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.
A common property line or district line.
A dependent dwelling unit located within a single-family
dwelling unit intended for occupancy by another family member within
the principal dwelling. The accessory apartment is self-contained
featuring a separate outside entrance, sleeping facilities, kitchen
facilities and bathroom facilities. The apartment usually occupies
only a small portion of the single-family dwelling area and is often
occupied by a parent or in-law. The unit is accessible from the interior
of the principal dwelling and has portions, such as a doorway or stairs,
in common.
A use or detached structure 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, within 43,560 square feet.
A public way which affords only a secondary means of access
to abutting property.
A room or suite of rooms in a multiple-family structure which
is arranged, designed, used or intended to be used as a single housekeeping
unit. Complete kitchen facilities, permanently installed, must always
be included for each apartment.
When used in describing an industrial operation, the fitting
or joining of parts of a mechanism by means of fasteners, nuts and
bolts, screws, glue, welding or other similar technique. "Assembly"
shall not include the construction, stamping or reshaping of any of
the component parts.
A garage that is connected to the home, sharing a common
wall with the home, and featuring direct access into the home.
[Added 3-15-2022 by Ord. No. Z2022-03-01]
That portion of any structure located partly below the average
adjoining lot grade which is not designed or used primarily for year-round
living accommodations. Space partly below grade which is designed
and finished as habitable space is not defined as basement space.
Any place of lodging that provides four or fewer rooms for
rent, is the owner's personal residence and is occupied by the owner
at the time of rental.
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 four or more persons not members of a family, but not exceeding
12 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 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
deckline of a mansard roof or to the average height of the highest
gable of a gambrel, hip or pitch roof.
A building in which the principal use of the lot on which
it is located is conducted.
A line parallel to the lot line at a distance parallel to
it regulated by the yard requirements set up in this chapter.
An occupation, employment or enterprise which occupies time,
labor and materials, or wherein merchandise is exhibited or sold,
or where services are offered.
As defined in § 46.03(22), Wis. Stats. The establishment
of a community living arrangement shall be in conformance with applicable
sections of the Wisconsin Statutes, including §§ 46.03(22),
59.69(15) and 62.23(7)(i) and (7a), Wis. Stats., and amendments thereto,
and also the Wisconsin Administrative Code.[1]
Uses of a special nature as to make impractical their predetermination
as a principal use in a district.
Guidelines and specifications for soil and water conservation
practices and management enumerated in the technical guide prepared
by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service
for Washington County, 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.
A lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection,
provided that the corner of such intersection shall have an angle
of 135° or less, measured on the lot side.
An agreement by which the Town and the developer agree in
reasonable detail as to all of those matters to which the provisions
of this Zoning Code apply and which does not come into effect unless
and until an irrevocable letter of credit or other appropriate surety
has been issued to the Town.
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.
A part or parts of the Town 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 or cabins primarily used for transient rental or recreational
purposes.
A two-level dwelling with one level above grade and the other
level half above grade and half below grade. The lowest level may
or may not have exterior access. For the purpose of measuring living
area, the Building Inspector will determine functional areas as set
forth in the definition of "living area," and the first-floor area
will be considered to be the level that is entirely above grade.
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 three-level dwelling with two levels above grade and a
third level half above grade and half below grade. The lowest level
may or may not have exterior access.
A detached building containing two separate dwelling (or
living) units, designed for occupancy by not more than two families.
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 and have at least one bedroom, bathroom and
kitchen.
In the case of an election for office, the period beginning
on the first day for circulation of nomination papers by candidates
or the first day on which candidates would circulate nomination papers,
were papers to be required, and ending on the day of the election.
In the case of a referendum, the period beginning on the day which
the question to be voted upon is submitted to the electorate and ending
on the day on which the referendum is held.
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.
A family may consist of a person living alone
or any of the following groups living together in a dwelling unit
and sharing common living, sleeping, cooking and eating facilities:
A family does not include:
Any social club, fraternity, sorority, association,
lodge, combine, federation or other like organization.
Two or more individuals whose association to
each other is temporary and/or seasonal in nature.
More than one person determined to be a sexually
violent person under Ch. 980, Wis. Stats.
Three or more people who are granted a conditional
use permit as a group home.
Any person who owns land and raises crops or livestock on
that land, or a person who rents land to another for agricultural
purposes and who lives on the land having day-to-day contact with
the farm operation, or a person who lives on land that he or she has
historically farmed. For the purpose of this definition, any person
who has farmed land for five consecutive years is deemed to have farmed
it historically.
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 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 primary domicile of a foster parent who has four or fewer
foster children and who is licensed under § 48.62, Wis.
Stats., and amendments thereto.
The smallest dimension of a lot abutting a public street
measured along the street right-of-way line. For lots abutting a lake
or stream, the smallest dimension measured along the shoreline.
An open space extending the full width of the lot, the depth
of which is the minimum horizontal distance between the front lot
line and the nearest point of the main building. All yards abutting
on a street shall be considered as front yards for setback purposes.
[Added 3-15-2022 by Ord. No. Z2022-03-01]
A detached accessory building or portion of the principal
building designed, arranged, used or intended to be used for storage
of automobiles of the occupant of the premises.
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.
Retail stores where items such as art, antiques, jewelry,
books and notions are sold.
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.
A single-family dwelling unit occupied on a relatively permanent
basis in a family-like environment by eight or fewer unrelated persons
with disabilities, plus paid professional support staff provided by
a sponsoring agency, either living with the residents on a twenty-four-hour
basis or present whenever residents are present at the dwelling.[2]
Any occupation for gain or support conducted entirely within
buildings by resident occupants which is customarily incidental to
the principal use of the premises, does not exceed 25% of the area
of any floor, and uses only household equipment, and for which no
stock-in-trade is kept or sold except that made on the premises. A
home occupation includes uses such as baby-sitting, millinery, dressmaking,
canning, laundering, real estate brokerage or photographic studios,
and crafts, but does not include the display of any goods nor such
occupations or uses as barbering, beauty shops, or dance schools.
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 stand-alone or supplemental wood or pellet furnace (permits
required).
[Added 3-21-2006]
An agreement entered into by a bank, savings and loan or
other financial institution which is authorized to do business in
the State of Wisconsin and which has a financial standing acceptable
to the Town of Trenton and which is approved, as to form, by the Town
Attorney.
An area consisting of buildings, structures or premises where
junk waste and discarded or salvage materials are brought, sold, exchanged,
stored, baled, packed, disassembled or handled, including automobile
wrecking yards and house wrecking and structural steel materials and
equipment yards, but not including the purpose or storage of used
furniture and household equipment or used cars in operable condition.
Domestic farm animals, such as cattle, horses, llamas, ostriches,
sheep and pigs.
The total area bounded by the exterior walls of a building
at the floor levels, but not including basements, utility rooms, garages,
porches, breezeways and unfinished attics.
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 temporary three-sided structure minimally constructed and
used for the protection of livestock.
[Added 9-20-2016 by Ord.
No. Z-2016.09.01]
A building where lodging only is provided for compensation
for not more than three persons not members of the family.
A parcel of land on which a principal building and its accessory
building are placed, together with the required open spaces, provided
that such parcel shall not be bisected by a public street and shall
not include any portion of a public right-of-way. No lands dedicated
to the public or reserved for roadway purposes shall be included in
the computation of lot size except in the EA, AT and A-1 Agricultural
Districts.[3]
The area of a lot occupied by the principal building or buildings
and accessory buildings, including any driveways, parking areas, loading
areas, storage areas and walkways.
The area of a lot occupied by the principal building or buildings
and accessory building.
A parcel of land, other than a corner lot, with frontage
on more than one street or with frontage on a street and a navigable
body of water. Double frontage lots, for the purposes of this Zoning
Code, shall be deemed to have two front yards and no rear yard. With
lake lots, the lake side is the front yard and the street side is
the rear yard.
A lot situated on a single street which is bounded by adjacent
lots along each of its other lines and is not a corner lot.
A property boundary line of any lot held in single or separate
ownership, except that where any portion of the lot extends into the
abutting street or alley, the lot line shall be deemed to be the abutting
street or alley right-of-way line.
The peripheral boundaries of a parcel of land and the total
area lying within such boundaries.
A parcel of land held in separate ownership having frontage
on a public street, or other approved means of access, occupied or
intended to be occupied by a principal building or structure, together
with accessory buildings and uses, having insufficient size to meet
the lot width, lot area, yard, off-street parking area or other open
space provisions of this chapter as pertaining to the district wherein
located.
A lot which has a pair of opposite lot lines along two substantially
parallel streets and which is not a corner lot. On a through lot,
both street lines shall be deemed front lot lines.
The horizontal distance between the side lot lines measured
at the building setback line.
Shops where lathes, presses, grinders, shapers and other
wood- and metal-working machines are used, such as blacksmith, tinsmith,
welding and sheet metal shops, plumbing, heating and electrical repair
shops, and overhaul shops.
Any small, movable accessory erection or construction, such
as birdhouses, toolhouses, 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.
A parcel of land which has been developed for the placement
of mobile homes and is owned by an individual, a firm, trust, partnership,
public or private association, or corporation. Individual lots within
a mobile home park are rented to individual mobile home users.
A land subdivision, as defined by Ch. 236, Wis. Stats., and
any Town land division ordinance,[4] with lots intended for the placement of individual mobile
home units. Individual home sites are in separate ownership as opposed
to the rental arrangements in mobile home parks.
A factory-fabricated transportable building unit designed
to be used by itself or to be incorporated with similar units at a
building site into a modular structure to be used for residential,
commercial, educational or industrial purposes.
A series of attached, semiattached or detached sleeping units
for the accommodation of transient guests.
Any structure, use of land, use of land and structure in
combination or characteristic of use (such as yard requirement or
lot size) which was existing at the time of the effective date of
this chapter or amendments thereto and which is not in conformance
with this chapter.
A stand-alone outside wood-burning unit used to supplement
heating to a residence or accessory building (permits required).
[Added 3-21-2006]
Any public or private land area designated and used for parking
motor vehicles. A parking lot may be at ground level and not be subject
to the setback and other yard requirements of a structure or may be
located within a structure which must meet the yard requirements of
a specified zoning district.
A graded and surfaced area of not less than 180 square feet
in area, either enclosed or open, for the parking of a motor vehicle,
having adequate ingress and egress to a public street or alley.
Includes all abutting property owners, all property owners
within 200 feet, and all property owners of opposite frontages.
The office of a doctor, practitioner, dentist, minister,
architect, landscape architect, real estate agent, insurance agent,
stock broker, financial planner, engineer, lawyer, author, musician
or other recognized trade or profession. When established in a residential
district, a professional office shall be incidental to the residential
occupation, not more than 25% of the floor area of one story of a
dwelling unit shall be occupied by such office, and only one unlighted
nameplate, not exceeding two square feet in area, containing the name
and profession of the occupant of the premises shall be exhibited.[5]
Any airport which complies with the definition contained
in § 114.002(7), Wis. Stats., or any airport which serves
or offers to serve common carriers engaged in air transport.
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, or waterline in the case of waterfront lots (applicable
shoreland-wetland zoning provisions shall also be complied with),
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. With lake lots, the lake side is the
front yard and the street side is the rear yard.
The process by which waste products, such as metal cans,
scrap metal, paper or glass, are reduced to raw materials for transformation
into new and different products. For the purpose of this Zoning Code,
"recycling" does not include the reclamation of sewage sludge, food
wastes and other organic materials.
The sale of goods or merchandise in small quantities to the
consumer.
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between the existing
or proposed street or highway line and a line parallel thereto through
the nearest point of the principal structure. Corner lots shall have
two such yards.
Those lands lying within the following distances from the
ordinary high-water mark of navigable waters: 1,000 feet from a lake,
pond or flowage and 300 feet from a river or stream or to the landward
side of the floodplain, whichever distance is greater. Shorelands
shall not include those lands adjacent to farm drainage ditches where:
A yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth
of which shall be the minimum horizontal distance between a navigable
body of water and a line parallel thereto through the nearest point
of the principal structure.
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.
A sign that is mounted or painted on or attached to an awning,
canopy or marquee.
The message or advertisement and any other symbols on the
face of a sign.
The area or display surface used for the message.
Any sign placed upon or supported by the ground independent
of any other structure.
A sign that is not permanent, affixed to a building, structure
or to the ground. Such sign may be mounted on wheels to make it transportable.
A sign that is wholly or partly dependent upon a building
for support and which projects more than 12 inches from such building.
A sign that is mounted on the roof of a building or which
is wholly dependent upon a building for support and which projects
above the point of a building with a flat roof, the eave line of a
building with a gambrel, gable or hip roof, or the deckline of a building
with a mansard roof.
A sign fastened to or painted on the wall of a building or
structure in such a manner that the wall becomes the supporting structure
for, or forms the background surface of, the sign and which does not
project more than 12 inches from such building or structure.
A sign that is applied or attached to the exterior or interior
of a window or located in such manner within the building that it
can readily be seen from the exterior of the building through a window.
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 half story in a sloping
roof shall not be counted as a story for the purposes of this chapter.
A public right-of-way not less than 50 feet wide providing
primary access to abutting properties.[7]
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.
Any repair, reconstruction or improvement of a structure,
the cost of which equals or exceeds 50% of the present equalized assessed
value of the structure either before the improvement or repair is
started or, if the structure has been damaged and is being restored,
before the damage occurred. The term does not, however, include either
any project for improvement of a structure to comply with existing
state or local health, sanitary or safety code specifications which
are solely necessary to assure safe living conditions or any alteration
of a structure or site documented as deserving preservation by the
Wisconsin State Historical Society or listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. Ordinary maintenance repairs are not considered
structural repairs, modifications or additions; such ordinary maintenance
repairs include internal and external painting, decorating, paneling
and the replacement of doors, windows and other nonstructural components.
A movable structure not designed for human occupancy nor
for the protection of goods or chattels and not forming an enclosure,
such as billboards.
[Added 9-20-2016 by Ord.
No. Z-2016.09.01]
The purpose or activity for which the land or building thereon
is designed, arranged or intended, or for which it is occupied or
maintained.[8]
The main use of land or building as distinguished from 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.
An unoccupied triangular space at the street corner of a
corner lot which is bounded by the street lines and a setback line
connecting points specified by measurement from the corner on each
street line.
An open space on the same lot with a structure, unoccupied
and unobstructed from the ground upward except for vegetation. The
street and rear yards extend the full width of the lot.
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 Building Inspector that verifies that
a specified use is permitted at the location and that the lot size
and width requirements and the setback and yard requirements have
been complied with. The zoning permit does not verify that structural
components of a building comply with the Building Code. Such verification
is typically certified by issuance of a building permit.[9]
[3]
Editor's Note: The definition of "lot, corner"
which immediately followed this definition was repealed 2-6-2007 by
Ord. No. 2-1-2007. See "corner lot."
[7]
Editor's Note: The definition of "street yard"
which immediately followed this definition was repealed 2-6-2007 by
Ord. No. 2-1-2007. See "setback or street yard."
[8]
Editor's Note: The definition of "use, accessory"
which immediately followed this definition, was repealed 2-6-2007
by Ord. No. 2-1-2007. See "accessory use or structure."
[9]
Editor's Note: Former Article P, Rezoning,
which immediately followed this section, has been removed from the
Code. A copy of the current Zoning Map is on file at the Town Clerk's
office. Agreements for specific planned development overlay districts
are also on file at the Town Clerk's office.
