Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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505 ILCS 5/5

(505 ILCS 5/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 1005)

Sec. 5. Agricultural Areas; Creation.

Any owner or owners of land may submit
a proposal to the county board for the creation of an agricultural area
within such county. An agricultural area, at the creation of any such area,
shall not be less than 350 acres in all counties with a population under
600,000 and not less than 100 acres in all counties with a population of
600,000 or more. Such proposal shall include a
description
of the proposed area, including the boundaries thereof.
Such territory shall
be as compact and nearly contiguous as feasible. If any portion of the proposed area is not contiguous to another portion of the proposed area, that non-contiguous portion must be no more than 1.5 miles from the nearest other portion of the proposed area as measured between the closest boundaries of the 2 portions. An area created under this
Act shall be established for a period of ten years.  No land shall be included
in an agricultural area without the consent of the owner.  No land within
an agricultural area shall be used for other than agricultural production
as described in Sections 3.01 and 3.02 of this Act.  Agreements for the
extraction of mineral resources duly agreed upon prior to the creation of
an agricultural area shall be exempted from the use provisions of this
Section.  In addition, the extraction of mineral resources conducted
pursuant to the Surface Coal Mining Land Conservation and Reclamation Act
shall be considered temporary land use and shall be exempted from the use
provisions of this Section.

(Source: P.A. 93-234, eff. 7-22-03; 94-444, eff. 1-1-06.)