Oswego Window Well Covers & Basement Windows
Oswego is refreshingly clear about permits in a way that saves you a phone call: the village publishes a separate Basement Remodel application and a separate Window & Door Replacement application. If you are doing either, you already know the answer.
It is also a young town. The median Oswego home was built in 2002 and roughly 84% of the housing stock post-dates 1990. The village went from 3,876 residents in 1990 to more than 34,000 today, which means a very large number of window wells all reaching the same age at the same time.
Two flood hazard areas, and no CRS discount
The village names its flood hazard areas plainly: the Fox River and Waubonsee Creek. It monitors both with real-time gauges that residents can check themselves.
Here is something worth knowing if you are pricing flood insurance. Oswego participates in the National Flood Insurance Program but does not participate in FEMA's Community Rating System. Several neighbouring towns do, and their residents get 20 to 25% off premiums. Oswego residents pay full freight. That does not change your risk, but it does mean what happens on your own property carries more of the weight.
In September 2008, Route 25 flooded and closed between Oswego and Montgomery Roads and at least one car was swept into the Fox River. The current Kendall County flood maps took effect in February 2009.
Permits and egress in Oswego
Oswego adopted the 2021 International Residential Code effective October 1, 2024, alongside the 2021 IBC, IEBC and IMC and the 2020 NEC. We read the adopting ordinance: there are no Oswego-specific amendments to the emergency escape opening, window well or foundation drainage requirements, so the 2021 IRC applies as written. The one notable local amendment requires fire sprinklers in duplexes.
The Building and Permits Department is at 630-554-2310. One local requirement worth knowing before you sketch something yourself: submitted plans have to be signed and sealed by an Illinois registered design professional.
Under the 2021 IRC your escape window needs 5.7 square feet of net clear opening, at least 24 inches of clear height and 20 inches of width, and a sill no more than 44 inches above the floor — with a well of at least 9 square feet, 36 inches of projection and width, a ladder past 44 inches of depth, and a cover that releases from inside without a key, a tool or special knowledge.
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