Land Use: Land Resource Management Plan Update Heads Into Policy Phase

Will County Land Use & Development Committee | October 1, 2026

Article Summary: Will County planning staff told the Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, that the Land Resource Management Plan update is moving into its policy phase, with a second steering committee report and a public engagement report both being finalized and outreach continuing at community events. Staff said questions put to townships are expected to be reworked.

Land Resource Management Plan Key Points:

• The second steering committee meeting was held Sept. 3; that report and a separate engagement report are both in final revision with the county’s consultant.
• The project is entering Phase 4, the policy gateway update, with stakeholder meetings planned for municipalities and governmental and quasi-governmental organizations.
• Staff promoted the project at a recycling event Sept. 12 and at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration in Fairmont on Sept. 27.
• Staff said the questions put to townships and municipalities are expected to change after complaints they did not fit local needs.

WILL COUNTY — The update to Will County’s Land Resource Management Plan is heading into its policy phase, staff told the Land Use & Development Committee on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, in an informational report that required no vote.

Joshua Walsh, filling in for Nicholas Hernandez, said the project’s second steering committee meeting took place Sept. 3 and that the resulting report is being finalized and will be circulated to committee members when it is returned. A separate engagement report is at a similar stage, with staff revisions already sent back to the county’s planning consultant.

Outreach has continued, Walsh said. Staff attended a recycling event on Sept. 12, handing out flyers promoting the project website, and tabled at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration in Fairmont on Sept. 27, promoting both the Land Resource Management Plan and the Envision Fairmont neighborhood plan.

The next stage, he said, is Phase 4, the policy gateway update. That will involve potential stakeholder meetings with targeted groups, including municipalities and various governmental or quasi-governmental organizations, along with work updating the plan’s goals and strategies. “We plan on continuing our outreach efforts to keep the residents informed, involved, and engaged,” he said.

Board member Judy Ogalla raised a concern she said she had discussed with staff previously: that some townships felt the questions they were asked were not conducive to their areas. Walsh said the matter had been discussed with the consultant but that no concrete answer had been reached because meetings have not yet been scheduled.

“It is my opinion that we do plan on having questions change to try to make our discussions with townships and municipalities a bit more engaging — to try to see what they actually do want, as opposed to just having them respond to us with ‘we just want to stay the same,'” he said. “We do plan on changing how we go about these interviews with municipalities and townships. We kind of want to get more details out of that going forward.”

The Land Use Department director praised the work during the reports portion of the meeting, singling out Walsh and Hernandez and saying the public engagement on the plan update “has just been phenomenal.” The chairman said the committee agreed.

The Land Resource Management Plan is the county’s guiding land use document, approved April 18, 2002, and revised January 20, 2011. It is cited in zoning staff reports as the basis for conformance findings on individual cases, including the development form and use concept designations applied to commercial solar applications.