Kendall County, IL Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Section 30-129(b)(1) sets the design standards every subdivision plat must meet in unincorporated Kendall County, and subsection f is the tree-specific rule: at least seventy (70) percent of all significant trees located outside existing and proposed rights-of-way and drainage and utility easements must be protected from construction activity, with the qualifying species and diameter classes listed in Sections 30-191 through 30-193. A tree only counts as significant under the Section 30-2 definition if it is in good health and either appears on the six-inch or twelve-inch diameter lists in Sections 30-191 and 30-192, or is one of the species in Section 30-193 that is worthy of preservation at any size.

Protecting a tree is not a paper designation: Section 30-129(b)(1)f requires it to be appropriately marked and fenced, using silt and construction fencing, so equipment, sediment, and other construction activity cannot reach the protection area, and any tree standing within the immediate construction zone must have fencing erected at a minimum five-foot radius centered on the trunk. The rule sits inside the county's broader design-standards list for new subdivisions, alongside required buffers around wetlands, floodway protection and setbacks from scenic roads, so a developer's plat review folds tree preservation in with those other site-design requirements.

Violations of Chapter 30's subdivision requirements, including the tree-protection standard, are fined ten to five hundred dollars under Section 30-5, with each day a violation continues after notification counted as a separate offense.