This article contains a description of the use classification system used to classify principal uses in this zoning ordinance.

   (A)   Use categories. This zoning ordinance classifies principal land uses into five major groupings, which are referred to as use categories:

      (1)   Residential

      (2)   Public and Civic

      (3)   Commercial

      (4)   Industrial

      (5)   Agricultural

   (B)   Use subcategories. Each use category is further divided into more specific "subcategories." Use subcategories classify principal land uses and activities based on common functional, product, or physical characteristics, such as the type and amount of activity, the type of customers or residents, how goods or services are sold or delivered and site conditions.

   (C)   Specific uses. Some use subcategories are further broken down to identify specific use, business or activity types that are regulated differently than the parent subcategory as a whole.

   (D)   Determination of use categories and subcategories.

   The residential use category includes uses that provide living accommodations to one or more persons. The group includes two use subcategories: household living and group living.

   (A)   Household living category. Residential occupancy of a dwelling unit by a household. When dwelling units are rented, tenancy is arranged on a month-to-month or longer basis. Uses where tenancy may be arranged for a shorter period are not considered residential; they are considered a form of lodging.

   (B)   Group living. Residential occupancy of a dwelling by other than a "household," typically providing communal kitchen/dining facilities. Examples of group living uses include but are not limited to fraternities, sororities, convents, monasteries, nursing homes and the following specific use types:

      (1)   Emergency or temporary shelter. A dwelling that provides temporary living arrangements (no more than 30 days) for persons who are in need of temporary housing as a result of a short-term personal crisis. Examples include, but are not limited to, homes for victims of domestic violence, economic crisis centers and homes for unwed mothers.

      (2)   Group care home. A dwelling shared by persons with disabilities who live together as a single housekeeping unit in a long-term, family-like environment in which staff persons provide care, education, and participation in community activities for the residents with a primary goal of enabling the resident to live as independently as possible.

      (3)   Halfway house. A dwelling that provides temporary living arrangements for persons who are receiving supervision, rehabilitation and counseling to help them re-enter society and live independently. Examples include, but are not limited to: programs to help residents recuperate from the effects of drug or alcohol addiction; pre-release, work-release, probationary, and other programs that serve as an alternative to incarceration; and programs for persons with family or school adjustment problems that require specialized care and attention.

(Ord. effective 10-1-2012)

   The public and civic use category includes uses that provide public or quasi-public services. The public and civic use category includes the following use subcategories:

   (A)   Airport-related facilities. Any of the following:

      (1)   Air terminals;

      (2)   Airport administration buildings, including airline offices, and related uses;

      (3)   Ancillary retail sales and commercial services uses;

      (4)   Fixed base operators;

      (5)   Air hangars;

      (6)   General aviation operations;

      (7)   Airport maintenance, rescue and firefighting buildings, public safety uses including security and immigration processing;

      (8)   Airport operational facilities including but not limited to air traffic control towers, communication facilities, weather service offices and equipment and instrument landing systems and other related navigational equipment;

      (9)   Air cargo and related ground transportation facilities;

      (10)   Flight schools, flying clubs and other schools or training facilities relating to aviation or air-related transportation;

      (11)   Fuel and fuel waste containment storage systems and pumps;

      (12)   Aircraft related sales, manufacturing, assembly testing, and repair of aircraft, aircraft parts, avionics, instruments, or other aircraft equipment;

      (13)   Runways;

      (14)   Taxiways;

      (15)   Emergency (outpatient) medical facilities;

      (16)   Ground transportation facilities commonly associated with airports, such as rail, car rental facilities, taxi cabs, buses and limousines, including associated maintenance, fueling, storage and administration; and

      (17)   Other uses determined to be airport-related by the Zoning Administrator.

   (B)   College/university. Colleges and other institutions of higher learning that offer courses of general or specialized study leading to a degree. They are certified by the state or by a recognized accrediting agency. Colleges tend to be in campus-like settings or on multiple blocks. Examples include universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, nursing and medical schools not accessory to a hospital, conservatories and seminaries. Business and trade schools are classified in "Business Support Services Subcategory."

   (C)   Day care. Uses providing care, protection and supervision for children or adults on a regular basis away from their primary residence for fewer than 24 hours per day.

   (D)   Detention and correctional facilities. Facilities for the judicially required detention or incarceration of people. Inmates and detainees are under 24-hour supervision by peace officers, except when on an approved leave. Examples include prisons, jails, probation centers and juvenile detention homes.

   (E)   Fraternal, labor, membership organization. The use of a building or parcel by a fraternal, labor or membership-based, not-for-profit organization that restricts access to its facility to bona fide, annual dues-paying members and their occasional guests.

   (F)   Hospital. Uses providing medical or surgical care to patients and offering inpatient (overnight) care and that may include helipads as an accessory use.

   (G)   Library/cultural exhibit. Museum-like preservation and exhibition of objects in one or more of the arts and sciences, gallery exhibition of works of art, or library collection of books, manuscripts, etc., for study and reading.

   (H)   Park/recreation/open space. Recreational, social, or multi-purpose uses associated with public parks, public open spaces, public community centers, public play fields, public or private golf courses, or other public recreation areas or buildings. Cemeteries, memorial parks and similar uses are included in the park/recreation/open space subcategory.

   (I)   Religious assembly. Religious services involving public assembly such as customarily occur in synagogues, temples, mosques and churches.

   (J)   Safety services. Public safety services that provide fire, police or life protection, together with the incidental storage and maintenance of necessary vehicles. Typical uses include fire stations, police stations and ambulance services.

   (K)   School. Public and private schools at the primary, elementary, junior high, or high school level that provide state-mandated basic education.

   (L)   Utilities and services.

      (1)   Minor, basic.

         (a)   Utilities and infrastructure services that need to be located in or close to the area where the service is provided. Minor utilities and services generally do not have regular employees at the site and typically have few if any impacts on surrounding areas. Above-ground structures, when present, are small. Typical uses include water and sewer pump stations; underground electric distribution substations, electric transformers; water conveyance systems; stormwater facilities and conveyance systems; cable television equipment, telephone switching equipment and emergency communication broadcast facilities.

         (b)   The production, collection or distribution of renewable energy, water, organic waste, or other similar resources at a neighborhood or campus scale are expressly classified as minor, basic utilities and services. This includes renewable, distributed energy facilities; battery energy storage facilities 10- acres or less in size neighborhood composting areas and neighborhood stormwater facilities.

         (c)   Neighborhood or campus-scale systems that produce or distribute energy from the biological breakdown of organic matter produced within that neighborhood or campus are considered minor, basic utilities and services.

         (d)   Energy production systems that generate energy from the byproducts of the principal use are considered accessory uses, including net metered installations and installations that generate power to sell at wholesale to the power grid.

      (2)   Major. Infrastructure, utility and public service uses that typically have substantial land-use or operational impacts on surrounding areas. Typical uses include wholesale power generators, utility-scale power generation facilities, water and wastewater treatment facilities, public works and utility storage yards and garages, high-voltage electric substations, water treatment plants and major water storage facilities, such as water towers and reservoirs.

         (a)   Wholesale power generator. Any electricity generating operation, other than a solar farm, that is operated or owned by any organization, other than the owner an maintainer of a majority of electricity transmission facilities within the planning jurisdiction, that serves uses, structures, or sites outside the site on which the operation is located. This definition does not include any facility designated by the State of Illinois as exempt from such regulation.

         (b)   Solar farm. A solar energy power generation facility, solar collection system or area of land comprised of a solar energy system, array of systems, or structural design features, principally used to provide for the generation of energy distributed into the electrical grid and not intended to primarily reduce on-site consumption of utility power,

         (c)   Commercial solar farm. Any solar energy system that is rated to produce 100 MW/AC or greater.

         (d)   Battery energy storage facilities greater than 10-acres in size.

(Ord. effective 10-1-2012; Ord. 18-1, passed 1-18-2018; Ord. 22-226, passed 9-15-2022; Ord. 22-256, passed 10-20-2022)

   The commercial use category includes uses that provide a business service or involve the selling, leasing or renting of merchandise to the general public. The commercial use category includes the following use subcategories.

   (A)   Adult entertainment facility. Any of the following commercial establishments:

      (1)   Adult cabaret. Any commercial establishment that as a substantial or significant portion of its business features or provides any of the following:

         (a)   Persons who appear semi-nude;

         (b)   Live performances that are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on the exposure, depiction, or description of specified anatomical areas or the conduct or simulation of specified sexual activities; or

         (c)   Films, motion pictures, video or audio cassettes, slides, computer displays, or other visual representations or recordings of any kind that are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on the exposure, depiction, or description of specified anatomical areas, or the conduct or simulation of specified sexual activities.

      (2)   Adult store. Any commercial establishment that has any one or more of the following characteristics:

         (a)   Contains one or more adult booths;

         (b)   Offers for sale, rental, or viewing any adult materials as a significant portion of its business; or

         (c)   Has a segment or section devoted to the sale or display of adult materials.

      (3)   Adult theater. Any commercial establishment that as a substantial or significant portion of its business features or provides:

         (a)   Films, motion pictures, video, or audio cassettes, slides, or other visual representations or recordings that are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on the exposure, depiction or description of specified anatomical areas, or the conduct or simulation of specified sexual activities; or

         (b)   Live performances that are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on the exposure, depiction, or description of specified anatomical areas or the conduct or simulation of specified sexual activities.

   (B)   Animal services. The following are animal services use subcategories:

      (1)   Animal care/boarding and care. The keeping and care of a cumulative total of six or more companion animals. Typical uses include boarding kennels, pet resorts/hotels, doggy or pet day care facilities, foster care homes, dog training centers and animal rescue shelters.

      (2)   Animal sales/grooming. Sales and grooming of companion animals. Typical uses include pet stores, dog bathing and clipping salons and pet grooming shops.

      (3)   Veterinary. Typical uses include pet and veterinary clinics, dog and cat hospitals and animal hospitals.

      (4)   Stable. Land or structures in which horses are kept, including horses owned by owner or occupant of the subject property and those that are not owned by the subject property owner or the occupant of the subject property. Facilities that offer horse and pony rides, equestrian training and similar services and amusements are also classified as stables.

   (C)   Artist work or sales space. Floor space devoted to the production, showing, or sale of art. Typical uses include art galleries, artist and photography studios, but not including art museums. Art museums are classified in the "library/cultural exhibit" use subcategory.

   (D)   Building maintenance service. Provision of maintenance and custodial services to commercial and industrial establishments. Typical uses include janitorial, landscape maintenance and window cleaning services. Also includes exterminator services for residential, commercial or industrial applications.

   (E)   Building supplies and equipment. Establishments that sell or rent supplies or equipment to repair, maintain, or visually enhance a structure or premises. Typical uses include lumber yards, home improvement centers, and farm and garden supply stores. Hardware stores, paint stores and similar businesses that do not include any visible outdoor storage or display are classified as retail sales establishments.

   (F)   Business equipment sales and service. Sales, rental, or repair of office, professional and service equipment and supplies to companies rather than to individuals. Excludes vehicle and heavy equipment sales or service. Typical uses include office equipment and supply firms, small business machine repair shops and hotel equipment and supply firms.

   (G)   Business support service. Provision of clerical, employment, protective, or minor processing services to firms rather than individuals. Typical uses include employment agencies and telephone answering services and business or trade schools. Business or trades schools that involve outdoor storage or manufacturing processes are not considered business support services but rather are classified in the "industrial" use category. Truck driving schools are classified and regulated as truck terminals (warehousing, wholesaling and freight movement use subcategory).

   (H)   Communication service establishments. Broadcasting and other information relay services accomplished through use of electronic and telephonic mechanisms. Excludes services classified as "major utilities and services" and "minor/basic utilities and services." Typical uses include recording studios, television and radio studios, telecommunication service centers and telegraph service offices.

   (J)   Eating and drinking establishments. Provision of prepared food and/or beverages for on- or off-premises consumption. Typical uses include restaurants, taverns and nightclubs.

      (1)   Restaurant. An establishment primarily engaged in serving prepared food to the public and in which sales of such prepared foods and meals constitutes at least 65% of the establishment's gross income.

      (2)   Tavern or nightclub. An establishment that is primarily engaged in serving alcoholic liquor for consumption on the premises and in which the serving of prepared food and meals constitutes less than 65% of the establishment's gross income. Taverns and nightclubs may offer live entertainment and dancing.

      (1)   Indoor, minor. Entertainment and spectator sports venues and events that are conducted entirely within buildings that have a capacity of fewer than 100 participants, exhibitors or spectators.

      (2)   Indoor, major. Entertainment and spectator sports venues and events that are conducted entirely within buildings and that have a capacity of 100 or more participants, exhibitors and spectators.

      (3)   Outdoor, minor. Entertainment and spectator sports venues and events that are conducted primarily outside of buildings and that have a capacity of fewer than 100 participants, exhibitors and spectators.

      (4)   Outdoor, major. Entertainment and spectator sports venues and events that are conducted primarily outside of buildings and that have a capacity of 100 or more participants, exhibitors and spectators.

   (L)   Financial services. Financial or securities brokerage services. Typical uses include banks, savings and loans, consumer investment businesses, pawn shops, and check-cashing/loan services.

      (1)   Bank. A federally chartered bank, credit union, savings and loan association or trust company.

      (2)   Check-cashing/loan service. A business engaged in cashing checks or providing short-term loans for members of the general public as a principal purpose of its operation and that is not a bank, savings and loan association, or other financial service, including businesses offering payday loans, title loans, signature loans, small loans, and other similar loans, but not including pawn shops.

      (3)   Pawn shop. Businesses that lend money on the security of pledged goods or that is engaged in the business of purchasing tangible personal property on condition that it may be redeemed or repurchased by the seller for a fixed price within a fixed period of time.

   (M)   Food and beverage retail sales. Retail sale of food and beverages for home consumption. Typical uses include groceries, liquor stores and wine stores.

   (N)   Funeral and interment services. Provision of services involving the care, preparation or disposition of human or pet remains. The following are funeral and interment services use subcategories:

      (1)   Cemetery/columbarium/mausoleum. Land or facilities used for burial of human or remains.

      (2)   Cremating. Crematory services involving the purification and reduction of the human body by fire. Typical uses include crematories and crematoriums. (Note: cremating is also considered an accessory use to a cemetery, columbarium or mausoleum.)

      (3)   Undertaking. Undertaking services such as preparing the dead for burial and arranging and managing funerals. Typical uses include funeral homes and mortuaries.

   (O)   Lodging. Provision of lodging services on a temporary basis with incidental food, drink and other sales and services intended for the convenience of guests. The following are lodging use categories:

      (1)   Bed and breakfast. A detached house in which the owner offers overnight accommodations and meal service to guests for compensation.

      (2)   Hotel/motel. An establishment, other than a bed and breakfast, in which short-term lodging is offered for compensation and that may or may not include the service of one or more meals to guests. Typical uses include hotels and motels.

   (P)   Office, administrative, professional or consumer service. Professional, governmental, executive, management or administrative offices of private organizations or government agencies. Typical uses include administrative offices, law offices, architectural firms, insurance companies and government offices. Also includes travel agencies, tax preparation office and similar consumer service businesses.

   (Q)   Office or clinic, medical. Personal health services including prevention, diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation services provided by physicians, dentists, nurses and other health personnel and medical testing and analysis services. Typical uses include medical and dental offices, including chiropractic offices, physical and massage therapy offices, psychologist and psychiatrist offices, health maintenance organizations, blood banks, plasma centers and government-operated health centers. Excludes use types more specifically classified, such as hospitals.

   (R)   Parking, non-accessory. Parking that is not provided to comply with minimum off-street parking requirements and that is not provided exclusively to serve occupants of or visitors to a particular use, but rather is available to the public at-large. A facility that provides both accessory parking and non-accessory parking is classified as non-accessory parking.

   (T)   Repair or laundry service, consumer. Provision of repair, dry cleaning or laundry services to individuals and households, but not to firms. Excludes vehicle and equipment repair. Typical uses include laundry/dry cleaning drop-off stations (with no dry cleaning on the premises), hand laundries, appliance repair shops, locksmiths, shoe and apparel repair and musical instrument repair.

   (U)   Research service. An establishment that conducts educational, scientific, high-technology or medical research not involving the mass production, distribution or sale of products. Research services do not produce odors, dust, noise, vibration or other external impacts that are detectable beyond the property lines of the subject property. Research-related establishments that do produce such external impacts are classified as "manufacturing, production and industrial services."

   (V)   Residential convenience and support establishment. Commercial uses provided primarily to serve the needs of residents in large, multi-unit (residential) buildings or residents within the immediate area. The following are considered residential convenience and support establishments:

      (1)   Day care;

      (2)   Restaurants;

      (3)   Food and beverage retail sales;

      (4)   Medical office;

      (5)   Administrative, professional or general offices;

      (6)   Personal improvement service; and

      (7)   Retail sales establishments.

      (1)   Farm/agricultural supply sales. The sale of seed corn and similar farm supplies by farmers as agents, where grain elevators or similar commercial facilities are not maintained on the farm premises.

   (X)   Sports and recreation, participant. Provision of sports or recreation primarily by and for participants. (Spectators would be incidental and on a nonrecurring basis). Examples include bowling alleys, health clubs, skating rinks, bingo halls, casinos, billiard parlors, driving ranges and miniature golf courses, shooting and archery ranges and batting cages.

      (3)   Major motor vehicle fueling station. Uses engaged in the retail sales of conventional and alternative vehicle fuels, including electric charging stations. Capacity shall not exceed the ability to fuel more than 12 vehicles simultaneously, with no more than one designated tractor-trailer and truck pump island with a capacity to fuel no more than two tractor-trailers and trucks. Level 1 (slow charging) and level 2 (medium) battery charging stations are considered accessory and are not regulated as auto fueling stations. Major motor vehicle fueling stations may include drive-throughs and car wash/cleaning services and must be processed as a special use permit for a planned unit development.

(Ord. effective 10-1-2012; Ord. 16-258, passed 9-15-2016; Ord. 18-1, passed 1-18-2018)

   The industrial use category includes uses that produce goods from extracted materials or from recyclable or previously prepared materials, including the design, storage and handling of these products and the materials from which they are produced. It also includes uses that store or distribute materials or goods in large quantities. The industrial use category includes the following use subcategories:

   (B)   Manufacturing and industrial services, artisan. On-site production of goods by hand manufacturing, involving the use of hand tools and small-scale, light mechanical equipment in a completely enclosed building with no outdoor operations or storage, and occupying no more than 3,500 square feet of gross floor area. Typical uses include woodworking and cabinet shops, ceramic studios, jewelry manufacturing and similar types of arts and crafts or very small-scale manufacturing uses that have no negative external impacts on surrounding properties.

   (D)   Manufacturing and industrial services, general.

      (1)   Manufacturing of finished or unfinished products, primarily from extracted or raw materials, or recycled or secondary materials, or bulk storage and handling of such products and materials. Typical uses include: preparation, grinding, and mixing of animal feed; textile mills; textile product mills; apparel manufacturing; leather and allied product manufacturing; wood product manufacturing; paper manufacturing; chemical manufacturing; plastics and rubber products manufacturing; nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing; transportation equipment manufacturing; primary metal manufacturing; and fabricated metal product manufacturing. Also includes medical, scientific or technology-related research establishments that produce odors, dust, noise, vibration or other external impacts that are detectable beyond the property lines of the subject property.

      (2)   Industrial service firms engaged in the repair or servicing of industrial or commercial machinery, equipment, products or by-products. Typical uses include: welding shops; machine shops; industrial tool repair; fuel oil distributors; solid fuel yards; laundry, dry-cleaning and carpet cleaning plants; and photofinishing laboratories. Excludes uses classified as "repair or laundry services."

   (E)   Manufacturing and industrial services, intensive. Manufacturing of acetylene, acid, cement, cement blocks, lime, gypsum or Plaster-of-Paris, chlorine, corrosive acid or fertilizer, insecticides, disinfectants, poisons, explosives, paint, lacquer, varnish, petroleum products, coal products, plastic and synthetic resins and radioactive materials. Also includes smelting, stamping mills, drop forges, meat packing, rendering plants, incinerators, foundries, concrete and asphalt mixing, sawmills and oil refining.

   (F)   Mining/quarrying. The extraction of mineral or aggregate resources from the ground for off-site use. Examples include quarrying or dredging for sand, gravel or other aggregate materials; mining; oil and gas drilling and topsoil removal.

   (G)   Recycling facilities. An establishment that collects, stores, or processes recyclable material for the purpose of marketing or reusing the material in the manufacturing of new, reused or reconstituted products.

      (1)   Concrete and asphalt recycling. Sites that accept concrete or asphalt for separation or processing for the purposes of returning the material to the economic mainstream in the form of raw materials within four years of the date that the material is accepted for processing.

      (2)   General construction or demolition debris recycling facilities. Establishments that receive and process general construction or demolition debris for recycling.

      (4)   Recyclable material processing facilities. Establishments that receive and process consumer recyclable commodities for subsequent use in the secondary market.

      (5)   Soil storage, recycling and reuse. A site that accepts soil, stores it for period of time, and then markets the soil for reuse at another property.

   (H)   Self-service storage facilities. Storage or warehousing for individuals to store personal effects and for businesses to store materials for operation of an industrial or commercial enterprise elsewhere. Incidental uses may include the repair and maintenance of stored materials by the tenant; but in no case may storage space function as an independent retail, wholesale, business, or service use. Spaces may not be used for workshops, hobby shops, manufacturing, or similar uses.

   (J)   Waste-related use. Waste-related uses are characterized by the receiving of solid or liquid wastes from other users and sites for transfer to another location; by the collection of sanitary wastes or other approved waste materials for on-site disposal; or by the manufacture or production of goods or energy from the composting of organic material. Typical uses include pollution control facilities, sanitary landfills, solid waste separation facilities, solid waste transfer stations, clean construction or demolition fill operations, uncontaminated soil fill operations and anaerobic digestion facilities. Biomass energy systems that produce energy from the biological breakdown of organic matter produced on the site of a landfill or other waste-related use are considered accessory to the principal waste-related use of the site, except that small, neighborhood or campus-scale waste-to-energy systems are considered "minor, basic utilities and services."

      (1)   Clean construction or demolition debris (CCDD) fill operations. Fill operations that receive and process general construction or demolition debris for disposal.

      (2)   Landscape waste processing/transfer facility. A site where grass, shrubbery cuttings, leaves, and other materials generated by gardening, yard or landscaping activities are brought to be processed, composted or transferred to another facility or end-use market. Typical uses include landscape waste transfer facilities and landscape waste material processing facilities.

      (3)   Uncontaminated soil fill operations. A current or former quarry, mine, or other excavation where uncontaminated soil is used as fill material, but does not include a clean construction or demolition debris fill operation.

(Ord. effective 10-1-2012; Ord. 16-227, passed 12-15-2016; Ord. 18-1, passed 1-18-2018)

   The agricultural use category includes the following subcategories:

(Ord. effective 10-1-2012; Ord. 18-1, passed 1-18-2018; Ord. 18-221, passed 8-16-2018)