Design-led work for Hinckley properties, in the one village on our map that has written its own landscape ordinance.
Hinckley is the south end of DeKalb County, under ten miles below Maple Park and about eleven from the shop in Cortland. It is also the only village we work in that keeps a separate landscape ordinance alongside its zoning code, rather than folding planting requirements in with everything else.
That matters more than it sounds. Where site plan review applies, the village can ask for a landscape plan and a tree preservation and removal plan as part of the submittal. Drawing the yard properly is not an upsell here, it is paperwork. The Richards Residence further down this page is a Hinckley property we built from exactly that kind of plan. For everything we do, see our services, or the other towns we serve.
Small villages often run on conversation. Hinckley runs on documents, and once you know which ones, it becomes one of the more predictable places we build.
Hinckley maintains a landscape ordinance separately from its zoning code. Where site plan review applies, the village can require a landscape plan and a tree preservation and removal plan with the submittal. No other village on our map asks for those by name.
The zoning code defines lot coverage as the principal building, accessory buildings and other impervious surfaces. A new patio or a wide walk draws on the same allowance the house does, so we check the number before anything gets drawn.
Village permits and inspections are administered by an outside firm, Lakeside Consultants, and the village warns that fees can double if construction starts first. Applications go to permits@hinckleyil.com or to village hall at 720 James Street.
The village can ask for a landscape plan, so drawing the yard first is simply the efficient order of operations here. You get a picture of the finished result and the submittal gets its drawing.
Open patios no more than three feet above grade may extend five feet into a required front or corner side yard, and fifteen feet into a rear yard. Those numbers decide where a patio can actually sit.
South DeKalb County is farm ground carrying the same heavy clay as the rest of the county. Grade and drainage get designed in at the start rather than added after the first wet spring.
A full property redesign on a wooded Hinckley lot, built from a 3D plan: front and rear beds, trench edging, irrigation, corrected grade and a stone walkway lit for the evening.
Twenty miles north. Overgrown planting taken out, grade corrected, new beds cut and planted, and irrigation run before any mulch went down.
What homeowners here ask us most, answered straight.
Plan on it, and get it before anything is dug. The village states that fees can double if construction begins before the permit is issued. Permits and inspections are administered by Lakeside Consultants on the village's behalf, and applications go to permits@hinckleyil.com or to village hall at 720 James Street. We handle the submittal as part of the job.
Hinckley's zoning code lets open patios and decks no more than three feet above the average adjoining grade extend up to five feet into a required front or corner side yard, and up to fifteen feet into a required rear yard. Anything higher than three feet is treated differently, so the finished height matters as much as the position.
It can. Hinckley counts impervious surfaces toward lot coverage, not only buildings, so a large patio, a wide walk and a shed all draw on the same allowance. On a smaller lot we check what is left before the design is finalised rather than after.
Sometimes. Hinckley has a landscape ordinance of its own, and where site plan review applies the village can require both a landscape plan and a tree preservation and removal plan. For a straightforward residential bed or patio it usually does not come up, but it is worth asking before anything mature comes out.
Permit and code requirements described on this page reflect Village of Hinckley guidance and the village zoning ordinance as published as of September 2026. Fees and requirements change. Confirm current requirements with the village before starting work.
Hinckley sits at the south end of DeKalb County, with Maple Park and Cortland to the north and Elburn east across the county line.
Tell us what the yard needs and we will come and look, then put it on paper before anything is ordered. Free on-site estimates across DeKalb and Kane counties.
