Waukegan, IL Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger
- Demolition of a building on the lot
- Required work
- Remove foundations, fill, grade, seed or sod
- Weed standard
- BOCA Property Maintenance Code § 303.4
- 2001 transition deadline
- 6 months from June 18, 2001
Summary
Waukegan requires owners of vacant lots left after a demolition to remove all foundations, fill and grade the lot, and plant and maintain grass seed or sod, with weed height controlled under Section 303.4 of the BOCA Property Maintenance Code.
Following demolition of buildings on lots within the city, whether such demolition is by court order, voluntary, through summary procedures, or by any other method, the owner or owners of the remaining vacant lot shall remove all foundations and other installations on the property, fill and grade the lot, and shall plant and maintain grass seed or sod on the lot. The requirements of Section 303.4 of the BOCA Property Maintenance Code, with regard to weeds, shall apply, as shall all other applicable provisions of codes and ordinances in effect in the city.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 113).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 6-281 applies following demolition of buildings on lots within the city, whether the demolition happened by court order, voluntarily, through summary procedures, or by any other method: the owner of the remaining vacant lot must remove all foundations and other installations on the property, fill and grade the lot, and plant and maintain grass seed or sod on the lot. ' Sec. 6-282 set a transition deadline when the division was enacted: owners of existing vacant lots where a building had previously been demolished had six months from the June 18, 2001 passage date (Ord.
No. 4's weed standard. Both sections were codified as Article IX, Division 2 specifically to index provisions that Ord. No. 01-O-69 enacted without specifying a chapter placement. Because the requirement runs from the demolition date rather than from a fixed calendar rule, any lot cleared today is immediately subject to the foundation-removal and turf-establishment duty, not just lots existing when the ordinance passed in 2001.
Violations & Fines
No standalone penalty is stated in Division 2; failure to remove foundations, grade, or seed the lot, or to control weeds under BOCA Section 303.4, is enforced as a general code violation under Sec. 1-13, fined $25.00 to $750.00, with each day of continued noncompliance a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
What must a Waukegan property owner do with a lot after tearing down a building?
What weed standard applies to a Waukegan vacant lot?
Did older vacant lots get extra time to comply?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Waukegan
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