March 4, 2015

County will have to amend ordinance before zoo can apply

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

The three-member county planning and zoning committee met Friday afternoon and unanimously approved amending the zoning ordinance to allow for zoo operations in the county.
The amendment comes after the county received a permit application for a zoo from the State Bank of Arthur on January 16. After issues were raised about the permit not including the names of those with the actual vested interest, an amended application was then filed by James Aikman, a loan officer with the bank on February 13, requesting the same permit, but the application could not be processed because the county zoning ordinance does not contain any language or permissions allowing for a zoo.
Aikman’s proposal is for an initial 45-acre wildlife park that would include both a drive-through area where patrons could feed animals and a walk-through that would be similar to a zoo but with much larger habitats. There would also be a 7,000 squared foot walk-through aviary featuring different species of birds that patrons could feed.
But according to a formal protest letter filed with the county clerk’s office last Wednesday by Urbana attorney Kent Follmer representing 17 nearby landowners, 66 percent of those who own land adjacent to the proposed zoo oppose both the application for the special use permit as well as the current amendment that planning and zoning officer Jan Haegan has developed. Of the 17 clients Follmer is representing, seven do not own land adjacent to the proposed zoo site.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.