Rock Island County, IL Ordinances (2026)

Rock Island County requires a Sheriff-issued license before anyone presents sexually-oriented entertainment in the unincorporated county. General licenses cost $200 a year, outdoor…

A veterinary clinic or animal hospital in unincorporated Rock Island County's AG-2 General Agricultural District needs a special use permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals; it is not…

Rock Island County has no breed ban: Sec. 91.051 expressly bars classifying vicious dogs by breed. Instead, dogs are declared dangerous or vicious through an individualized…

In the SE-1 Suburban Estates Low Density District of unincorporated Rock Island County, livestock must be kept at least 100 feet from any residentially zoned private property, one of…

Rock Island County bans letting any dog, cat, or other animal run at large anywhere in the unincorporated county, whether on public property or someone else's private land. County…

Rock Island County does not require every pet to be microchipped, but it charges a $15 microchip fee at impoundment, scans every stray on arrival, and forces owners of dogs declared…

Rock Island County does not require spay/neuter for pets generally, but a dog declared dangerous must be spayed or neutered within 14 days at the owner's expense, a vicious dog within…

Rock Island County does not ban retail pet sales, but it does force pet shop operators, dog dealers, kennels, catteries, shelters, and foster homes to report every sale, adoption, and…

Cats four months or older in unincorporated Rock Island County must be vaccinated against rabies and registered annually, cost $10 altered or $50 unaltered, and cannot run at large…

Rock Island County's Forest Preserve District bans hunting, trapping, molesting, poisoning, wounding, or killing any bird, along with mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, apartment buildings and larger businesses generating eight or more 20-gallon loads must switch to bulk dumpsters of at least one cubic yard, built…

Anyone hauling refuse within unincorporated Rock Island County must use a closed or covered container or a hauling conveyance specially built and approved by the county Health…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, refuse cannot pile up on any building or lot except licensed junk or salvage yards, and § 52.03 sets a floor on how often it must go: at least…

Rock Island County bans dumping refuse on any public or private property, or into any river, lake, pond, or stream, in the unincorporated county unless the site is an IEPA-designated…

Every house, apartment, or small business in unincorporated Rock Island County must keep an approved refuse container, at least 20 gallons for a small business or per two residents…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, a family daycare home caring for up to eight children is a permitted use in the R-1 District if the operator holds a state license and an…

A home business in unincorporated Rock Island County must fit inside 200 square feet, stay incidental to the dwelling's residential character and avoid altering its appearance. A minor…

A major home occupation in unincorporated Rock Island County may post exactly one sign, no larger than two square feet and never illuminated. A minor home occupation gets no sign at…

Whether customers can visit a home business in unincorporated Rock Island County depends on which of the two home-occupation tiers applies. A major home occupation allows customers and…

Rock Island County's stormwater management chapter requires developers of subdivisions with a detention basin to record a model covenant forming a homeowners association. County Code §…

Rock Island County Code § 152.272 sets the notice and quorum rules the Board of Directors of a subdivision's required stormwater-basin HOA must follow when it sets its annual budget…

Under Rock Island County Code § 152.272, the homeowners association formed for a subdivision's stormwater detention basin must levy a uniform annual assessment on every improved lot…

Rock Island County's Forest Preserve District closes its preserves overnight: § 92.01(B) opens the grounds at sunrise and shuts them at 10:00 p.m., and anyone who stays past closing…

Rock Island County's Forest Preserve District requires a written permit for any reserved picnic area, overnight camping, or special event in its preserves, per § 92.01(C); permits must…

Anyone who wants to hold a parade, march, rally, picket, political meeting, or public assembly inside a Rock Island County forest preserve needs a District or Board permit first: §…

In the R-1 Single-Family Dwelling District of unincorporated Rock Island County, a one- to one-and-a-half story house needs at least a 25-foot front yard, 8-foot side yard, and 35-foot…

In the R-1 Single-Family Dwelling District of unincorporated Rock Island County, a house cannot exceed two and one-half stories or 35 feet, and detached garages and sheds are capped at…

Rock Island County requires off-street loading space for any new commercial building of 10,000 square feet or more in the unincorporated area, keeping delivery trucks out of public…

Rock Island County treats an inoperable motor vehicle kept outside an enclosed building as a nuisance under § 90.03 once the owner has been notified to remove it. A vehicle counts as…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, a recreational vehicle can only sit in a required side or rear yard on residential property, and it cannot be lived in except for short guest…

Rock Island County's § 71.01 bars stopping, standing, or parking on sidewalks, in intersections, on crosswalks, on railroad tracks, and in front of driveways, plus keeps vehicles…

Rock Island County's zoning code publishes a Rural Living Contract telling new rural landowners that farm noise, odor, dust, chemical drift, and loose livestock are normal, and that if…

Unincorporated Rock Island County zones farmland under the AG-1 Agricultural Preservation District and AG-2 General Agricultural District, both built to shield working farms from…

Operating a food truck or mobile retail food stand in unincorporated Rock Island County requires a Class C license from the County Department of Public Health. § 117.15 sets a written…

Nearly any construction, alteration, or system work on a building in unincorporated Rock Island County needs a permit first. Section 150.01(A)(1) requires an owner or authorized agent…

Rock Island County adopted the 2012 International Residential Code, including its automatic fire sprinkler section for one- and two-family dwellings, R313.2. The county's local…

Every dwelling unit in unincorporated Rock Island County must have a working carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every bedroom. Section 150.22(J), adding new text 603.1.2 to the…

Electrical work in unincorporated Rock Island County requires a licensed, registered electrical contractor. Section 150.01(B)(2)(a) makes registration and county licensing mandatory…

Plumbing work in unincorporated Rock Island County runs on the Illinois Plumbing Code, not a locally written plumbing chapter. Section 150.17(D) of the county's building code…

Rock Island County treats a home daycare as its own building-safety category. The 2012 IRC amendments the county adopted at § 150.16(W) pull in Appendix M, Home Daycare R-3 Occupancy…

A private solar installation is a by-right accessory use in every zoning district in unincorporated Rock Island County, subject only to the underlying district's bulk and dimensional…

Fences, walls and hedges facing a public street on R-1 or U-1 property in unincorporated Rock Island County cap out at 42 inches. Everywhere else in side and rear yards the limit is…

Barbed wire and electric fences are confined to Agricultural and Suburban Estate-1 districts in unincorporated Rock Island County. Electric fences may only enclose livestock and are…

In unincorporated Rock Island County a shed, detached garage or other accessory building needs a 5-foot setback from the side and rear lot lines in the AG, SE and R districts…

Rock Island County makes it unlawful under § 90.01 to cause, permit, or maintain a nuisance on any property in the unincorporated county. Before prosecuting, the Sheriff, a Zoning…

Owners of unincorporated Rock Island County parcels of five acres or less must keep weeds cut, whether the lot is occupied or vacant. The Health Department Administrator can post…

Anyone doing construction work in unincorporated Rock Island County must use best management practices to keep sediment from leaving the site, limit disturbed areas, and clean up any…

Rock Island County requires new and substantially improved buildings in the floodplain to sit above a defined flood protection elevation, the base flood elevation plus two feet of…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, surface water must follow its natural or already-regulated course: no one may force it onto a neighbor's land or block it from draining onto their…

Rock Island County lets minor boat docks in the floodway meet its flood-height standard without a full engineering study if they satisfy the state's Statewide Permit Number 5…

In unincorporated Rock Island County, no one may start development in a mapped floodplain without a permit from the Zoning and Building Safety Director. Floodways along the Rock River…

Every mobile home park in unincorporated Rock Island County must install and maintain LPG and fuel-oil systems to state and local fire codes, keep fuel containers at least five feet…

Rock Island County bans burning refuse anywhere in the unincorporated area except the one narrow case the code allows: bedding, clothing, or other articles contaminated by infectious…

Rock Island County bans retail sale, possession, and use of fireworks in the unincorporated county unless the County Board Chairperson has issued a supervised public display permit…

Rock Island County bars anyone from sleeping on a public sidewalk, street, alley, or right-of-way anywhere outside an incorporated town, at any time, under § 130.15(A). The same…

Outside incorporated towns, Rock Island County bans camping on any public sidewalk, park, or county property and follows a set removal procedure. § 130.17 requires 24 hours' posted…

Rock Island County does not issue a general food handler certification card. Under County Code § 117.36, the Health Authority overseeing food service establishments and retail food…

Rock Island County doesn't hand out A-B-C letter grades; it scores restaurants numerically. Section 117.32(C) of the county's Food Service Establishments chapter requires every…

Rock Island County's Health Nuisances ordinance makes it unlawful to let rats, flies, or other vermin infest a property, or to store debris, tires, or open containers in a way that…

Rock Island County's health and sanitation code bans every plant Illinois classifies as a noxious weed on any property, county-wide. Section 90.34(C) prohibits noxious weeds outright…

Rock Island County's zoning code names Ailanthus, commonly called tree of heaven, on its list of prohibited trees for required landscaping in the unincorporated county. Section 154.597…

Rock Island County's zoning code sets hard, numeric maximum sound-pressure levels by octave band for the unincorporated county. Section 154.555 caps noise measured at the nearest…

Rock Island County treats a dog, cat, or other pet that habitually and excessively barks, howls, or meows loudly enough to seriously annoy or disturb neighbors as a public nuisance…

Rock Island County bars playing radios, TVs, PA systems, musical instruments, or any other sound or energy amplification device loud enough to carry beyond its immediate vicinity, or…

Rock Island County's zoning code caps how much exterior light can spill onto a neighbor's land in the unincorporated county. Under § 154.572, illumination measured at any boundary line…

Rock Island County caps luminaire height and mandates cutoff angles and shielding hardware on exterior fixtures across the unincorporated county. Section 154.572 limits freestanding…

Any swimming pool built in a licensed Rock Island County mobile home park must sit behind a fence or wall five to seven feet tall with gaps no wider than four inches, and self-latching…

Rock Island County's 2012 building code amendments, adopted at § 150.16(W), pull in Appendix G, Swimming Pools, Spas, Hot Tubs, from the International Residential Code as the…

On District forest preserve trails, Rock Island County bans riding a bicycle on any path posted against bikes or reserved for horses, requires cyclists to hug the right-hand side, bars…

Unincorporated Rock Island County caps weeds and grass at ten inches on parcels of two acres or less, and requires a mowed 50-foot buffer along the property line on larger lots that…

Unincorporated Rock Island County requires no permit to run a backyard compost pile. Section 52.21 of the county's accumulation-of-garbage-and-debris ordinance expressly excludes…

Rock Island County's amended International Property Maintenance Code requires heat in every dwelling from October 1 through May 15, a carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every…

Rock Island County caps freestanding signs at 25 feet, but a sign within 660 feet of an interstate highway can rise higher under a special allowance tied to the interstate's pavement…

Rock Island County limits campaign and election signs to six square feet per face on residential land and 32 square feet elsewhere. Signs can go up no more than 30 days before an…

Rock Island County makes it unlawful for anyone under 21 to purchase, accept delivery of, possess, or consume alcoholic liquor anywhere in the county. § 130.02 carves out only a…

Rock Island County bans urinating or spitting inside county mass-transit facilities and vehicles, folding it into a broader prohibition on litter, dumping, and unsanitary conduct on…

Rock Island County taxes hotel room rentals in the unincorporated county at 5% of gross rental receipts under § 35.21. The tax reaches any hotel outside a municipality that already…