Building permits, zoning and septic in the Village of Newark, Illinois

At a glance

Building permits

Village requirement unconfirmed; ask Village Hall²

Zoning

Village zoning and subdivision application processes published¹⁴

Septic permits

Kendall County Health Department for unsewered properties³

RV and tiny-home living

Village occupancy rules unconfirmed; ask Village Hall²

Owner-builder

Limited Illinois plumbing exemption; no general local permit exemption established⁵⁶

Private wells

Kendall County Health Department issues well permits⁷

Who to call

Contact details are copied from each office’s official page and were checked against it on October 11, 2026.

Do you need a building permit in the Village of Newark, IL?

We could not confirm whether a new home inside the Village of Newark requires a building permit, which office issues it, or which inspections and occupancy approvals apply; start with Village Hall for a project-specific answer.² Illinois does not issue building permits for privately funded construction; any required building permit is handled by the applicable local government.⁸ Illinois also has statewide baseline building-code requirements, so an unanswered local permit question does not establish that construction is exempt from code standards.⁹

For land outside village limits, Kendall County’s guide covers the county’s building permit requirement for new construction in unincorporated Kendall County.¹⁰

Who should you contact about Newark building permits and zoning?

Village Hall is located at 101 W. Lions Street. and lists the phone number 815-695-5671.² Village Hall’s published hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday Thru Friday.² Ask Village Hall to identify the official responsible for your proposed home’s building permit review, adopted code, inspections and permission to occupy.²

Newark publishes special-use, map-amendment, variation and text-amendment processes, but the available application information does not establish every submission requirement, fee or decision deadline.¹¹ For an unsewered Newark property, septic plan review, septic permits and septic inspections remain with Kendall County Health Department’s Environmental Health Services.³

Does the Village of Newark have zoning, lot-size rules and setbacks?

The Village of Newark publishes its own zoning and subdivision forms, including special-use, map-amendment and variation applications.¹ Newark also publishes final-plat, preliminary-plan and planned-development application processes for land-development approvals.⁴ Those application processes establish that village land-use review exists; they do not supply a complete district schedule or all substantive standards.⁴

We could not confirm Newark’s numeric minimum lot size, setbacks, minimum dwelling size, height or lot-coverage limits; ask Village Hall for the parcel’s zoning district and the current standards for your proposed use.² Before proposing a lot split or a change of use, ask which of Newark’s published subdivision or zoning application processes applies.⁴¹¹

How do septic permits work inside the Village of Newark?

For an unsewered property inside Newark, Kendall County Health Department handles septic permits and inspections for onsite wastewater construction or repair.³ A septic system may not be installed, repaired or renovated before the department issues a permit.¹² Installation planning requires a soil evaluation by a state-certified soil classifier, followed by soil analysis, a detailed site drawing, application forms and the required fees.¹³

Kendall County’s countywide soil estimate rates only 0.1% of soils “not limited” for a conventional septic drain field; that makes a parcel-specific evaluation important, rather than establishing that septic is impossible on a Newark lot.¹⁴ The department lists 10 to 14 working days for application and plan review after all necessary paperwork and fees arrive.¹² Confirm the current septic fee with Environmental Health Services before applying.¹⁵

Can you live in an RV or tiny home in the Village of Newark?

We could not confirm Newark’s rules for permanent RV living, temporary camping during construction, tiny-home occupancy, manufactured homes or accessory dwellings; ask Village Hall about the exact dwelling and parcel before buying.² Newark’s published special-use and variation processes do not by themselves establish permission to occupy an RV or tiny home.¹¹

For an off-grid sanitation proposal, Illinois recognizes specified human-waste disposal options, including compost and incinerator toilets, but other domestic wastewater must still go to a conventional private sewage disposal system.¹⁶ Ask Environmental Health Services to review the proposed wastewater arrangement for an unsewered Newark property, and ask Village Hall separately about occupancy and public utility connection requirements.¹⁵²

Building a home in the Village of Newark: what should you do first?

Start with Village Hall: request confirmation of the building permit requirement, applicable building code, inspection authority and occupancy approval for the proposed Newark home.² Next, identify the parcel’s village zoning district and ask whether a special use, variation, map amendment or subdivision application is needed.¹¹⁴ For an unsewered property, arrange the soil evaluation and submit the septic plan to Kendall County Health Department before septic installation.¹³ Private well construction, repair, capping and sealing also fall under the Health Department’s well permitting program.⁷

If you intend to do the plumbing yourself, Illinois has a conditional exemption for qualifying single-family owner occupants, but plumbing-code compliance and inspections still apply.⁵ The exemption does not eliminate local plumbing permit requirements.⁶

Watch-outs

• Newark’s building permit requirement and adopted building-code edition remain unconfirmed; obtain the project-specific answer from Village Hall.²
• We could not confirm mandatory public water or sewer connection rules in Newark; ask Village Hall before budgeting for a well or septic system.²
• Septic inspections require at least 24 hours’ advance scheduling with Environmental Health Services.¹⁷

Sources

1. Village of Newark - Forms & Permits (Village of Newark), quoted and re-checked
2. Village of Newark — Village Hall (newark-il.us)
3. Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems - Property Owner, quoted and re-checked
4. Village of Newark - Forms & Permits (Village of Newark), quoted and re-checked
5. HB5913 Enrolled — Illinois Plumbing License Law amendment (Illinois statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
6. 225 ILCS 320/18 — Local regulation; Department standards (Illinois statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
7. Water Wells, quoted and re-checked
8. Illinois Codes FAQ (Illinois statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
9. Building Codes and Regulations (Illinois statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
10. Building: Permits, Forms, & Handouts, quoted and re-checked
11. Village of Newark - Forms & Permits (Village of Newark), quoted and re-checked
12. SEPTIC PERMIT & PERMIT DRAWING REQUIREMENTS, quoted and re-checked
13. Well and Septic Permit Application Instructions, quoted and re-checked
14. Share of soils USDA rates "not limited" for a conventional septic drain field (SSURGO). A strict rating: the median county is about 6% and a tenth of counties are 0%, so a low figure means most lots need a site evaluation or an engineered system, not that septic is impossible. Cite it only with that caveat: Bolthole Index county data
15. Kendall County Health Department, Environmental Health Services (kendallhealth.org)
16. 77 Ill. Adm. Code 905.130 Human Waste Disposal (Illinois statewide rule), quoted and re-checked
17. Well and Septic Permit Application Instructions, quoted and re-checked

Written October 11, 2026 from the rules quoted below, each taken from an official source and re-checked by an independent reviewer. This is research, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the office before you buy or build.