McLean County, IL Ordinances (2026)

Any municipality wanting to mount automatic license plate readers on McLean County highway right-of-way needs an ALPR permit from the County Engineer. The rule, added September 14…

A McLean County dog caught running at large for a second time must be spayed or neutered within 30 days of being reclaimed, unless it's already altered. Section 165-7B makes the…

McLean County makes it unlawful to trap, catch, kill, wound or cruelly treat any bird, take a bird egg, or rob a nest anywhere in a county park or recreational area, under Code §…

McLean County Animal Control will not release an adopted dog or cat until it has been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, registered, and microchipped, or the adopter has signed an…

McLean County requires every cat owner countywide to register their cat with the County of McLean and keep a current rabies vaccination and registration tag. Animal Control or any…

McLean County doesn't restrict dogs by breed, but it does regulate individual dogs once Animal Control declares them dangerous or vicious under Chapter 165. A dangerous dog must be…

McLean County bans letting a dog run at large in any unincorporated, subdivided residential area of the county. Animal Control or any Illinois law enforcement officer can catch and…

Veterinary clinics, kennels and stables cannot operate as a home occupation in unincorporated McLean County. Section 350-43.R(1)(k) places them eighth on the list of uses the county…

McLean County lets residential lots keep hens as an accessory use, but only on a quarter acre or more inside a single-family district. Section 350-43GGG(2)-(3) sets a sliding cap from…

McLean County bans possessing or drinking alcoholic beverages in any county park or recreational area, including Comlara Park and West Park, with violations punishable by a fine of up…

McLean County prohibits smoking anywhere on the sand at F. Russell Glasener Beach, the county park system's only lawful swimming spot on Evergreen Lake, under Code § 282-5C. The same…

Commercial solar energy generating facilities in unincorporated McLean County need a construction permit from the Department of Building and Zoning, and panels on those facilities need…

A family day-care home in unincorporated McLean County must operate out of a single-family or two-family dwelling that the provider actually lives in full time. The zoning code treats…

McLean County allows a home occupation in any district that permits dwellings, but caps it at 25% of the house's floor area (50% of the basement) and lets in only one employee who does…

Section 350-43.R(1)(i) bans any traffic from a home occupation that is abnormal to a residential neighborhood and specifically forbids regular deliveries by trucks over two tons…

A home occupation sign in unincorporated McLean County cannot exceed two feet in any direction, cannot be illuminated, and has to sit flat against the main wall of the house, per §…

McLean County bans any display of consumer or display fireworks in the unincorporated county without a permit. Both pyrotechnic and consumer displays require a written application…

McLean County's zoning code bans individual fuel oil or propane gas tanks for each manufactured home in a manufactured home park. Fuel storage must instead be centrally located in…

Every shed, detached garage or other accessory structure in unincorporated McLean County must meet the operational standards of Zoning Code Section 350-43A(5): it cannot sit in a…

McLean County's zoning ordinance allows one guest household unit, a secondary living space with its own kitchen, as an accessory use on a residential lot. Section 350-43A(3)(e) caps it…

McLean County's guest household unit, the county's accessory dwelling option, cannot be rented out. Section 350-43A(3)(e)[1] restricts occupancy to guests of the family living in the…

McLean County's zoning code puts every owner and resident of the A Agriculture District on official notice, under Section 350-35B, that Illinois' state Right-to-Farm Law can bar them…

McLean County zones its unincorporated farmland as the A Agriculture District under Zoning Code Section 350-35, a category built specifically to shield commercial farming from the…

McLean County requires every mobile food unit and temporary food establishment to hold a Health Department permit, with a separate permit needed for each mobile unit and applications…

McLean County requires every bed-and-breakfast operator to be a certified food protection manager, trained under an Illinois Department of Public Health-approved program and passing an…

McLean County's zoning code prohibits any property condition that breeds rodents or insects or otherwise threatens public health, enforced as a petty offense with fines up to $500 and…

McLean County bars outdoor amplified sound after 11:00 p.m. at breweries and distilleries within 500 feet of an R-1 or R-2 district or any lot with a principal-use dwelling.

McLean County caps small wind energy systems at 60 decibels measured at the closest property line, with an allowance for short-term events like utility outages or severe wind storms to…

McLean County's camping rules require noise be kept to a minimum between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. in every county campground, protecting the peace and quiet of camping areas at Comlara…

McLean County caps a bed-and-breakfast establishment at five guestrooms for rent and limits each guestroom to two transient guests a night, and the operation only qualifies if it runs…

McLean County requires an annual Health Department permit before anyone can operate a bed-and-breakfast that serves breakfast, with the permit non-transferable and required to be…

Commercial recycling collection stations in unincorporated McLean County can't exceed 1,000 square feet without extra site-plan review. Section 350-43A(6) also requires a six-foot…

A cannabis cultivation center in unincorporated McLean County cannot locate within 1,000 feet of a school, playground, public park, house of worship, library, day-care center or…

Cannabis businesses other than cultivation centers, including dispensaries and craft growers, cannot locate within 500 feet of a school, playground, park, house of worship, library…

New buildings in McLean County's floodplain must have their lowest floor, including any basement, built at or above the flood protection elevation, defined by Zoning Code Section…

A boat dock built in the McLean County floodplain qualifies as a minor development activity without a full development permit only if it meets the ten conditions of IDNR/OWR Statewide…

No one may develop in a McLean County floodplain without a development permit from the Director of Building and Zoning, and violators face a $50-$750 fine per day plus a recorded…

McLean County's zoning construction-permit rule forces erosion and sediment control on any building site in the unincorporated county disturbing over 5,000 square feet, with fixed…

Unincorporated McLean County requires stormwater and erosion control measures on any subdivision needing public improvements, sized to hold sediment on-site through a…

Commercial properties in McLean County's C Commercial District must shade exterior lighting fixtures so no direct light falls on neighboring property and no glare is visible to street…

McLean County's zoning code shields neighbors from data center glare. Section 350-43FFF(2) allows facility lighting only for security and safety, and requires every fixture to be…

McLean County's zoning code lets an advertising sign (billboard) in the Commercial District be illuminated only if the light is concentrated on the sign face, with no flashing…

McLean County treats walks, runs, bike tours and races as Type 1 special events requiring an application to the Director of Building and Zoning, coordination with the road district…

McLean County classifies concerts, circuses, fairs, carnivals and festivals as Type 2 special events, allowed only in the C, M-1 or M-2 zoning districts and requiring County Board…

McLean County requires groups to reserve Comlara Park's picnic shelters in advance for exclusive use, capping each shelter at 150 people, under Code § 282-10. Reservations run…

In unincorporated McLean County, a day-care center must hold an Illinois DCFS license under the Child Care Act of 1969 and meet County and State Health Department facility…

McLean County Code § 350-19 requires a construction permit before any improvement, addition, relocation or structural alteration to a building, structure or land improvement in the…

McLean County Code § 350-20 bars occupying any building, addition or land use until the Director of Building and Zoning inspects the completed work and issues an occupancy permit…

Single-family lots in McLean County's R-1 Single-Family Residential District cannot exceed 35% lot coverage under Zoning Code Section 350-36D(4), with accessory building area…

McLean County Code § 350-36(F) fixes yard setbacks for the unincorporated R-1 Single-Family Residential District: 30 feet from the street side, 20 feet on each interior side lot line…

A principal home in McLean County's R-1 Single-Family Residential District cannot rise above 2 1/2 stories or 35 feet, whichever limit is stricter. Section 350-36E(1) sets that…

McLean County names Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) first on its invasive species table in the stream buffer design standards, flagging it alongside buckthorn and honeysuckle as…

McLean County's stream buffer design standards flag buckthorn, kudzu, honeysuckle and other species as exceptionally invasive, most of them already on the Illinois Banned Species List…

McLean County zoning confines boat, boat trailer, camping trailer and converted bus or truck storage on residential lots to private garages, side or rear yards, or driveways behind the…

In McLean County's C Commercial District, accessory truck parking within 150 feet of an R-1 or R-2 residential boundary is capped at vehicles of not over 1.5-ton capacity under Zoning…

In unincorporated McLean County, the zoning code prohibits parking spaces open to the sky in front yards and street-side side yards within the Agriculture, R-1 and R-2 residential…

McLean County Code § 350-23 declares every inoperable or unlicensed motor vehicle a nuisance, whether it sits on public or private property, unless it's in a lawfully established…

Unincorporated McLean County requires commercial and industrial uses to provide off-street loading berths at least 12 feet wide and 50 feet long, sited outside front and side yards…

Data centers in unincorporated McLean County must meet noise limits set by the Illinois Pollution Control Board, not a county-specific decibel table. Section 350-43FFF(8) folds the…

Any data center built in unincorporated McLean County must satisfy the siting standards written into the zoning code's data center use conditions at § 350-43FFF. The rules require a…

McLean County prohibits open fires in Comlara Park, West Park and every other county park or recreational area. Cooking is allowed only in camp grills the county provides or in…

Automobile and other motor vehicle repair services cannot operate as a home occupation in unincorporated McLean County. Section 350-43.R(1)(k) puts repair shops on the list of uses…

McLean County zoning flatly excludes secondhand merchandise retail from the list of businesses allowed to operate as a home occupation. Section 350-43.R(1)(k) names it among nine uses…

McLean County keeps adult entertainment establishments 2,650 feet from residential districts, churches, schools, and parks, and the same 2,650-foot buffer separates them from each…

McLean County's construction-permit rule, § 350-19, exempts only open fences four feet tall or less from needing a permit. Any taller fence, or a solid (non-open) fence at any height…

McLean County caps fences over four feet tall at four feet in a front yard and seven feet everywhere else on the lot. Section 350-51C sets that limit for unincorporated county land…

McLean County closes Comlara Park and every other county park or recreational area to the public between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., per Code § 282-3M. Only registered overnight campers…

McLean County taxes hotel operators outside city limits at 1% of gross rental receipts under its Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax Ordinance, covering motels, tourist homes, lodging and…

McLean County's zoning code does not regulate residential yard-waste composting generally; its one composting rule is tucked into the backyard-chicken sanitation standards. Section…

McLean County zoning treats political signs, defined as any sign relating to a candidate, party, election or ballot issue, as a total exemption category: no sign permit is required…

McLean County caps advertising signs (billboards) along roads at five per linear mile with at least 1,000 feet between signs, and any billboard bordering an interstate, freeway, or…

McLean County zoning exempts household-goods sale signs, the kind posted for a garage sale or auction, from the sign permit process, but only if the sign stays up six days or fewer in…

In McLean County's commercial and manufacturing districts, a window sign covering 25% or less of the window surface needs no sign permit. Anything above that threshold, or any window…