Lake County, IL Special Events & Permits: Commercial Filming on Public Right-of-Way (2026)

Chapter 90 of the Lake County Code sets four use-of-right-of-way permit types for county highways; special event is one of them. Under § 90.053, the County Engineer may, on application, issue a special event permit to temporarily close a county highway for any public purpose, and the code folds filming into that same permit rather than creating a separate film-permit track, the official commentary lists movie, television, commercial, and documentary shoots alongside parades, marathons, and festivals as qualifying events. The chapter's jurisdiction section (§ 90.023) reaches county highway right-of-way wherever it runs, including segments inside a township or municipality, so a shoot on a county road through Gurnee or unincorporated Lake County needs this permit, a shoot confined to a municipal street in Waukegan, Highland Park, or another home-rule city instead goes through that city's own permitting process.