Naperville, IL Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Section 6-2-6 (Agriculture As A Permitted Use) makes farming a by-right use in every zoning district in the City, not just land zoned for it. It also permits a dwelling unit accessory to a farming operation, but only if the people living there are engaged in agricultural activities on that property as their principal means of livelihood, a test the Zoning Administrator applies before approving a farm dwelling. For land actually zoned for agriculture, Chapter 6, Article K establishes the standalone AG Agricultural District. Section 6-6K-1 states its intent is to provide an environment suitable for and limited to uses, activities and structures related to agriculture.

Section 6-6K-2 then lists the only uses a parcel in the AG district may be built or used for: farm stands selling only produce grown on that same lot, farming of any kind (agriculture, floriculture, forestry, grazing of dairy animals, greenhouses, hatcheries, horticulture, nurseries, orchards, paddocks, truck farming, viticulture, and raising furbearing animals and poultry), golf courses, parks and forest preserves, single-family detached dwellings, and, by a 1990 amendment, residential care homes. Dairies, nonprofit swim and tennis clubs, and veterinary offices are allowed only as conditional uses under Section 6-6K-3, which routes an applicant through the Planning and Zoning Commission and Section 6-3-8's conditional use hearing process.

Buildings in the AG district follow the same two and one-half story, thirty-five foot height cap as the City's single-family districts, except that barns and silos may rise to fifty feet under Section 6-6K-8. Because Naperville is a home rule municipality under Article VII, Section 6 of the Illinois Constitution, these agricultural-use protections exist independent of any state enabling statute; the City Council sets their scope directly.