Kendall County, IL Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Kendall County splits its home-based-business standards into two tracks. Section 36-972 covers agricultural home occupations, permitted in the A-1 district and requiring the work be done entirely inside the dwelling or a permitted accessory building by a family member living there, incidental and secondary to the residential use, with signage capped at eight square feet and unlit, sales limited to what the occupation itself produces plus incidental items like the hair products a salon might sell, and staffing capped at family members plus two outside employees unless the Zoning Board of Appeals grants more through a special use application.

Section 36-973 covers residential home occupations in the County's R-1 through R-7 districts, and it is stricter: the work must happen entirely inside the dwelling itself, not an accessory building; there can be no exterior sign, display or activity indicating anything but residential use beyond what district sign rules allow; only one outside employee is permitted beyond family members living on site; and traffic is explicitly capped at no more than ten vehicle trips, customers, delivery persons or employees, throughout a day. Both versions require off-street parking sufficient for the use, forbid mechanical equipment that produces noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat or glare perceivable beyond the lot line, and the residential version separately limits music, craft or dance instruction to one student at a time, eight per day, and salons to a single station. The Planning, Building & Zoning Department issues the required affidavit confirming these conditions are met before a home occupation may operate.