motion was introduced there was discussion as to the format of the Resolution. DeWitt County had suggested that counties use the same format where all the County Board members signed the Resolution. Discussion was held if the Committee wanted to modify our Resolution. Eric gave some background on the Wind Farm Ordinance and the amount of time and work that went into our ordinance and it took into consideration all opinions. We have ample setbacks, took into consideration the sound studies, etc. This state bill comes in and runs over our Ordinance. We have had no complaints to our complaint line. Mr. Hall said the DeWitt County Resolution has a lot of good background facts, but no hard numbers to go with that. Our resolution points out some of the differences in the requirements. Discussion was held as to if the individual signatures added any weight or influence on the resolution. The Committee felt that our Resolution was fine as is.
MOTION by Ms. King and seconded by Mr. Stohr to approve the Opposition to Senate Bill 1602.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
Discussion was held about whether to put this item on the consent agenda or not. Mr. Patterson asked that it be kept off the consent agenda so the full County Board can hear the issue and discuss it if necessary. Mr. Stohr voiced his agreement for it to be heard at the full Board.
X. Other Business
A. Semi-Annual Review of CLOSED Session Minutes
The recommendation from the State’s Attorney’s office is to keep all the CLOSED Session Minutes closed. MOTION by Mr. Esry and seconded by Ms. Fortado to keep the Closed Session Minutes closed.
Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED unanimously.
B. Monthly Reports
i. February 2021
The February report was received and placed on file.
XI. Chair’s Report
There was no Chair’s Report.
XII. Designation of Items to be Placed on the Consent Agenda
Items to be placed on the Consent Agenda include 9. A.
XIII. Adjournment
Mr. Thorsland adjourned the meeting at 7:43 p.m.
https://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/ELUC/2021/210408_Meeting/210408_Minutes.pdf
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