Arlington Heights, IL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 16-103, adopted through Ordinance Nos. 12-014, 13-013, and 13-042, makes it unlawful for any person to keep or raise pigs, cattle, horses, goats, sheep, 'or any other farm animals, or similar animals,' or chickens, geese, ducks, 'or similar fowl,' in any Residential District within the Village. The prohibition is not tied to a lot-size threshold, a coop-setback distance, or a maximum flock count the way many suburban chicken ordinances are; it is a flat ban on the animal categories themselves inside residential zoning. Chapter 16's general definitions apply throughout: an 'Owner' is anyone with a property right in an animal, anyone who keeps or harbors it, has it in their care, acts as its custodian, or knowingly lets it remain on premises they occupy, so a resident who lets a neighbor's chickens stay on their property can also be responsible.

The ban sits inside Article I, General Provisions, alongside the Village's other animal-keeping rules, including the four-animal household cap in Section 16-104 and the dangerous-animal exhibition permit in Section 16-105, and it is enforced the same way as the rest of Chapter 16. Because the ban applies specifically to Residential Districts, the analysis for a property zoned for agricultural, business, or industrial use under Chapter 28's zoning map is different and depends on that district's own use table, which this Section does not override.