Kenosha County, WI Ordinances (2026)

In Kenosha County's unincorporated towns, most new, moved, or rebuilt fences need a zoning permit under Section 12.19.010, except the specific exempt fence types listed in Section…

Section 12.19.030(a) flatly bans any residential fence or wall that incorporates barbed wire in unincorporated Kenosha County towns, while Section 12.19.030(c) flips the rule inside…

In unincorporated county towns, Section 12.19.030(a) caps residential fences and walls at 6 feet in the side and rear yard, 4 feet in the street (front) yard, and just 2 feet inside…

Kenosha County allows home occupations and professional home offices only in districts whose regulations list them as permitted, and only after the owner gets a Certificate of…

Kenosha County controls home-business traffic through vehicle and group-size caps rather than a stand-alone visitor limit: no more than three vehicles tied to the business may be…

Kenosha County treats family day care serving eight or fewer children or adults as an automatically permitted home occupation, subject to every standard general home-occupation…

A home occupation in unincorporated Kenosha County gets one freestanding sign, capped at four square feet and eight feet tall, set back fifteen feet from the street, and it needs its…

Kenosha County treats animal hospitals, shelters, kennels and veterinary services as a conditional use in the B-2 Community Business District and B-5 District, not a by-right use…

Kenosha County's BP-1 Business Park District won't let a grooming shop operate under the 'Professional offices' principal use. Section 12.33.070(b)(20) lists accountants, attorneys…

Kenosha County requires any house cat entering a County park or park trail to stay on a leash no longer than 10 feet and to be properly licensed with current vaccinations. The rule…

Kenosha County's zoning ordinance lets poultry and livestock raising happen by right on farms in the A-1 and A-2 agricultural districts, but chickens, cows, goats, sheep, and hogs are…

Kenosha County's zoning ordinance does not require a zoning permit to build a fire pit. Municipal Code § 12.05.020(e) lists fire pits, alongside sidewalks and walkways, among the…

Kenosha County Code § 9.01 adopts Wisconsin's fireworks statute, Wis. Stat. § 167.10, in full, replacing its penalty with a county forfeiture of $100 to $2,000 per violation. Anyone…

Anyone operating a hotel, motel, or tourist rooming house, including a short-term rental that meets that state definition, in unincorporated Kenosha County must get a license from the…

Tourist rooming house and hotel/motel operators in unincorporated Kenosha County pay a county license fee posted on the Division of Health's fee schedule plus any separate Wisconsin…

Kenosha County requires a stormwater permit from the Division of Planning and Development (P&D) before land disturbance of one acre or more, or any project adding 0.5 acres or more of…

Kenosha County requires the lowest floor of any rebuilt or elevated structure in the floodplain, including the basement, to sit at or above the base flood elevation, and floodproofed…

Kenosha County regulates development in FEMA-mapped floodplains under County Code § 12.37.010, banning virtually all new structures, dumping, filling, and storage of buoyant or…

Section 12.20.030 makes it unlawful to build, install, enlarge or alter a private residential swimming pool in unincorporated Kenosha County without first getting a permit from the…

In unincorporated Kenosha County, no swimming pool may be filled with water until a code-compliant safety barrier is in place. In-ground pools need a four-foot fence around the pool or…

In Kenosha County's unincorporated towns, zoning code Section 12.15.010(a) requires every exterior light fixture in business, manufacturing, institutional and park-recreational…

Kenosha County's zoning ordinance caps how much light a business, manufacturing, institutional or park-recreational property can throw onto a neighbor: Section 12.15.010(b) limits…

Kenosha County requires dumpsters and other trash receptacles on reviewed commercial and industrial sites to be screened from public view with solid fencing or walls. The standard is…

Kenosha County zoning permits nonpermanent garbage containers only in the rear yard under County Code § 12.38.020(n), one of a specific list of items allowed to encroach into an…

Kenosha County Code § 7.40 deems a motor vehicle, trailer, or mobile home abandoned once it sits unattended on public or private property, without the owner's permission, for more than…

Kenosha County bars semi-trailers, tow trucks, garbage trucks, and any dump, flatbed, box, panel, or step truck rated 12,000 pounds or more from residential-district parcels. A parked…

Kenosha County caps outdoor recreational-vehicle storage at two units in a side or rear yard, bans any boat, camper, or trailer from a street-facing yard, and forbids RV storage on a…

Kenosha County Code § 7.30 bars parking within intersections, alongside highway excavations or obstructions, wherever signs prohibit stopping, and inside county parks outside marked…

Kenosha County Code § 7.30(2)(b) bars parking, stopping, or standing a vehicle longer than 24 hours in any one spot within a county highway right-of-way or a designated county park…

Kenosha County requires off-street loading berths for any use with 6,000 square feet or more of gross floor area that receives deliveries or ships goods. Berths need 14 feet of…

In unincorporated Kenosha County towns, any accessory building bigger than 150 square feet or taller than 15 feet needs a zoning permit under Section 12.17.010; side and rear setbacks…

Kenosha County limits who can live in an Accessory Living Unit: the occupant must be a resident related by blood, marriage or adoption to the resident of the main single-family…

Kenosha County permits one Accessory Living Unit per single-family home, capped at 600 square feet and two occupants, with no separate address, driveway or utility meters, only in the…

Kenosha County's R-1 Rural Residential District caps buildings at 35 feet under County Code § 12.32.010(f), the base height standard for unincorporated towns that have adopted county…

Kenosha County requires every licensed food and beverage establishment to run effective, ongoing measures to keep insects, rodents and other vermin off the premises, and to keep the…

Kenosha County bars cutting trees or shrubs within 35 feet of the ordinary high-water mark on unincorporated shoreland lots, a vegetative buffer zone set by Municipal Code §…

Kenosha County Code § 9.01 adopts Wisconsin's Clean Indoor Air Act and adds its own rule: no smoking, tobacco use, or e-cigarette use in any county-owned, leased, or occupied building…

Kenosha County Code § 8.02(6)(c) requires every county cabaret licensee to maintain "good order," and defines a lack of good order to include patrons urinating in public, persistent…

Restaurants, bars, and taverns in Kenosha County's B-2 and B-3 business districts cannot add outdoor dining, recreation, or entertainment space without a conditional use permit from…

Kenosha County's zoning ordinance caps the noise a land use can radiate at its property line with an octave-band decibel table, from 65 decibels in the lowest frequency band down to 35…

Kenosha County Code § 8.02(6)(i)-(j) makes amplified indoor music at a licensed cabaret stop at 1 a.m., or 2 a.m. during daylight saving time, and confines outdoor amplified music to…

Kenosha County zoning does not restrict decorative lawn features: County Code § 12.38.020(p) lets sun dials, ornamental lights, birdbaths and similar landscape items sit in any…

Kenosha County Code § 7.50 designates a single bicycle lane, a six-foot strip on the east side of County Highway T between the Kenosha city limits and State Highway 32, and bans any…

Kenosha County requires a formal 'Design Guidelines' document before it will create a Town Center Overlay District under County Code § 12.37.070, covering architecture, landscaping…

Kenosha County requires a Division of Health license to operate a tattoo, body piercing, or combined establishment, and a separate state practitioner license for anyone who actually…

Kenosha County designates landmarks and historic areas as a Historical Overlay District under County Code § 12.37.020, applying only in the unincorporated towns where county zoning…