New Paris, IN

Unincorporated Elkhart County bans any loud, raucous or disturbing noise that violates neighbors' peace, and sets a hard decibel line: exceeding 83 dBA measured from 15 feet is…

Unincorporated Elkhart County sets no protected construction hours. Building noise falls under the same Chapter 94 limits as any sound, though § 94.04 exempts manufacturing in…

Elkhart County sets a flat, jurisdiction-wide decibel ceiling for noise: any sound exceeding 83 dBA measured 15 feet from its source is automatically treated as a prohibited noise, no…

Elkhart County § 94.03 makes a radio, stereo, or instrument plainly audible 50 feet away after a warning prohibited noise. Goshen separately bars amplified sound heard past a parcel…

Elkhart County bans operating a car, motorcycle or other vehicle with a broken or defective muffler, or in a way that creates unnecessary engine noise, tire squeal or excessive…

Indiana has no gas leaf-blower ban, and Elkhart County sets no lawn-equipment hours. Blowers and mowers must simply meet Chapter 94's 83 dBA limit; only agricultural equipment in ag…

Elkhart County treats a dog or other animal whose frequent or long-continued noise disturbs a neighbor's peace as a noise violation once the owner ignores a request to stop. The rule…

Indiana Code 36-1-24 bars Elkhart County and its cities from banning short-term rentals in residential zones. The county Area Plan Commission has adopted no STR-specific registration…

Elkhart County sets no rental-specific noise rule; STR guests obey Chapter 94 like any resident. Sound plainly audible 50 feet away after a warning, or over 83 dBA at 15 feet, is…

Elkhart County levies a 5% innkeeper's tax on gross retail income from lodging under County Code § 36.045, which sets the rate under I.C. 6-9-19-3 and reaches any person who rents…

A backyard fire pit is treated as a recreational fire under IDEM rules that the Elkhart County Health Department enforces. Burn only clean, dry wood, keep it attended, and never use it…

Open burning in Elkhart County follows Indiana IDEM rule 326 IAC 4-1. Burning household trash, plastic, and construction debris is always illegal; clean yard waste may be burned in a…

Elkhart County bans discharging consumer fireworks in the unincorporated county except during specific holiday windows around July 4th and New Year's. Violators face fines up to $500…

Indiana's Home Based Vendor law lets you sell non-potentially-hazardous homemade foods, like baked goods and jams, direct to consumers with no permit or health inspection. Eggs and…

Elkhart County enforces Indiana's abandoned-vehicle statute, I.C. 9-22-1, through Chapter 73 of the county code. Sheriff's officers handle removal and disposal, and the county charges…

Elkhart County's animal code protects colony caretakers who feed and shelter free-roaming cats. Section 90.13 keeps a caretaker from being treated as an 'owner' and shields a…

Elkhart County requires every dog owner to keep the animal 'properly under restraint and not at large' under § 90.02(H). Section 90.01 defines AT LARGE broadly: off the owner's…

Elkhart County's animal code names chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks as LIVESTOCK under § 90.01 and requires every owner to give livestock demonstrable protection from the elements…

Elkhart County has no breed ban: § 90.01 defines DANGEROUS ANIMAL by conduct, not breed, covering any animal that seriously injures, attacks or repeatedly runs at large aggressively…

Beekeeping is legal across Elkhart County and treated as agriculture. Indiana requires no state hive registration, though the DNR offers voluntary registration and inspects for…

Elkhart County parks are a no-hunting zone for wild birds and other feral animals. Section 93.018 makes it unlawful to kill, wound, trap, shoot at, chase or even possess a feral bird…

Elkhart County doesn't require pet owners to microchip animals outright, but § 90.10(D) requires the county's animal control facility to scan every stray it takes in for a microchip…

In unincorporated Elkhart County a permanent swimming pool is a regulated accessory structure needing an Improvement Location Permit from Planning and Development, plus a building and…

Elkhart County allows an accessory dwelling unit only with a single-family home on one acre or more in the A-1 agricultural district. It must run 600 to 1,000 square feet, stay a…

A storage shed in Elkhart County that is not on a permanent foundation and is 120 square feet or less skips the zoning permit. Larger sheds need an Improvement Location Permit and must…

A tiny house on a permanent foundation is legal in Elkhart County if built to the Indiana Residential Code with a 20-foot average width. A tiny house on wheels is a mobile vehicle and…

In unincorporated Elkhart County, plant life over 8 inches on a residential parcel of 3 acres or less violates the county's Weed and Rank Vegetation Control Ordinance (No. 2013-220)…

No Indiana statute or Elkhart County ordinance restricts native or drought-tolerant planting. You may replace lawn with prairie species or a pollinator bed, and the county's weed…

Placement rules depend on your provider. In unincorporated areas your private hauler sets set-out times. Elkhart city requires carts within three feet of the curb with two feet of…

Elkhart County does not run curbside trash pickup in the unincorporated area. The Board of Commissioners dissolved the county's Solid Waste Management District effective December 31…

Indiana has no residential recycling mandate, and unincorporated Elkhart County requires nothing separated. The county's staffed drop-off sites were consolidated and closed, though it…

Dumping trash, garbage or waste on public property, streets, waterways or parks in unincorporated Elkhart County is banned under § 97.01, with a separate rule requiring loads that…

Elkhart County ran a curbside recycling incentive program that paid a $25 subscription award to Qualified Recycling Haulers (QRHs) for each new subscriber, capped at $150,000 per…

Elkhart County enforces property standards in unincorporated areas through its Planning and Development Department under Chapter 92 and Indiana's unsafe-building law (IC 36-7-9)…

Owners of vacant residential parcels in unincorporated Elkhart County must keep vegetation under eight inches and clear of junk. Under Chapter 92, the county Planning and Development…

Elkhart County's Zoning Ordinance caps single-family building height at 30 feet in residential districts, which may rise to 40 feet only if two side yards of at least 15 feet each are…

Elkhart County zones unincorporated land through the Area Plan Commission. Front setbacks are measured from the street centerline; the R-1 Single-Family district requires a 50-foot…

Elkhart County caps building coverage rather than total impervious surface. In the R-1 Single-Family district, primary and accessory structures may cover roughly 30 to 35% of the lot…

Unincorporated Elkhart County has no rental registration program, but its two cities do. Elkhart requires every rental to register and pass inspection under Chapter 161 (Ordinance…

Indiana has no just-cause eviction law, and Elkhart County cannot create one. IC 32-31-1-20 bars local units from regulating the landlord-tenant relationship. A landlord ends a…

Indiana law bars Elkhart County from capping or stabilizing rents on privately owned rental housing. IC 32-31-1-20(b) blocks any local rent-rate regulation, through zoning or…

Growing marijuana at home is illegal everywhere in Indiana, including Elkhart County. Indiana has no medical or recreational marijuana program. Cultivating plants is prosecuted as…

Elkhart County writes the state's food handler certification rule straight into its own code. County Code § 112.02 adopts 410 I.A.C. 7-22, "Certification of Food Handlers," as part of…

Elkhart County treats any pile of matter that attracts rodents, insects or wild animals on your property as a public nuisance under its Public Nuisance Ordinance. County Code…

Elkhart County will not let a mobile food unit sell in the unincorporated county without a food service license from the Health Officer under County Code § 112.04. Operators must show…

Elkhart County's Uniform Requirements for Post Construction Stormwater Management cover any unincorporated property subject to a post-construction stormwater pollution prevention plan…

Elkhart County requires a stormwater clearance from the Soil and Water Conservation District before any building, construction, driveway or right-of-way permit issues for work that…

In unincorporated Elkhart County, idling a tractor within 500 feet of a residence between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. is a noise-code violation on its own, no complaint or decibel reading…

Elkhart County bans unreasonably loud and excessive noise from loading or unloading a vehicle, or from opening and breaking down bales, boxes, crates and containers, once the person…

Elkhart County bans sounding a car horn, alarm or other signaling device except as a danger warning, and treats any such device that stays audible 50 feet away after a resident asks it…

In unincorporated Elkhart County, businesses cannot run outdoor public address systems within 500 feet of a residence, and tavern, inn and business owners must stop patrons on their…

Elkhart County requires a Class A electrical contractor's license before anyone performs electrical work in the unincorporated county under County Code § 113.06, with a narrow…

Section 151.08 requires the permit holder to notify the Building Commissioner when work is ready for inspection and bars moving past any inspection point without the Commissioner's…

Section 151.06 requires a building permit before anyone builds, alters, repairs or adds to a building, or performs plumbing, electrical, heating, ventilation or air-conditioning work…

Elkhart County adopts the Indiana Plumbing Code, 675 I.A.C. 16, as part of its own County Building Code under § 151.02, and requires a permit before any plumbing work under § 151.06. A…

Elkhart County bans alcohol outright in every county park. Under § 93.015 of the Parks chapter, bringing, drinking, selling or even possessing an alcoholic beverage anywhere within a…

Elkhart County doesn't ban smoking across its parks outright, but § 93.017(B) makes it unlawful to smoke inside any enclosed park building, and § 93.017(C) bans dropping ashes, butts…

Section 131.03 bans loitering, as defined by state law, on the Goshen or Elkhart courthouse grounds between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. without the Commissioners' prior written consent…

Elkhart County bans soliciting funds, donations or contributions inside the travel lanes of any road, street or highway in the unincorporated area. County Code § 70.50 covers every…

Skateboarding, roller skating and roller blading are prohibited on any Elkhart County property once it is posted against the activity, including the courthouses, jail, administration…

Elkhart County parks close to the public once posted access hours end. Section 93.024(A) makes it unlawful to use any park area or facility outside those hours without a written permit…

Elkhart County has no comprehensive dark-sky or full-cutoff lighting ordinance. Its Zoning Ordinance instead requires parking-area lighting to reflect light away from adjoining…

Elkhart County limits light spillover mainly through parking and buffering standards: off-street parking lighting must reflect away from adjoining residential properties, and buffers…

Elkhart County requires every precious metal dealer operating in the unincorporated area to register with the County Sheriff once every 12 months for each permanent place of business…

Elkhart County requires a written reservation agreement before anyone can occupy a park shelter or facility posted as reserved for an organized function, and a Park Department permit…

Want to grill or run a smoker at an Elkhart County park? Section 93.017(A) lets you, but only with untreated natural fuel, in a fireplace or other non-combustible container, at least…

You can't pitch a tent to sleep overnight in an Elkhart County park without a permit. Section 93.022(G) bans maintaining a tent or other improvised shelter for overnight camping…

Farm equipment and operations in areas zoned agricultural in unincorporated Elkhart County are exempt from the county noise ordinance entirely, protecting normal farm activity from…

Elkhart County Code § 130.01 bars anyone from posting signs on county bridges, camping in a county-owned path or passage, blocking access to and from bodies of water, or dumping refuse…