Illinois

Buying Land in McLean County, Illinois

McLean County, seat Bloomington, is Illinois's largest county by land area and home to the Twin Groves Wind Farm -- 240 turbines across 46,000 acres that were, on completion in 2008, the largest utility-scale wind installation east of the Mississippi River. Zoning runs through a countywide ordinance dating to 2000, with a regional planning commission coordinating land use across the county's cities and school and utility districts.

Countywide Zoning Since 2000, With a Regional Planning Commission

Generally favorable

McLean County's Zoning Ordinance (adopted August 15, 2000) is administered by the Department of Building and Zoning for unincorporated county land, while the McLean County Regional Planning Commission -- created in 1966 -- coordinates broader land-use planning across the county, Bloomington, Normal, area school districts, and local utility authorities.

Home to a Landmark Wind Farm -- Confirmed, Not Assumed

Case-by-case / verify locally

The Twin Groves Wind Farm -- 240 turbines, 398 MW, spanning roughly 46,000 acres near Arrowsmith, Saybrook, and Ellsworth -- has operated in McLean County since 2008 and was the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River when it was completed. This research pass specifically checked and excluded two other Illinois wind farms that could be mistaken for McLean County projects: Pioneer Trail (Ford/Iroquois Counties) and California Ridge (Champaign/Vermilion Counties) are both elsewhere. See our dedicated wind and solar leasing page for what an existing wind lease means for a specific parcel.

Illinois's Largest County by Land Area

Generally favorable

At 1,186 square miles, McLean County is the largest of Illinois's 102 counties by land area -- a genuinely large, mostly agricultural landscape with 30 townships, so a general sense of "McLean County" zoning or land character can obscure real variation between its northern, central, and southern portions.

Zoning: a countywide ordinance since 2000, plus a coordinating regional planning body

McLean County adopted its current Zoning Ordinance on August 15, 2000, and administers it through the Department of Building and Zoning at 115 E. Washington St., Room M102, in Bloomington. The ordinance covers unincorporated county land under 55 ILCS 5 Division 5-12, with one agricultural district, two residential districts, one commercial district, and two industrial districts. Land inside an incorporated city or village -- including Bloomington and the Town of Normal, McLean County's two largest municipalities -- falls under that municipality's own zoning instead.

The McLean County Regional Planning Commission (MCRPC), created in 1966 by the County Board, is a separate, broader coordinating body -- its membership includes representatives from the City of Bloomington, Town of Normal, McLean County itself, Unit #5 and District #87 school districts, the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority, and the Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District. MCRPC coordinates planning and development activity across these overlapping jurisdictions but is not itself the permitting authority for a specific unincorporated parcel -- that runs through the Department of Building and Zoning directly. McLean County has 30 townships under Illinois's standard township form of government; because the county has adopted zoning countywide, Article 110 township zoning does not independently apply in any McLean County township.

The county's real distinctive: a landmark wind farm, correctly attributed

The Twin Groves Wind Farm sits in McLean County near the villages of Arrowsmith, Saybrook, and Ellsworth -- 240 turbines spread across roughly 46,000 acres and stretching 12 miles east to west, with a total capacity of 398 MW. Built between 2007 and February 2008, Twin Groves was, upon completion, the largest utility-scale wind farm east of the Mississippi River -- a genuinely significant regional milestone, not just a large local project.

This research pass specifically checked whether two other prominent Illinois wind farms that surface alongside Twin Groves in a general search -- Pioneer Trail Wind Farm and California Ridge Wind Farm -- also belong to McLean County, since wind-project county attribution is an easy place for errors to creep in. Both were confirmed to be elsewhere: Pioneer Trail (94 turbines, 150.4 MW) sits in Ford and Iroquois Counties, and California Ridge (134 turbines, 217 MW) sits in Champaign and Vermilion Counties. Neither has any connection to McLean County land. See our dedicated wind and solar leasing page for Twin Groves specifically -- what it means for a lease offer or a purchase near its footprint.

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. McLean County's zoning ordinance, including provisions for a solar project reported to have complied with a 50-foot property-line setback and 150-foot residential setback in one recent application, operates within that statewide ceiling; confirm current, specific provisions directly with the Department of Building and Zoning.

Septic, GIS, and other departments to know

Septic (private sewage disposal) permitting in McLean County runs through the McLean County Health Department's Environmental Health Division, reachable at (309) 888-5482. A permit application must show the location of all wells, lakes, ponds, or streams on both the applicant's property and any neighboring property within 100 feet of the proposed system -- worth flagging for a rural parcel with multiple nearby water features or a shared property line with another well.

The McLean County Supervisor of Assessments ((309) 888-5130) and Recording Division ((309) 888-5170) handle property valuation and the recorded deeds, easements (including any wind-lease documents), and plats for a specific parcel. GIS parcel data is available through the County of McLean GIS portal. University of Illinois Extension serves McLean County jointly with Livingston and Woodford Counties.

What we could and couldn't confirm

McLean County's zoning ordinance date (August 15, 2000), its district structure, and the Regional Planning Commission's 1966 origin and membership are drawn from the county's own zoning page and the Town of Normal's description of MCRPC, accessed via search indexing rather than a full verbatim WebFetch read, since direct access to mcleancountyil.gov was blocked by a network egress restriction throughout this research pass. Twin Groves Wind Farm figures (240 turbines, 398 MW, 46,000 acres, 12-mile span, 2007-2008 construction, largest-east-of-the-Mississippi distinction) are corroborated across four independent sources (Center for Rural Affairs, Farnsworth Group, EDP Renewables, and Wikipedia), giving high confidence in these figures. This research pass specifically verified that Pioneer Trail Wind Farm (Ford/Iroquois Counties) and California Ridge Wind Farm (Champaign/Vermilion Counties) are NOT located in McLean County despite surfacing in related searches, and deliberately excluded both. The solar-setback example (50 feet from property lines, 150 feet from non-participating residences) is drawn from a single project-specific document found via search and is presented as an example of the state-law floor in practice, not as McLean County's own universal ordinance requirement -- confirm the county's current, general solar/wind ordinance text directly. This session's WebSearch budget did not allow independently verifying a complete list of McLean County's 30 townships or current zoning-fee schedules.

Verify directly with: the McLean County Department of Building and Zoning for current zoning status, wind/solar ordinance specifics, and the status of any pending application near a specific parcel, and the McLean County Recording Division for existing recorded wind-lease easements on a specific parcel

Who to Call Before Buying Land in McLean County

Direct WebFetch access to mcleancountyil.gov was blocked by a network egress restriction throughout this research pass, so several department details reflect search-indexed content rather than a full verbatim read -- confirm current staff, hours, fees, and zoning status directly before relying on this page for a specific parcel.

Planning & Zoning