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

02-1 Principal Uses and Structures gives "Agricultural Use" a Permitted ("P") designation in the CR column only, with every other column, R1 through R5, B1 through B4, H/C, E, R/LI, I, and L1 through L3, left blank. 3, a blank cell "indicates that the use is not allowed within the designated zoning district," so a would-be farmer cannot locate row crops, livestock, or other agricultural operations anywhere in Waukegan outside the CR district, and there is no conditional use path to get there. 1 then attaches the operative dimensional standard: a minimum lot size of 217,800 square feet, or exactly five acres, for any agricultural use.

Waukegan's noise code gives agricultural land one indirect accommodation: Section 11-32(c) states that "the sound pressure level limits, and provisions hereof, applicable to commercial districts shall also apply to any parcel of land zoned as being in an agricultural district," which allows agricultural operations to generate noise up to the commercial threshold rather than the stricter residential limit. Outside of that noise allowance, the code contains no separate right-to-farm nuisance protection, no exemption from site plan review, and no relief from the standard conditional use process that governs every other principal use in the Unified Development Ordinance.