For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall be used, unless a different definition is specifically provided
for a section. Words used in the present tense include the future;
the singular number includes the plural number; and the plural number
includes the singular number. The word "shall" is mandatory and not
permissive.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Have a common property line or district line.
A use or structure, whether attached or detached, which is
subordinate to the principal use of a structure, parcel of land or
water and located on the same lot or parcel, serving a purpose incidental
to the principal use or the principal structure.
The actual land devoted to the land use, excluding public
streets, public lands or unusable lands, and school sites contained
within 43,560 square feet.
Any airport which complies with the definition contained
in § 114.002(18m), Wis. Stats., or any airport which serves
or offers to serve common carriers engaged in air transport.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
A public or private right-of-way not more than 21 feet wide
which affords only a secondary means of access to the side or rear
of an abutting property.
A suite of rooms or a room in a multiple dwelling, which
suite or room is arranged, intended or designed to be occupied as
a residence of a single family, individual or group of individuals,
with separate facilities and utilities which are used or intended
to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
A public street or highway used or intended to be used primarily
for large volume or heavy through traffic. Arterial streets shall
include freeways and expressways as well as arterial streets, highways
and parkways.
Any premises on which is kept more than one vehicle not in
running order or operating condition or in a general state of disrepair,
which is not completely enclosed within a building.
A story partly or wholly underground. The height of a basement
shall be the vertical distance between the surface of the basement
floor and the surface of the floor next above it. A basement shall
be counted as a story for the purposes of height measurements if the
vertical distance between the ceiling and the main level of the adjoining
ground is more than five feet, or if used for business purposes, or
if used for living purposes by other than the owner and his immediate
family, and a janitor or servants of the owner.
A building that provides eight or fewer sleeping rooms for
temporary occupancy for compensation by transient guests who are traveling
for business or pleasure and is the owner's personal residence and
occupied by the owner at the time of rental. The partnership form
of ownership shall be allowed under this definition.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
A tract of land bounded by streets or by a combination of
streets and public parks or other recognized lines of demarcation.
A building other than a hotel or restaurant where meals or
lodging is regularly furnished by prearrangement for compensation
for three or more persons not members of a family, but not exceeding
10 persons and not open to transient customers.
The portion of a lot remaining after required yards have
been provided.
Any structure having a roof supported by columns or walls
used or intended to be used for the shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, equipment, machinery or materials. When a building is divided
into separate parts by unpierced walls extending from the ground up,
each part shall be deemed a separate building.
A building or portion of a building subordinate to the main
building and used for a purpose customarily incidental to the permitted
use of the main building or the use of the premises. An automobile
trailer or other vehicle or part thereof or other building shall not
be used as a dwelling or lodging place and shall not be considered
an accessory building or use.
A building surrounded by open space on the same lot.
The vertical distance from the average curb level in front
of the lot or the finished grade at the building line, whichever is
higher, to the highest point of the coping of a flat roof, to the
deck line of a mansard roof or to the average height of the highest
gable of a gambrel, hip or pitch roof.
A building in which is conducted the principal use of the
lot on which it is located.
The building on a lot in which is conducted the principal
use as permitted on such lot by the regulations of the district in
which it is located.
A line parallel to the lot line at a distance parallel to
it, regulated by the yard requirements set up in this code.
An occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time,
labor and materials, or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold,
or where services are offered.
A rigid structure attached to and extending outward from
a building, designed to protect the building and/or people under the
canopy from the sun, rain or snow.
An automobile shelter having one or more sides open.
That portion of a building having more than half of the floor-to-ceiling
height below the average grade of the adjoining ground. This portion
is not a completed structure and serves as a substructure or foundation
for a building.[1]
A group of medical or dental offices organized as a unified
facility to provide medical or dental treatment as contrasted with
an unrelated group of such offices, but not including bed-patient
care.
A building or portion thereof or premises owned by a corporation,
association, person or persons for a social, educational or recreational
purpose, but not primarily for profit or to render a service which
is customarily carried on as business.
The following facilities licensed or operated or permitted
under the authority of the Wisconsin Statutes: child welfare agencies
under § 48.60, Wis. Stats., group homes under § 48.02(7),
Wis. Stats., and community-based residential facilities under § 50.01,
Wis. Stats.; but does not include day-care centers, nursing homes,
general hospitals, special hospitals, prisons and jails. The establishment
of a community living arrangement shall be in conformance with applicable
sections of the Wisconsin Statutes, including §§ 46.03(22),
62.23(7)(i) and 62.23(7a), Wis. Stats. and amendments thereto, and
also the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
The occupations, vocations, skills, arts, businesses, professions
or uses specifically designated in each zoning district, which for
their respective conduct, exercise or performance in such designated
districts may require reasonable, but special, peculiar, unusual or
extraordinary limitations, facilities, plans, structures, thoroughfares,
condition modification or regulations in such district for the promotion
or preservation of the general public welfare, health, convenience
or safety therein and in the City and, therefore, may be permitted
in such district only by a conditional use permit.
Guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation
practices and management enumerated in the Technical Guide, prepared
by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for Marathon and
Clark Counties, adopted by the County Soil and Water Conservation
District Supervisors, and containing suitable alternatives for the
use and treatment of land based upon its capabilities, from which
the landowner selects that alternative which best meets his needs
in developing his soil and water conservation.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
The condition in which the right of owners or occupants of
abutting land or other persons to access, light, air or view in connection
with an arterial street is fully or partially controlled by public
authority.
The setback measured from the property line is 25 feet on
all street sides. The front of the lot is considered to be the way
the house faces on the lot.
Any man-made change to improved or unimproved real estate,
including but not limited to construction of or additions or substantial
improvements to buildings, other structures or accessory uses, mining,
dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations
or disposition of materials.
The part of a zoning ordinance enacted under § 62.23(7),
Wis. Stats., that applies to elements including setback, height, lot
coverage, and side yard. [See § 62.23(7)(hb)a, Wis. Stats.]
A part or parts of the City for which the regulations of
this chapter governing the use and location of land and building are
uniform.
Overlay districts, also referred to herein as "regulatory
areas," provide for the possibility of superimposing certain additional
requirements upon a basic zoning district without disturbing the requirements
of the basic district. In the instance of conflicting requirements,
the more strict of the conflicting requirements shall apply.
A building designed or used exclusively as a residence or
sleeping place, but does not include boarding- or lodging houses,
motels, hotels, tents, cabins or mobile homes.
A group of rooms constituting all or part of a dwelling,
which are arranged, designed, used or intended for use exclusively
as living quarters for one family.
A dwelling unit consisting of one principal room with no
separate sleeping rooms.
A residential building designed for or occupied by three
or more families, with the number of families in residence not to
exceed the number of dwelling units provided.
A detached building designed for or occupied by one family.
A detached building containing two separate dwelling (or
living) units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.
Locations which provide day care and food service for adults
who are unable to be left alone while other family members are at
work or otherwise not at home during the day. Overnight lodging is
not to be provided at a day-care center.
Services provided by public and private utilities, necessary
for the exercise of the principal use or service of the principal
structure. These services include underground, surface or overhead
gas, electrical, steam, water, sanitary sewerage, stormwater drainage
and communication systems and accessories thereto, such as poles,
towers, wires, mains, drains, vaults, culverts, laterals, sewers,
pipes, catch basins, water storage tanks, conduits, cables, fire alarm
boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, pumps, lift stations and
hydrants, but not including buildings.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
One or more persons living together in a single dwelling unit
as a traditional family or the functional equivalent of a traditional
family. It shall be a rebuttable presumption that more than four persons
living together in a single dwelling unit who are not related by blood,
adoption or marriage do not constitute the functional equivalent of
a traditional family. In determining the functional equivalent of
a traditional family, the following criteria shall be present:
The group shares the entire dwelling unit.
The group lives and cooks together as a single housekeeping
unit.
The group shares expenses for food, rent, utilities or other
household expenses.
The group is permanent and stable and not transient or temporary
in nature.
Any other factor reasonably related to whether the group is
the functional equivalent of a family.
This definition is not intended to prohibit group homes or community
living arrangements that are determined to be protected by the Federal
Fair Housing Law, provided that such facilities are licensed and permitted
under the authority of the State Department of Health Services or
the State Department of Children and Families or other state department
or agency.
A dwelling also licensed as a day-care center by the State
Department of Health Services where, for compensation or consideration,
a resident of the dwelling provides group care for at least four,
but not more than eight, children between the ages of infancy and
seven years of age at a location other than the child's own home or
the home of relatives or guardians.
General farming shall include floriculture, forest and game
management, orchards, raising of grain, grass, mint and seed crops,
raising of fruits, nuts and berries, sod farming and vegetable farming.
General farming includes the operating of such an area for one or
more of the above uses with the necessary accessory uses for treating
or storing the produce; provided, however, that the operation of any
such accessory uses shall be secondary to that of the normal farming
activities.
A single-family residential structure located on a parcel
of land, which primary land use is associated with agriculture.
The square feet of floor space within the outside line of
walls and includes the total of all space on all floors of a building,
but not including porches, garages or space in a basement or cellar
when the same is used for storage or incidental uses.
For the purpose of determining off-street parking and off-street
loading requirements, the sum of the gross horizontal areas of the
floors of the building, or portion thereof, devoted to a use requiring
off-street parking or loading. This area shall include elevators and
stairways, accessory storage areas located within selling or working
space occupied by counters, racks or closets and any basement floor
area devoted to retailing activities, to the production or processing
of goods or to business or professional offices. However, floor area,
for the purposes of determining off-street parking spaces, shall not
include floor area devoted primarily to storage purposes except as
otherwise noted herein.
The cutting and storing of forest products, the operation
of portable sawmills, the production of maple syrup and sugar.
The primary domicile of a foster parent with four or fewer
foster children and which is licensed under § 48.62, Wis.
Stats., and amendments thereto.
All the property abutting on one side of a street between
two intersecting streets or all of the property abutting on one side
of a street between an intersecting street and the dead end of a street.
Where the rear lot line of a corner lot coincides with all
or part of the side lot line of an adjoining lot in the same block.
An accessory structure for the storage of at least one but
of not more than three four-wheeled, licensed motor vehicles.
Any building or portion thereof, not accessory to a residential
building or structure, used for equipping, servicing, repairing, leasing
or public parking of motor vehicles.
Any building or premises used for the storage only of motor-driven
vehicles, pursuant to previous arrangements, not to transients, where
no equipment, parts, fuel, grease or oil is sold and vehicles are
not equipped, serviced, repaired, hired or sold.
When used as a reference point in measuring the height of
a building, the "grade" shall be the average elevation of the finished
ground at the exterior walls of the main building.
Any facility operated by a person required to be licensed
by the State of Wisconsin under § 48.62, Wis. Stats., for
the care and maintenance of five to eight foster children.
An accessory use of a dwelling unit for gainful employment
involving the manufacture, provision or sale of goods and/or services
that is clearly secondary to the residential use and does not change
the character of the structure as a residence and meets all the applicable
limitations of this chapter.
An institution intended primarily for the medical diagnosis,
treatment and care of patients being given medical treatment. A hospital
shall be distinguished from a clinic by virtue of providing for bed-patient
care.
A building in which lodging, with or without meals, is offered
to transient guests for compensation and in which there are more than
five sleeping rooms, with no cooking facilities in any individual
room or apartment.
A building occupied by a nonprofit corporation or a nonprofit
establishment for public use.
Any scrap, waste, reclaimable material or debris, whether
or not stored or used in conjunction with dismantling, processing,
salvage, storage, baling, disposal or other use or disposition. Junk
includes, but is not limited to, vehicles, tires, vehicle parts, equipment,
paper, rags, metal, glass, building materials, household appliances,
brush, wood and lumber.
Any place at which personal property is or may be salvaged
for reuse, resale or reduction or similar disposition and is owned,
possessed, collected, accumulated, dismantled or assorted, including
but not limited to used or salvaged or new scrapped base metal or
metals, their compounds or combinations, used or salvaged rope, bags,
paper, rags, glass, rubber, lumber, millwork, brick and similar property,
except animal matter; and used motor vehicles, machinery or equipment
which are used, owned or possessed for the purpose of wrecking or
salvaging parts therefrom.
A completely off-street space or berth on the same lot for
the loading or unloading of freight carriers, having adequate ingress
and egress to a public street or alley.
A building where lodging only is provided for compensation
for not more than three persons not members of the family.
A parcel of land having frontage on a public street, or other
officially approved means of access, occupied or intended to be occupied
by a principal structure or use and sufficient in size to meet the
lot width, lot frontage, lot area and other open space provisions
of this code as pertain to the district wherein located.
The area of contiguous land bounded by lot lines, exclusive
of land designated for public thoroughfares.
The shortest horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the rear lot line measured at a 90° angle from the road right-of-way.
Legally established lines dividing one lot, plot of land
or parcel of land from an adjoining lot or plot of land or parcel
of land as defined herein.
A line separating the lot from the street or approved private
road.
A lot line which is opposite and most distant from the front
lot line and, in the case of an irregular or triangular-shaped lot,
a line 10 feet in length within the lot, parallel to and at the maximum
distance from the front lot line.
Any lot boundary line not a front line or a rear lot line.
A lot which has been recorded in the office of the Register
of Deeds prior to the effective date of this chapter.
A lot situated at the intersection of two streets.
A lot with frontage on only one street.
A lot other than a corner lot with frontage on two streets.
The horizontal distance between the side lot lines at the
building setback line.
Any small, movable accessory erection or construction such
as birdhouses, tool houses, pet houses, play equipment, arbors and
walls and fences under four feet in height.
A manufactured home that is HUD-certified and labeled under
the National Mobile Home Construction and Safety Standards Act of
1974. A mobile home is a transportable structure, being eight feet
or more in width (not including the overhang of the roof), built on
a chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without permanent
foundation when connected to the required utilities.
A parcel of land for the placement of a single mobile home
and the exclusive use of its occupants.
Any lot on which two or more mobile homes are parked for
the purpose of permanent habitation and including any associated service,
storage, recreation and other community service facilities designed
for the exclusive use of park occupants.
A land subdivision, as defined by Ch. 236, Wis. Stats., and any City land division ordinance, with lots intended for the placement of individual mobile home units. Individual homesites are in separate ownership as opposed to the rental arrangements in mobile home parks.
A prefabricated, detached single- or double-family dwelling
unit designed for long-term occupancy and containing sleeping accommodations,
a flush toilet, a tub or shower bath and kitchen facilities with plumbing
and electrical connections provided for attachment to outside systems,
which is or was designed to be transported and mounted on a permanent
foundation.
A lot of record existing on the date of passage of this chapter
which does not have the minimum width or contain the minimum area
for the zone in which it is located.
A dwelling or other building that existed lawfully before
the current zoning ordinance was enacted or amended, but that does
not conform with one or more of the development regulations in the
current zoning ordinance. [See § 62.23(7)(hb)b, Wis. Stats.]
A use of land, a dwelling or a building that existed lawfully
before the current zoning ordinance was enacted or amended, but that
does not conform with the use restrictions in the current ordinance.
[See § 62.23(7)(ab), Wis. Stats.]
An establishment used as a dwelling place by the aged, infirm,
chronically ill or incurably afflicted, in which not less than three
persons live or are kept or provided for on the premises for compensation,
excluding clinics and hospitals and similar institutions devoted to
the diagnosis, treatment or care of the sick or injured.
A structure or premises containing five or more parking spaces
open to the public.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 100 feet and all property owners of opposite frontages.
A large lot or tract of land containing two or more principal
buildings or uses developed as a unit where such buildings or uses
may be located in relation to each other rather than to a lot line
or zoning district boundaries.
A sewage treatment and disposal system serving a single structure
with a septic tank and soil absorption field located on the same lot
as the structure. This term includes alternative sewage systems, substitutes
for the septic tank or soil absorption field, a holding tank, a system
serving more than one structure or a system located on a different
parcel than the structure.
A system supplying water for human consumption with a well
and pump serving a single structure located on the same lot as the
structure. This term includes alternative water supply systems, substitutes
for the well or pump, a system serving more than one structure or
a system located on a different parcel than the structure.
Residences of doctors of medicine, practitioners, dentists,
clergymen, architects, landscape architects, professional engineers,
professional land surveyors, lawyers, artists, teachers, tradesmen,
authors, musicians or other recognized professions used to conduct
their professions. "Tradesmen" shall be defined as a person or persons
who hold themselves out with a particular skill, including, but not
limited to, carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, roofers and
others involved in the building trade.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the rear
lot line and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point of
the principal structure. This yard shall be opposite the street yard
or one of the street yards on a corner lot.
A business establishment consisting of a kitchen and dining
room, whose primary purpose is to prepare and serve food to be eaten
by customers seated in the dining room.
A business establishment consisting of a kitchen, with or
without a dining room, where food is prepared and packaged to be eaten
either off the premises or within automobiles parked on the premises.
The sale of goods or merchandise in small quantities to the
consumer.
A structure not permanently fixed to the ground that is readily
removable in its entirety, covered or uncovered and not wholly enclosed,
and used solely for the sale of farm products produced on the premises.
The minimum horizontal distance between the front lot line
and the nearest point of the foundation of that portion of the building
to be enclosed. The overhang cornices shall not exceed 24 inches,
any overhang of the cornice in excess of 24 inches shall be compensated
by increasing the setback by an amount equal to the excess of cornice
over 24 inches. Uncovered steps shall not be included in measuring
the setback.
A yard extending from the street yard to the rear yard of
the lot, the width of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance
between the side lot line and a line parallel thereto through the
nearest point of the principal structure.
Any medium, including its structure, words, letters, figures,
numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names
or trademarks, by which anything is made known and which is used to
advertise or promote an individual, firm, association, corporation,
profession, business, commodity or product and which is visible from
any public street or highway.
Includes but is not limited to a drawing to scale of not
less than one inch equals 50 feet, showing all physical aspects such
as buildings, setback dimensions, sidewalks, driveways, playgrounds, parking, and so
forth, which pertain to the proposed development and its relation
to the surrounding area in conformance to the zoning of the area in
which the development will exist.
That portion of a building included between the surface of
any floor and the surface of the next floor above it, or if there
is no floor above it, then the space between the floor and the ceiling
next above it. Any portion of a story exceeding 14 feet in height
shall be considered as an additional story for each 14 feet or fraction
thereof. A basement having 1/2 or more of its height above grade shall
be deemed a story for purposes of height regulation.
That portion of a building under a gable, hip or mansard
roof, the wall plates of which, on at least two opposite exterior
walls, are not more than 4 1/2 feet above the finished floor
of such story. In the case of one-family dwellings, two-family dwellings
and multifamily dwellings less than three stories in height, a 1/2
story in a sloping roof shall not be counted as a story for the purposes
of this code.
Property other than an alley or private thoroughfare or travelway
which is subject to public easement or right-of-way for use as a thoroughfare
and which is 21 feet or more in width.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the existing
street or highway right-of-way line and a line parallel thereto through
the nearest point of the principal structure. Corner lots shall have
two street yards.
Any change in the supporting members of a structure, such
as foundations, bearing walls, columns, beams or girders.
Anything constructed or erected, the use of which requires
a permanent location on the ground or attachment to something having
a permanent location on the ground.
A movable structure not designed for human occupancy nor
for the protection of goods or chattel and not forming an enclosure,
such as billboards.
A tract or parcel of land on which one or more automobile
trailers, tents or camp cabins are located, open to the public free
or for a fee.
The purpose or activity for which the land or building thereof
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.
A subordinate building or use which is located on the same
lot on which the principal building or use is situated and which is
reasonably necessary and incidental to the conduct of the primary
use of such building or main use, when permitted by district regulations.
The main use of land or buildings, as distinguished from
a subordinate or accessory use.
Public and private facilities, such as water wells, water
and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, electrical power
substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph
exchanges, microwave radio relays and gas regulation stations, inclusive
of associated transmission facilities, but not including sewage disposal
plants, municipal incinerators, warehouses, shops, storage yards and
power plants.
A relaxation of the terms of this chapter by the Board of
Appeals where the literal enforcement of this chapter would deny to
the property owner a use of his property enjoyed as a right by other
property owners within the same zoning district.
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property
is or may be transported.
An unoccupied triangular space at the intersection of highways
or streets with other highways or streets or at the intersection of
highways or streets with railroads. Such vision clearance triangle
shall be bounded by the intersecting highway, street or railroad right-of-way
lines and a setback line connecting points located on such right-of-way
lines by measurement from this intersection as specified in this chapter.
A structure designed to resist the lateral displacement of
soil or other materials.
An open space on the same lot with a building, unobstructed
by structures except as otherwise provided herein.
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the front
lot line and the nearest part of the principal building, excluding
uncovered steps. On corner lots, the front yard shall be considered
as parallel to the street upon which the lot has its least dimensions.
A yard extending the full width of the lot between the rear
lot line to the nearest part of the principal building.
A yard on each side of the principal building extending from
the building to the lot line and from the front yard line to the rear
yard line.
The concept whereby two respective dwelling units within
a building shall be on separate and abutting lots and shall meet on
the common property line between them, thereby having zero space between
said units.
A permit issued by the Zoning Administrator to certify that
the use of lands, structures, air and waters subject to this chapter
are or shall be used in accordance with the provisions of said chapter.
