In unincorporated St. Clair County, keeping poultry and livestock is a zoning matter. The 'A' Agricultural Industry and RR Rural Residential districts expressly permit raising livestock, poultry and farm animals. Standard single-family residential (SR) lots do not, and cities set their own rules.
Under the St. Clair County Zoning Code, permitted uses in the 'A' Agricultural Industry District (40-4-2) include 'livestock raising; animal and poultry breeding, raising, and feeding.' The RR Rural Residential Districts (40-4-7) permit 'raising or maintenance of livestock, poultry, or farm animals,' and keeping horses for private use requires at least 20,000 square feet of lot area per animal. Single-family residential (SR) districts permit only domestic household pets, not fowl or livestock. So whether you can keep backyard chickens depends on your parcel's zoning district. Incorporated cities (Belleville, O'Fallon, Fairview Heights) have their own poultry ordinances.
Keeping poultry or livestock in a district where it is not a permitted use is a zoning violation enforced by the St. Clair County Zoning Department, subject to notice, abatement and zoning-code penalties.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no rule against backyard composting. Statewide, Illinois bans landscape waste (leaves, grass, brush) from sanitary landfills under 415 I...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no ordinance addressing artificial turf, so installing synthetic grass in an unincorporated yard is not prohibited. Drainage, setbacks a...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no ordinance requiring or restricting native plants or prairie/naturalized landscaping. The only limit is the weed nuisance rule: plants...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County has no rainwater ordinance. Illinois' Rainwater Capture Act allows capturing and reusing rainwater for non-potable uses statewide. Systems m...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County imposes no countywide lawn-watering or drought restrictions. Any watering limits come from your water utility (largely Illinois American Wat...
St. Clair County, IL
St. Clair County Code Chapter 25 names specific weeds (ragweed, thistle, poison ivy, Johnson grass and others) and declares them a nuisance on unincorporated...
Side-by-side rule comparisons with other cities in St. Clair County.
See how Fairview Heights's chickens & livestock rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.