January is the season for most planning ahead for the year to come. 

At Monday night's DeWitt County Land Use Committee Meeting, Chair Buck Carter brought up housing development as a goal for the committee entering this year. He says that with possibly hundreds of people coming to the area in search of employment, the County needs to be ready for the influx of population. 

Carter referenced a property on the north-west corner of US Highway 51 and Sunset Road in Clinton as a possible site for more housing. He specified that the 68-acre piece of property is under a trust until July of this year, when its proceeds will be split 50/50 by the County and the City. 

Zoning Administrator Elizabeth Weikle brought community solar ordinances to the Committee's attention. She felt that current ordinances do not clearly communicate requirements for applications, on top of disparities between the County's and State's definitions of what can be considered a community solar project. 

Among other standing discussion topics from the Land Use Committee is the development or revision of Battery Storage, data center, wind, and chicken coop ordinances. 

The Committee ultimately decided that they would put their focus on Commercial solar and wind ordinances in the coming months. The topics of community solar, chicken coop, data center, and battery storage ordinances will be taken up by the Regional Planning Commission. 

Board Chair Joe Witte noted that as long as they do not have a battery storage ordinance in place, it defaults to the State statutes.