Waukegan, IL Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

Waukegan defines graffiti in City Code § 6-520 as any unauthorized inscription, drawing, mark or design etched, painted, sprayed or drawn on the exterior of a building or structure and visible from the public way, excluding permitted signs and architectural decoration, and declares it a public nuisance. The owner of record or whoever is in charge of a private commercial or residential building must, once graffiti appears, either remove or conceal it or request the city's abatement process; the building department can cite an owner who does neither.

To trigger abatement, the owner, occupant, or any elected or appointed city official files a request electronically, on a city form, or by calling the non-emergency service number. Before the city acts, the owner must sign a license and release form approved by the city's corporation counsel, letting the city or its agents enter the property and releasing the city from damage claims; refusing to sign cancels the request. The city's obligation to abate depends on available personnel, equipment, and funding, and it may use its own crews or hire a contractor.

Abatement itself is limited to a single coat of opaque white paint over the defaced area, with no obligation to match existing color or repaint an entire wall. Once a request is on file for a given building, no public nuisance citation may issue for that structure's graffiti.