Buying Land in Livingston County, Illinois

Zoning: a comprehensive ordinance with its own detailed wind-energy rules

Livingston County's Regional Planning & Zoning office, at 112 W. Madison Street in Pontiac, administers the county's zoning code -- Chapter 56 of the County Code, under the heading "Land Use, Planning and Utilities" -- covering unincorporated land under 55 ILCS 5 Division 5-12. Land inside an incorporated city or village, including Pontiac itself, is governed by that municipality's own zoning code instead.

Livingston County has 30 townships. From 1858 to 1972 the county was governed by a Board of Supervisors with 30 members, one from each township; after the 2000 census, the county board reapportioned into three board districts electing eight members each (24 members total) to meet federal reapportionment requirements. This is Illinois's standard township form of government, not the commission form used by 17 of the state's 102 counties -- and because Livingston County has adopted countywide zoning, Article 110 township zoning does not independently apply in any Livingston County township.

A wind-heavy county -- and a wind ordinance the board has actively tightened

Livingston County's Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) ordinance, Chapter 56 Article VIII of the County Code, was first adopted roughly a decade before the county board approved a significant 2017 amendment: the required setback from any primary structure grew from 1,200 feet to six times the WECS tower's total height or 3,250 feet, whichever is greater, measured from the edge of the primary structure's foundation to the center of the tower's foundation. The ordinance has since been updated again, with a battery energy storage system (BESS) provision dated February 2024 -- a sign the county continues to actively revise its renewable-energy rules rather than leaving an old ordinance untouched.

That active rulemaking reflects real, substantial wind development on the ground. See our dedicated wind and solar leasing page for Livingston County for the specific projects -- an operating 300 MW wind farm, an existing project now expanding, a joint project shared with Kankakee County, and a large proposal the county board actually turned down.

The statewide rules behind local wind and solar siting

Illinois counties don't have unlimited discretion over commercial wind and solar siting. Public Act 102-1123, signed January 27, 2023, amended 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 of the Counties Code to set statewide siting standards -- covering setbacks, turbine height, decommissioning, and agricultural-land considerations -- that a county's own ordinance cannot exceed in restrictiveness, and it bars counties from imposing outright moratoriums on wind or solar development. Livingston County's own WECS ordinance, including its 2017 setback increase, operates within that statewide ceiling; confirm the county's current, specific provisions directly with Regional Planning & Zoning given how much wind development has already occurred here.

Septic, GIS, and other departments to know

Septic (private sewage disposal) permitting in Livingston County runs through the Livingston County Public Health Department (310 E. Torrance Ave., Pontiac), whose Environmental Health Division ((815) 842-5916) issues permits to construct or alter a sewage disposal system under the statewide IDPH Title 77 Part 905 framework; the county also maintains a searchable online database of well and septic records.

The Livingston County Assessment Office, at the Historic Courthouse (112 W. Madison St., Pontiac), handles property valuation and can provide GIS data on request. The County Clerk and Recorder's office oversees records -- deeds, mortgages, liens, and plats -- for the county's roughly 24,600 parcels, which is where a wind-lease easement affecting a specific property would be recorded. University of Illinois Extension serves Livingston County jointly with McLean and Woodford Counties.