Waukegan, IL Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Section 21-116(a)(1) of the Waukegan Code of Ordinances bans parking on a sidewalk, parkway, or in a front yard or corner side yard that is open to the sky in any residential or industrial district. The only carve-out is for single-family residences, two-family residences, and townhouses, which are allowed exactly one parking space per unit in the front yard, and only if that space sits on a driveway. A car parked on the lawn beside the driveway, or a second vehicle parked in the yard of a two-family home, both fall outside the exception and violate the section.

Item (17) of the same subsection sets the surface standard that applies to every parking area covered by the ordinance, driveways included: it must be covered with a 'dustless all-weather hard surface material capable of carrying a wheel load of 4,000 pounds.' The code defines a hard surface as the finished surface of concrete, blacktop, or any other dirt-proof material, and states flatly that 'a gravel parking area is not a hard surface.' A homeowner cannot spread gravel over dirt and call it a legal driveway; the surface has to be an actual paved or dirt-proof material rated to the stated load.

Section 21-116(b) adds that these rules apply wherever the listed conditions exist, but if a specific area is posted with signs stating a different restriction, the sign controls over the general code language. Violations are cited by the police department and processed through the administrative adjudication system set out in section 21-137, the same office that handles all parking tickets in the city.