Tom: The zoning process is significantly different depending on whether you are in a county seeking permission from a county government or whether you are in a municipality.
For example, in the County of McHenry, if you were seeking to change the zoning in let’s say Coral Township in rural Marengo or Union, not only would you have a zoning hearing before the County Zoning Board of Appeals and there after a vote by the county board but in advance of that process, you would be silly not to appear before the Coral Township Plan Commission and thereafter the Coral Township Board of Trustees.
So there are multiple layers of activities or hearings that occur on something that may be as simple as taking your farmhouse and wanting to rezone it so you could gift it or sell it to your child.
In a municipality, normally there are just two hearings and one would be before the Plan Commission or some villages called The Zoning Planning and Appeals Commission and then there after you would appear before the City Council. And on each of those steps we would prepare the appropriate documentation, make sure the posting publication and notices are sent and then be your advocate at any of those hearings.