A battery proposal for your Menard County land? Set the rules for site work first.

Start with the parcel, rather than the mailing address

Menard County’s zoning office says it administers unincorporated areas and villages without their own ordinances, but not Athens, Greenview or Petersburg. Ask the appropriate office to confirm the jurisdiction for your parcel.

For a property near a municipal boundary, send the parcel number or a marked map if you have one. A town in the postal address is not enough to settle which office handles the land. Ask the developer to identify the parcel on the same drawing it intends to use for its application.

If a route would cross another parcel or jurisdiction, include that route in the discussion. The battery area, entrance and electrical connection need to fit together. Permission for one part should not be described as permission for the whole proposal.

Reference: Menard County: zoning office and jurisdiction

Get a current explanation of the posted rules

The posted county battery ordinance is labeled adopted November 25, 2025. Illinois’ energy-storage siting section has source notes for laws effective in June and July 2026 and an exception concerning earlier applications. Ask the county and your adviser which provisions apply to this project.

Request the application number, submission date and written requirements. Ask whether this is standalone storage, storage associated with solar or wind, or equipment mainly serving a business on the property. Those are different proposals; a general description such as renewable energy does not resolve the route.

Keep your option date separate from the permit filing date. Signing a land agreement does not establish that an application was submitted. If someone relies on an older filing, ask to see the corresponding record and the drawing it covers.

Where the project team and an online document give different answers, ask for a written explanation tied to the actual application. Do not choose a setback, fee or deadline from an old download and assume it settles the current project.

Reference: Menard County: posted BESS ordinance, labeled adopted November 25, 2025 · Illinois General Assembly: energy storage county-siting law, 55 ILCS 5/5-12024

Decide what the first visit permits

For an introductory visit, specify who may come, where they may go and whether you need notice. A walk and photographs may be enough for the first discussion. Ask before allowing vehicles into a crop field or permitting any disturbance.

If testing is proposed, request a short work plan. It should show test locations, equipment, access, timing and what will happen to holes, disturbed soil and samples afterward. Identify crops, livestock, gates and buried services that the crew needs to avoid.

Discuss compensation for crop damage and responsibility for repairs before the work begins. Take dated photographs of entrances and areas likely to be used. Agree on a contact who can stop or redirect work if a problem occurs.

A practical example: you may be comfortable with a survey along a field edge but unwilling to allow a drilling truck across a wet field. Put that distinction in the permission rather than leaving the crew to infer it.

Do not let early access quietly turn into construction

The posted county definition of construction includes grading, excavation and road work, and discusses a written notice before work starts. Confirm the current permit and notice requirements before allowing those activities.

Ask for a separate decision before trees are removed, an entrance is widened or a temporary road is built. Find out whether the work serves a study or begins the permanent project. Request the relevant drawing and written authorization, not just a statement that the team is ready.

Compare the permissions in your agreement with what you expect to happen. Can the company clear land during an option? Can it place equipment or leave material on site? Does your consent cover contractors and later project owners?

Set an end date for temporary access and a deadline for restoration if the project does not proceed. Ask how the company will remove markers, repair an entrance and release rights that are no longer needed. A proposed construction schedule should not leave you with an unfinished work area indefinitely.

Reference: Menard County: posted BESS ordinance, labeled adopted November 25, 2025

Draw the land you would keep using

Mark the equipment area, access route, cable route and temporary work space separately. Then mark the land you intend to keep farming, renting or using for buildings. Ask for those areas to appear on the agreement drawing.

Consider the movements that matter on an ordinary day: getting machinery between fields, reaching a barn, moving livestock or allowing a tenant to enter. An entrance that works for a project truck may interfere with the way you already use the property.

If a ditch or tile line crosses the work area, share what you know and identify any gaps in the records. Ask who will locate it, document its condition and respond to damage affecting the retained land. Do not assume drainage stops at the fence.

Illinois’ siting section addresses farmland drainage and repair. The private agreement should also make the reporting and repair process understandable to you and any farm operator. Keep the final plan and contact details with your lease or option.

Reference: Illinois General Assembly: energy storage county-siting law, 55 ILCS 5/5-12024

Read any removal-cost commitment before signing

The posted county removal section discusses an owner memorandum assigning costs beyond assured funds to property owners. Obtain the actual proposed documents and have the current requirements and any personal obligation explained before signing.

Ask the developer to identify the removal estimate, funding instrument, beneficiary and covered work. If the answer is simply that the project is bonded, request the documents that explain how the funds become available and what happens if they are insufficient.

Review the condition you want after the project ends. Would you retain a useful road, or require it removed? What happens to cables, foundations, fencing and drainage work? Compare those choices with both the agreement and the funded removal plan.

Also ask what survives a sale or transfer of the project. You need to know who owes payments, repairs and restoration afterward, whether a guarantor is released and how you will receive notice. A new operator should receive the same site drawing and commitments.

Reference: Menard County: posted BESS ordinance, labeled adopted November 25, 2025 · Illinois General Assembly: energy storage county-siting law, 55 ILCS 5/5-12024

Tell us where the land is and what you have been offered

Start with your name, email and phone number, then the location. The form is set to Illinois and Menard County; change those fields if needed. Acreage and a parcel number are optional.

Mention the current use and any existing option, lease or developer request. If the immediate question is access for testing or site work, say that. You do not need to prepare an engineering plan to start the conversation.

Sunland can review the information and discuss the next questions. Sending it does not give permission to enter the land, grant exclusivity or establish that a battery project can be built.