The Peoria County Board voted Thursday to remove a provision from the county zoning code that limited building permits for the same construction project, a change county planning staff said follows a recent circuit court ruling and will be handled administratively in the building code.

Andrew Braun of the county planning and zoning department told the board the Unified Development Ordinance currently allows two building permits for the same project, after which a property owner seeking more time had to apply for a variance with the Zoning Board of Appeals. “Recently, that was challenged in court, and the circuit court determined that zoning ordinance was not the appropriate location for that rule to be,” Braun said, explaining the department’s request to strike the provision from Chapter 20, Article 3, Section 3.2 of the Peoria County Code and later re-establish the renewal mechanism in Chapter 12, the building code.

Board members asked how the change would affect long-running construction projects. A board member noted one project had been open for roughly eight years and urged stronger inspection and renewal requirements. “It is important that we get something in place to force the renewal of a permit after the first two years in place of the zoning board of appeals being brought into it,” the member said, adding that extended projects warrant closer scrutiny.

Braun said the plan is for the reapplication to be administrative: property owners will reapply for a building permit and identify remaining work; they would not have to go through a public hearing before the Zoning Board of Appeals. He added that the department will return with the specific building-code amendment to implement that administrative renewal process.

The board approved the text amendment as presented. The vote was recorded as 15 ayes, 0 nays.