AGRICULTURAL AREAS CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION ACT
(505 ILCS 5/1)
Miscellaneous Facts About Ag Areas
Size of an Ag Area
Minimum - 350 Acres; 100 acres in counties with population of 600,000 or more
Maximum - No limit
Implementation of an Ag Area
Ag Areas are totally implemented at the county level.
Ag Areas are approved, modified, or terminated by the county board.
The county state's attorney should be consulted for legal advice when forming an Ag Area.
Ag Areas are adopted for an initial 10-year period and are renewable every 8 years thereafter.
Land proposed for inclusion in an Ag Area
Ag Areas should be as compact and contiguous as possible. The county board has the discretion as to what constitutes “compact and contiguous.”
Municipal authorities may object to land within a proposed Ag Area that falls within 1.5 miles of the corporate limits. If the county board received such an objection, the Ag Area shall be modified to exclude the land within the municipality's 1.5-mile zoning jurisdiction.
No land may be included within an Ag Area without the consent of the landowner(s).
Benefits of an Ag Area
Protects landowners from local laws or ordinances that would unreasonably restrict or regulate normal farming practices, including nuisance ordinances.
Provides protection from special benefit assessments (examples - sewer, water, light and non-farm drainage assessments), unless the landowners are benefited. All special benefit assessments will continue, however, if they were imposed prior to the formation of the Ag Area.
Protects land from locally initiated projects that would lead to the conversion of that land to other uses (examples - park, garbage dump, etc).
State agencies may take into account the existence of Ag Areas when selecting a site for a project; however, the Act does not prohibit these agencies from acquiring land in Ag Areas for development purposes.
Ag Areas protect the integrity of farming operations.
A county board that adopts Ag Areas is declaring that agriculture is important to the community and local economy.
Mineral Rights
Agreements for the extraction of mineral resources in place before the creation of an Ag Area are exempt from the provisions of the Ag Areas Act.
Mineral extraction pursuant to the Surface Coal Mining Land Conservation and Reclamation Act (1980) is considered to be a temporary land use and, therefore, is allowed within an Ag Area.
Land Ownership and Ag Areas
There are no restrictions on buying and selling land that is within the Ag Area.
The Ag Area designation continues to exist regardless of a change in ownership.
Use of Land within an Ag Area
No land within an Ag Area can be used for other than agricultural production.
Agricultural production means the production for commercial purposes of crops, livestock, as well as livestock and aquatic products.
Agricultural production does not include portions of land used for the processing of crops, livestock, along with livestock and aquatic products.
A house can be built on land in an Ag Area if a person who lives in the residence is actively involved with the farming operation (i.e., farm owner, operator, tenant, and seasonal or year-round hired workers).
