Kenosha County, WI Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Chapter 12 of the Municipal Code of Kenosha County, the General Zoning and Shoreland/Floodplain Zoning Ordinance, lists 'Animal hospitals, shelters and kennels and veterinary services' among the Conditional Uses of the B-2 Community Business District at section 12.33.020(d)(1). A conditional use is never permitted outright: the operator must apply through the Kenosha County Department of Planning and Development and win approval from the Planning, Development & Extension Education Committee before opening. Section 12.40.080(b)(6) sets the standards the Committee applies specifically to 'Animal hospitals, shelters and kennels and veterinary services in the B-2 and B-5 Districts,' added August 5, 1994: all animals must be kept within an enclosed structure, and no structure or animal enclosure can sit closer than 100 feet to a property boundary; the operator must make adequate provision for disposing of animal waste; and any building housing animals must be built of noise-deadening material such as concrete.

Section 12.40.080(a) also lets the Committee attach further conditions on hours of operation, fencing, lighting or traffic circulation to control nuisance impacts on neighboring parcels. This chapter's reach is limited: section 12.02.030(a) applies it only to the unincorporated areas of townships that have adopted it. A veterinary clinic sited inside the City of Kenosha, the City of Lake Geneva, or a village such as Pleasant Prairie, Somers, Paddock Lake, Twin Lakes or Silver Lake answers to that municipality's own zoning code, not Chapter 12. Once granted, the conditional use permit is not permanent: the Committee can suspend or revoke it for noncompliance following a complaint and hearing under section 12.40.070.