Zoning, building permits and septic rules in Village of St. Joseph, Illinois

Village of St. Joseph’s own rules

• Local zoningPresent (with conditions)

  Land inside St. Joseph village limits; the village administers its own zoning ordinance (Title 10 zoning regulations) through its Planning and Zoning Commission and zoning administrator.

  • Zoning is administered by the village; the zoning ordinance is a 2021 comprehensive amendment that replaces the prior zoning ordinance, per the adopting recitals.
  • Development, new uses and structures require a zoning permit (see permit-process claim).

  “including the zoning ordinance codified as title 10 of the st. joseph code”

• Zoning districtsPublished

  Land inside St. Joseph village limits: residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural districts with a zoning map under 10-3-2.

  • The zoning map itself was not opened; the district list comes from the ordinance table of contents and chapter 3 text.

  “10-3-1 districts 17 10-3-2 zoning map 17 10-3-3 annexation of new territory 18”

• Minimum lot sizeSpecified

  Principal single-family dwellings in the R-1 residential district inside St. Joseph village

  • The R-1 district is intended for detached single-family dwellings on lots serviced by community sewer and water.
  • Table note a: all lots must also comply with Title 7, health and sanitation.
  • Values read from a table whose text extraction is compact; the R-1 row reads 9,600 single-family, 80 ft width, 35 ft height.

  minimum lot area per single-family dwelling (R-1): >= 9600 square feet (Title 7 health and sanitation requirements also apply; other exceptions in 10-3-5 'except as provided elsewhere in this code' not reviewed)

  “table 10-3c. schedule of lot area, height, and placement standards for residential districts minimum average lot width b (feet) minimum lot area per dwelling unit a (square feet) district maximum building height (feet) single family dwelling twofamily dwelling per dwelling unit multifamily dwelling per dwelling unit r-1 9,600 n/a n/a 80 35”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — Principal buildings in the agricultural district (10-3-8) inside St. Joseph village

    “table 10-3f. schedule of lot area, height, and placement standards for agricultural district district agricultural minimum lot area a (square feet) minimum average lot width b (feet) maximum building height (feet) maximum number of stories 30,000 80 35 2-1/2”

• SetbacksSpecified

  Principal buildings in the agricultural district (10-3-8) inside St. Joseph village

  • Table 10-3f setbacks are stated for front, each side and rear yards.
  • Exceptions in chapter 4 (projections, corner and flag lots) were not reviewed.

  front yard setback (agricultural): >= 30 feet · each side yard setback (agricultural): >= 25 feet · rear yard setback (agricultural): >= 50 feet

  “minimum required yard setbacks (feet) front each side rear 30 25 50”

• Building heightSpecified

  Principal buildings in the agricultural district (10-3-8) inside St. Joseph village

  • Table 10-3f maximum building height and stories; exceptions in chapter 3 not reviewed.

  maximum building height (agricultural): <= 35 feet · maximum number of stories (agricultural): <= 2.5 stories

  “maximum building height (feet) maximum number of stories 30,000 80 35 2-1/2”

  One more reviewed finding on this topic

  • Specified — Principal buildings in the R-1 residential district inside St. Joseph village

    “table 10-3c. schedule of lot area, height, and placement standards for residential districts minimum average lot width b (feet) minimum lot area per dwelling unit a (square feet) district maximum building height (feet) single family dwelling twofamily dwelling per dwelling unit multifamily dwelling per dwelling unit r-1 9,600 n/a n/a 80 35”

• Off-grid sanitationLimited

  Private sewage facilities (privy, vault, septic tank, cesspool) on land inside St. Joseph village

  • Construction or maintenance of private sewage facilities is unlawful except as provided in the chapter (7-1-3 private sewage disposal system rules).
  • Where a public sanitary sewer is or could be installed on an abutting street, connection to the public sewer is required (see utility-connection claim).
  • Sections 7-1-3 and 7-1-4 were not read in full; permit and specification details for private systems are unverified.

  “(c) except as hereinafter provided, it shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool or other facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage.”

• Mandatory utility hookupSewer (with conditions)

  Houses and buildings for human occupancy inside St. Joseph village that abut a street, alley or right of way where a public sanitary sewer is or could be installed

  • Connection is required at the owner's expense to the public sewer within ninety days after official notice.
  • A written sewer permit signed by the inspector is required before any connection or work on the public sewer (7-1-4(a)).
  • No water-connection requirement was located in the chapter read; water is not recorded here.

  connection deadline after official notice: 90 days

  “the owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes in need of sanitary services, situated within the village of st. joseph and abutting on any street, alley, or right of way in which there is or could be installed a public sanitary sewer of the village of st. joseph is hereby required”

• Permit processPublished (with conditions)

  Development, new uses, and structure erection or alteration inside St. Joseph village

  • Zoning permit is issued by the zoning administrator; application (10-10-2), issuance (10-10-3), and fees (10-10-14) were listed in the table of contents but not opened.
  • Building permit procedure was not located in the sources read.

  “(a) no land shall be developed, no new use or structure shall be established or erected, and no existing use or structure shall be enlarged, extended, altered, relocated or reconstructed until a zoning permit has been issued.”

Still unanswered

We looked and could not find an official answer yet. Silence is not permission; ask Village of St. Joseph or Champaign County directly.

• Building permit — Building permits for new construction inside St. Joseph village
• Owner-builder exemption — Owner-builder construction inside St. Joseph village
• Building code adopted — Building code adoption inside St. Joseph village
• Inspections — Building inspections inside St. Joseph village
• Certificate of occupancy — Certificate of compliance or occupancy inside St. Joseph village

Each answer was extracted from an official source and independently re-checked against that source by a second reviewer. That is an evidence check, not legal advice. Rules change; confirm with the authority before you buy or build.