Story County, IA Ordinances (2026)

A home business in unincorporated Story County cannot post any sign without a Sign Permit approved under Section 92.10, and every sign must meet the dimensional limits in Section…

In unincorporated Story County, a home business is allowed only as an accessory use to an occupied dwelling where the owner or co-owner actually lives, under the Land Development…

Home businesses in unincorporated Story County are capped at ten client, employee and delivery visits, twenty vehicle trips, a day, plus one freight delivery and one freight shipment…

Running an in-home day care out of a single-family home in unincorporated Story County is a permitted accessory use, not something that needs a conditional use hearing. Section…

A home-based auto repair or other service business in unincorporated Story County is governed by the county's service-vehicle parking standard in the Land Development Regulations. In…

In unincorporated Story County, a sexually oriented business, meaning adult bookstores, adult theaters, encounter centers, or cabarets, cannot locate within 1,320 feet of another such…

Story County doesn't mandate carbon monoxide detectors in homes, but County Code Section 64.07(1) requires any aquatic facility, such as a public pool, spa or waterslide, with…

Before any building or structure can be moved, erected, or expanded in unincorporated Story County, it needs a zoning permit, and County Code Section 92.10 requires two inspections: a…

In unincorporated Story County, land cannot be occupied or used, and no building or structure may be moved, erected, or increased in size and then occupied or used, until every…

In unincorporated Story County, where you can run a child care business depends on whether it counts as a small in-home operation or a licensed center, and centers serving more than…

In unincorporated Story County, any building or place that breeds, harbors, feeds or shelters vermin or pests, including mice, rats, flies or cockroaches, is a declared public health…

When Story County Environmental Health receives a formal complaint about a private water well or its distribution system, County Code Section 61.10(3) requires EH to open a complaint…

Story County's Board of Health regulations, covering nuisances, wells, septic systems, pools and more, are enforced complaint-first: County Code Section 72.04 requires the…

Story County's Environmental Health Department enforces a defined list of public-health nuisances in the unincorporated county under Code of Ordinances §55.07: spoiled food, unburied…

In unincorporated Story County, razor wire, barbed wire and concertina wire cannot be used as fencing material on any lot in the A-R, R-1, R-2 or RMH zoning districts. The Land…

Unincorporated Story County caps fences and walls at eight feet in side and rear yards and four and a half feet in front yards in residential districts (A-1, A-2, A-R, R-1, R-2, RMH)…

Story County treats retaining walls and supporting embankments the same as fences for height purposes: the eight-foot side/rear and four-and-a-half-foot front-yard limits in § 88.07…

Dumping trash, junk, rocks, corncobs, brush, vehicles or machinery on a Story County secondary road right-of-way without the County Engineer's written pre-authorization is a declared…

Story County Code Chapter 40 requires yard waste, meaning grass clippings, leaves, garden waste, brush and trees (not stumps), to be kept separate from all other waste and disposed of…

Every outdoor in-ground swimming pool in unincorporated Story County must be enclosed by a fence or wall at least four feet tall and designed to keep young children from getting in…

Building an outdoor in-ground swimming pool in unincorporated Story County requires a Zoning Permit application submitted for review and action before construction starts. Above-ground…

In unincorporated Story County, a dog's prolonged or incessant howling, whining, or barking counts as a "nuisance" under the county's animal control code, and it is unlawful for an…

Story County doesn't set a countywide decibel limit for amplified sound, but any special event in the unincorporated county must submit an amplified sound plan under Code of Ordinances…

In unincorporated Story County, any building of 6,000 square feet or more used for manufacturing, storage, retail or similar delivery-heavy uses must provide at least one off-street…

In unincorporated Story County, the County Engineer runs snow and ice clearance under Chapter 30 of the county code. Paved routes get plowed roughly 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays…

In unincorporated Story County, a property can hold no more than three junked vehicles before it counts as an unlicensed junk or rural salvage yard. Anything beyond that, whether…

In unincorporated Story County, any outdoor luminaire rated above 1,800 lumens cannot emit direct light above a horizontal plane through its lowest light-emitting part. Sports and…

Outdoor light fixtures in unincorporated Story County cannot be aimed so that direct light spills onto residential buildings on adjacent or nearby properties, land or rights-of-way. If…

Anyone wanting to place a structure, fence, driveway, mailbox support or other improvement in a Story County secondary road right-of-way needs written pre-authorization from the County…

Story County's Board of Supervisors has formally found that fences, ditches, drainage-tile changes, trash, junk, abandoned vehicles, billboards, signs and hazardous mailbox supports…

Outside the A-1 and A-2 agricultural districts, unincorporated Story County caps small animals like poultry, fowl and rabbits at one animal per 1,500 net square feet of lot area under…

Animal hospitals and veterinary clinics are a principal permitted use in Story County's A-2 Agribusiness District, the zone set aside for uses closely tied to agriculture, but Section…

Unincorporated Story County requires every animal owner to keep the animal "under control at all times" and makes it unlawful for a dog to run at large, per Code of Ordinances…

Story County has no stand-alone cat license, but Code of Ordinances §45.06(1) requires every companion cat over four months old to carry a valid rabies vaccination in unincorporated…

Story County does not restrict dogs by breed. Instead, Code of Ordinances §45.09 bans harboring or keeping a "vicious dog" in unincorporated Story County, defined by the animal's own…

Unincorporated Story County requires an annual Animal Control Department license before anyone may own, possess, or have custody of listed exotic animals: venomous snakes, large snakes…

In unincorporated Story County, there is no flat cap of two dogs or three cats per household. The line is drawn at five: once a household keeps or harbors more than five dogs or cats…

Installing a roof- or ground-mounted solar array on unincorporated land in Story County requires a zoning permit under Section 92.10 before construction begins. The Planning and…

An accessory dwelling unit on unincorporated land in Story County needs its own zoning permit, its own 911 address, and its own approved septic permit before that zoning permit will…

Converting an existing garage or other accessory structure into living space for an accessory dwelling unit is allowed in unincorporated Story County only if the structure already…

In unincorporated Story County, a shed or other accessory building must sit in the rear yard, can't cover more than 30% of that rear yard, and can't be built before the main house, per…

A building that has become dangerous for further occupancy from structural, sanitary, or other defects is a public health nuisance in unincorporated Story County under Code of…

In unincorporated Story County's RMH Residential Manufactured Housing District, single and double wide manufactured homes and their accessory structures top out at 18 feet under Table…

In unincorporated Story County, the RMH Residential Manufactured Housing District caps building lot coverage at 50 percent of the lot area under Story County Code of Ordinances Section…

In unincorporated Story County's R-1 Transitional Residential District, a single-family home on a private wastewater system needs a 40-foot front setback, a 10-foot side setback, a…

In unincorporated Story County, renovating or repurposing a building on the National Register of Historic Places, or a structure designated a local landmark contributing to a historic…

In unincorporated Story County, turning a spare room into overnight-guest lodging is treated as a home business, not a hands-off short-term rental. The county's Land Development…

A bed and breakfast operating as a home business in unincorporated Story County can host no more than two families' worth of overnight guests at any one time, under Code of Ordinances…

In unincorporated Story County, new or substantially improved residential structures in the floodway fringe must have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated a minimum of…

Any development in a mapped floodway, floodway fringe, or general floodplain district in unincorporated Story County needs a floodplain development permit from the County Floodplain…

Unincorporated Story County requires a Stormwater Management Plan before construction on any development that disturbs one acre or more, or that splits land into more than four lots…

Any development or land-disturbing activity in unincorporated Story County must control erosion and sedimentation under § 88.05(3). Sites disturbing one acre or more also need an NPDES…

Anyone holding a parade, race, concert, or other public assembly in unincorporated Story County, on private property, county roads, or county property, needs a special events permit…

Vendors and organizers running a carnival, festival, or street fair in unincorporated Story County must cover food, alcohol, and sanitation in their special events application under…

Land, farmhouses, farm barns, and farm outbuildings used for agricultural purposes in unincorporated Story County are exempt from the county's zoning and land development regulations…

Story County's Land Development Regulations protect 'significant trees,' native deciduous trees over four inches in caliper and native conifers over 15 feet tall, on any site…

Story County doesn't regulate homeowners association bylaws or elections directly, but its subdivision rules require one to exist: major subdivisions of 10 or more lots must set aside…