Public Body Properly Withheld Construction Plans under FOIA
In response to a FOIA request seeking records related to a proposed commercial solar facility, a county land use department (department) disclosed certain records, but withheld two construction-related technical documents submitted to the department by a special use applicant pursuant to Section 7(1)(k) of FOIA. The requester subsequently submitted a request for review to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (PAC) claiming the department improperly withheld the construction-related technical documents, because the department did not show that disclosing them would compromise security.
In its 12th binding opinion of 2025, the PAC determined that the department properly withheld the two construction-related technical documents pursuant to FOIA. PAC Op. 25-012. The PAC clarified that Section 7(1)(k) of FOIA exempts two categories of records: (1) architects' plans, engineers' technical submissions, and other construction related technical documents for projects not constructed or developed in whole or in part with public funds; and (2) the same records for projects constructed or developed with public funds, but only to the extent that disclosure would compromise security.
In this case, the withheld documents were construction-related technical documents commissioned by the private company, and no public funds were used to construct or develop the project, so these records were per se exempt from disclosure under the plain language of Section 7(1)(k). The PAC rejected the requester’s argument that the department could not withhold the records without demonstrating that there disclosure would compromise security, because the “compromise security” language only applies to projects constructed or developed in whole or in part with public funds, which was not the case here.
Post Authored by Eugene Bolotnikov, Ancel Glink
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