For the purpose of administering and enforcing this chapter,
the terms or words used herein shall be interpreted as follows: words
used in the present tense include the future; words in the singular
number include the plural number; and words in the plural number include
the singular number. The word "shall" is mandatory, not permissive.
All distances unless otherwise specified shall be measured horizontally.
Any word not defined below shall be presumed to have its customary
dictionary definition.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A strip of vegetated land that allows safe pedestrian access
to the shore through the vegetative buffer zone.
A structure customarily incidental to another use or structure
and on the same lot or parcel as the principal use or structure.
A use incidental to the principal use of a building. In buildings
restricted to residential use, professional home offices, customary
home occupations and workshops not conducted for compensation shall
be deemed accessory uses.[1]
Any portion of a parcel that is 66 feet or less in width.
Beekeeping; commercial feed lots; dairying; egg production;
floriculture; fish or fur farming; forest and game management; grazing;
livestock raising; orchards; plant greenhouses and nurseries; poultry
raising; raising of grain, grass, mint, and seed crops; raising of
fruits, nuts, and berries; sod farming; placing land in federal programs
in return for payments in kind; owning land, at least 35 acres of
which is enrolled in the conservation reserve program under 16 U.S.C.
§§ 3831 to 3836; participating in the milk conservation
reserve program under 7 U.S.C. § 1446(d); and vegetable
raising.
One animal unit is equivalent to one cow, steer, horse, swine,
llama, alpaca, deer, elk, buffalo and other animals similar by size
and weight or two sheep or goats or five dogs, cats or other similar
animals or 20 mink, rabbits, chickens, or similar animals. For young
stock, divide the type of animals by two to determine animal unit
equivalents [for example: two calves divided by two equals one cow
(one cow equals one animal unit)].
A building, other than a hotel, restaurant or a community-based
residential facility, where meals or lodging is regularly furnished
for compensation for three or more persons not members of a family,
but not exceeding 12 persons and not open to transient customers.
A permanent structure used for the storage of watercraft
and associated materials and includes all structures which are totally
enclosed, have roofs or walls or any combination of these structural
parts.
Land area not encumbered for construction of primary and
accessory residential, commercial or industrial structures including
on-site sanitary systems. Encumbrances include floodplain, wetland
and other unbuildable site conditions.
Any structure, either temporary or permanent, having a roof
or other covering and designed or used for the shelter or enclosure
of any person, animal, equipment, machinery, materials, or property
of any kind.
The three-dimensional space within which a structure is built.
Temporary recreational occupancy of a parcel for more than
24 hours utilizing a camping unit or recreational vehicle as a means
of shelter.
Includes recreational vehicles; the basic entities are: conventional
travel trailer, popup-type camping trailer, truck camper, motor home
and tent.
A place where doctors or dentists provide medical or dental
care to people on an outpatient basis.
A place where three or more unrelated adults reside in which
care, treatment or services above the level of room and board are
provided to persons residing in the facility, but not including nursing
home.
A lot abutting two or more streets at their intersection
where the interior angle formed by the street intersection is less
than 135°. Any such lot shall be considered to have two front
yards.
The Planning and Zoning Committee created by the County Board
under § 59.69(2)(a), Wis. Stats., to act in all designated
matters pertaining to County planning and zoning.
Areas of aquatic vegetation identified as offering critical
or unique fish and wildlife habitat or offering water quality or erosion
control benefits to the body of water.
A licensed facility where a person, other than relative or
guardian, provides care and supervision for four or more children
under seven years of age, for less than 24 hours a day and for compensation.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
A part or parts of the County for which the regulations of
this chapter are uniform.
Any animal typically or atypically kept as a pet not for
harvest of any sort.
One or more artificial ditches, tile drains or similar devices
which collect surface runoff or groundwater and convey it to a point
of discharge.
A business establishment whose principal retail or service
character depends upon providing a driveway approach or motor vehicle
parking space to serve patrons while in their motor vehicles or to
permit in-vehicle consumption of food or beverage obtained from the
business establishment by the patron.
A detached structure containing two separate living units
and designed for occupancy by not more than two families is a two-family
dwelling.
The date this chapter became effective in the particular
town.
Any material placed at a slope of 2:1 or flatter intended
to retard or eliminate the movement of soil resulting from the overland
flow of water.
Services provided by public and private utilities, necessary
for the exercise of a 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. Accessories, such as poles, towers, wires, mains, drains,
vaults, culverts, laterals, sewers, pipes, catch basins, conduits,
cables, fire alarm boxes, police call boxes, traffic signals, pumps,
lift stations, and hydrants, but not including buildings greater than
150 square feet in area, are also included.
Principal structures exist within 250 feet of a proposed
principal structure in both directions along the shoreline.
A barrier made of wood, iron, stone, or other materials.
That land which has been or may be hereafter covered by floodwater during the regional flood, as indicated by Chapter 370, Floodplain Zoning, of the County Code. The floodplain includes the floodway and the flood-fringe as those terms are defined in Ch. NR 116, Wis. Adm. Code.
Forestry management practices that promote sound management
of a forest. Generally accepted forestry management practices include
those practices contained in the most recent version of the Department
publication known as "Wisconsin Forest Management Guidelines" and
identified as PUB FR-226.
An unpowered tool; a device for doing a particular job that
does not use a motor, but is powered solely by the person using it.
The average height measurement of all existing adjacent grade.
All state and federal highways.
All County trunks.
All town roads, public streets and highways not otherwise
classified.
Any occupation for gain or support conducted entirely within
a residential structure by its occupant. The use is incidental to
the principal use of the premises, does not exceed 20% of the total
floor area, employs no more than one nonresident employee, uses only
household equipment, and does not keep or sell stock-in-trade except
that made on the premises. A home occupation includes uses such as,
but not limited to, baby-sitting, millinery, dressmaking, canning,
laundering, music teaching to not more than two pupils at one time,
and crafts, but does not include the display of any goods visible
from the street nor such use as barber or beauty shops, dance schools,
real estate brokerage, or photographic studios.
A structure designed, used, or offered for residential occupancy
for any period less than one month, including tourist homes and motels
but not including hospitals or nursing homes.
An area that releases as runoff all or a majority of the
precipitation that falls on it. "Impervious surface" excludes frozen
soil but includes rooftops, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots, and
streets unless specifically designed, constructed, and maintained
to be pervious. Roadways as defined in § 340.01(54), Wis.
Stats., or sidewalks as defined in § 340.01(58), Wis. Stats.,
are not considered impervious surfaces.
Not readily noticeable or prominent.
An area consisting of buildings, structures, or premises
where junk waste or discarded or salvaged materials are bought, sold,
exchanged, stored, baled, packed, disassembled, or handled, including
house wrecking and structural steel materials, and equipment yards,
but not including auto salvage yards.
Any activity involving the permanent or temporary keeping
or treatment of a greater number of animals of any type than permitted
in any district.
An artificial enlargement of a waterway.
Any horse, bovine, sheep, llama or other ruminants, goat,
pig or domestic fowl or other animal whether or not raised for harvest
of any sort, including fur-bearing animals and game fowl raised in
captivity.
A parcel of land having frontage on a public street, 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, yard, parking
area, and other open space provisions of this chapter.
The total area within the lot lines of the lot or parcel,
except that any portion of a lot less than 33 feet wide shall not
be used in computing lot area.
A line marking a boundary of a lot or parcel of land.
A line dividing a lot from any public highway or street,
except a limited or controlled access highway to which the lot has
no access.[2]
A lot line which is located opposite of a front lot line
and which is not a front lot line.
Any lot line which is not a front or a rear lot line.
Includes such activities as interior remodeling, painting,
decorating, paneling, plumbing, insulation, and replacement of windows,
doors, wiring, siding, roof and other nonstructural components, and
the repair of cracks in foundations, sidewalks, and walkways and the
application of waterproof coatings to foundations.
A HUD-inspected factory-constructed portable dwelling unit
assembled on or after June 15, 1976, and having a minimum width of
14 feet and a minimum 720 square feet of living area and having an
overall length in excess of 45 feet designed to be towed on its chassis
(comprised of frame and wheels) as a single unit or in sections upon
a highway by a motor vehicle and equipped and used or intended to
be used for residential occupancy and designed to be connected to
utilities; excluding, however, recreational vehicles.
A designated parcel of land in a manufactured home park designed
for the long-term accommodation of one manufactured home, its accessory
buildings or structures, and accessory equipment for the exclusive
use of the occupants.[3]
A contiguous parcel of land upon which two or more manufactured
homes are placed, located or parked.
A building or structure which is in addition to or supplements
the facilities provided a manufactured home. It is not a self-contained,
separate, habitable building or structure. Examples are awnings, cabanas,
ramadas, storage structures, carports, fences, windbreaks, or porches.
The person who owns or has charge, care, or control of the
manufactured home park.[4]
A structure located in a manufactured home park which is
designed and used solely for the storage and use of personal equipment
and possessions of the manufactured home occupants.
A private way which affords principal means of access to
individual manufactured home or recreational vehicle lots or auxiliary
buildings.
A usually irregular surveyed line following the outline of
a body of water that is used to measure abutting property and is not
a boundary line.
Balancing measures that are designed, implemented and function
to restore natural functions and values that are otherwise lost through
development and human activities.
A portable dwelling unit constructed prior to June 15, 1976,
having an overall length in excess of 27 feet or a body width of more
than eight feet designed to be towed on its own chassis (comprised
of frame and wheels) as a single unit upon a highway by a motor vehicle
and equipped and used or intended to be used for residential occupancy
and designed to be connected to utilities; excluding, however, recreational
vehicles. Any such vehicle or structure shall be deemed a mobile home
whether or not the frame and/or wheels have been removed therefrom
and whether or not resting upon a temporary or permanent foundation.
Such units brought into Adams County after adoption of this amendment
shall meet the factory inspection standards of the United States Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which became effective June
15, 1976, and have a livable floor area width of no less than 14 feet
as originally inspected and certified by HUD.
A residential structure designed for or occupied by three
or more families. The number of families in residence may not exceed
the number of dwelling units provided.
Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, all natural inland lakes within
Wisconsin and all streams, ponds, sloughs, flowages and other waters
within the territorial limits of this state, including the Wisconsin
portion of boundary waters, which are navigable under the laws of
this state. Under § 281.31(2)(d), Wis. Stats., notwithstanding
any other provision of law or administrative rule promulgated thereunder,
shoreland ordinances required under § 59.692, Wis. Stats.,
and Ch. NR 115, Wis. Adm. Code, do not apply to lands adjacent to:
Farm drainage ditches where such lands are not adjacent to a
natural navigable stream or river and such lands were not navigable
streams before ditching; and
Artificially constructed drainage ditches, ponds or stormwater
retention basins that are not hydrologically connected to a natural
navigable water body.
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NOTE: Wisconsin's Supreme Court has declared navigable
bodies of water that have a bed differentiated from adjacent uplands
and levels of flow sufficient to support navigation by a recreational
craft of the shallowest draft on an annually recurring basis [Muench
v. Public Service Service Commission, 261 Wis. 2d 492 (1952), and
DeGaynor and Co., Inc. v. Department of Natural Resources, 70 Wis.
2d 936 (1975)]. For example, a stream which is navigable by a skiff
or canoe during normal spring high water is navigable, in fact, under
the laws of this state though it may be dry during other seasons.
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Those which do not conform to a provision or requirement
of this chapter but which were lawfully established prior to the effective
date of this chapter or of an amendment to this chapter. A use that
does not conform to the use regulations of the district in which it
is located is a nonconforming use. Any structure conforming in respect
to use but not in respect to frontage, width, height, area, yard,
parking, loading, or setback requirements is a nonconforming structure
and not a nonconforming use. A lot of record that does not conform
to the minimum lot width or area requirements of the district in which
it is located is a nonconforming lot.[5]
An unreasonable activity or use of property that interferes
substantially with the comfortable enjoyment of life, health, or safety
of others.
A substance or condition that is known to have the potential
to cause acute or chronic illness or death if exposure to the substance,
activity or condition is not abated.
A place which provides twenty-four-hour services including
board and room to three or more unrelated residents who because of
their mental or physical condition require nursing care or personal
care in excess of seven hours a week, unless the facility has been
designated as a community-based residential facility.
The point on the bank or shore up to which the presence and
action of surface water is so continuous as to leave a distinctive
mark such as by erosion, destruction or prevention of terrestrial
vegetation, predominance of aquatic vegetation or other easily recognized
characteristics.
Recreation vehicles primarily designed as temporary living
quarters for recreation, camping or seasonal use. They are built on
a single chassis, mounted on wheels and have a gross trailer area
not exceeding 400 square feet in the setup mode. Two different types
of park model trailers are offered. One type is less than eight feet
six inches in width and is designed for frequent travel on highways
while the other and more popular type is wider than eight feet (usually
12 feet in width) and must be transported with special movement permits
from the State Department of Transportation. Park model trailers are
allowed only in licensed campgrounds.[6]
Include all abutting property owners and all property owners
within 300 feet of the subject property boundary.
A flat exterior-constructed surface, no higher than six inches
above original grade, made of concrete, wood, brick or a combination
thereof. A patio shall not include affixed appendages, such as benches,
tables, walls, roofs or any other structural component, which extend
above the six-inch height limitation. Railings are permitted only
where required by safety concerns.
Residences used to conduct the professions of doctors of
medicine, dentists, nurse practitioners, clergymen, architects, landscape
architects, professional engineers, professional land surveyors, lawyers,
artists, teachers, authors, musicians, or other recognized professions.
The office shall not exceed 20% of the total floor area of any one
story of the residence and only one nonresident person may be employed.[7]
A vehicle having an overall length of 45 feet or less and
a body width of eight feet or less primarily designed as temporary
living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, which either
has its own motive power or is mounted on or drawn by another vehicle.
The basic entities are: travel trailer, camping trailer, truck camper
and motor home.
A contiguous parcel of land upon which three or more recreational
vehicles are placed, located or parked.
A flood determined to be representative of large floods known
to have generally occurred in Wisconsin and which may be expected
to occur on a particular stream because of like physical characteristics
once in every 100 years.
Any material intended to stabilize the soil and placed at
a slope steeper than 2:1.
The recorded strip of land over which highways and railroads
are constructed which includes the actual traveled way, ditches and
keep-clear areas.
Normally accepted horticultural practices, including mowing,
that do not result in the loss of any existing vegetation and do not
require earth disturbance.
Circumstances or conditions presenting significant risk to
human welfare.
Any place which is owned, maintained, operated or used for
storing, keeping, processing, buying or selling junk vehicles or vehicle
parts, including vehicle graveyards, vehicle wrecking yards, vehicle
recycling yards, used vehicle parts yards and temporary storage of
vehicle bodies or parts awaiting disposal as a normal part of a business
operation when the business will continually have like materials located
on the premises. Keeping or storing of two or more unlicensed or unregistered,
as appropriate, vehicles on a single parcel of land shall be considered
a vehicle salvage yard.
A recreational vehicle manufactured with water supply and
sewage holding tanks which are an integral part of the recreational
vehicle.
The minimum horizontal distance from the center line of a
highway or its right-of-way line, the ordinary high-water mark of
a navigable water or a lot line to the nearest part of a structure,
measured at right angles to the center line, right-of-way line, ordinary
high-water mark or lot line.
The Adams County Shoreland, Wetland and Habitat Protection
Ordinance.
Lands 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 is greater, and other areas as defined in § 396-4.
An area in a shoreland that is within a certain distance
of the ordinary high-water mark in which the construction or placement
of buildings or structures has been limited or prohibited under an
ordinance enacted under § 59.692, Wis. Stats.
Any words, letters, figures, numerals, phrases, sentences,
emblems, devices, designs, trade names, or trademarks by which anything
is made known, which are used to advertise or promote an individual,
firm, association, corporation, profession, business, commodity, or
product, and which are visible from any public street or highway.
AWNING SIGNA sign affixed flat to the surface of an awning and not extending beyond the limits of the awning.
GROUND SIGNA sign attached to the ground independent of any buildings.
PORTABLE SIGNA sign which is not designed to be permanently attached to the ground or a building.
PROJECTING SIGNA sign other than a wall or roof sign, attached to or supported by a building or structure and projecting more than 12 inches from the face of the building or structure.
ROOF SIGNA sign erected on or over the roof of a building.
WALL SIGNA sign which is attached to a wall of a building and projects not more than 12 inches from such wall and does not extend above the ceiling line of the top floor of the building.
WINDOW SIGNA sign painted or affixed to a window.
The art by which forests are tended, developed, harvested
and regenerated using various management options.
A detached structure designed for and exclusively occupied
by one family and containing a minimum width of at least 24 feet and
720 square feet of minimum livable floor area, with at least one portion
able to contain a square 24 feet on a side. Single-family dwellings
include manufactured dwellings, conventional site-constructed dwellings,
site-assembled panel constructed dwellings and sectional manufactured
homes. Single-family dwellings do not include rooming or boarding
houses, community-based residential facilities, fraternity or sorority
homes, or similar uses, or mobile homes or nonsectional manufactured
homes.
A use which is permitted by this chapter provided that certain
conditions specified in this chapter are met and that a permit is
granted by the Board of Adjustment or, where appropriate, the Planning
and Zoning Committee or the County Board.
The issuance of a conditional zoning permit; other permits
may also be required.
A public right-of-way providing access to abutting properties.
The altering or modifying of any structural support system
or component.
A principal structure or any accessory structure, including
a garage, shed, boathouse, sidewalk, walkway, patio, deck, retaining
wall, porch or fire pit.
The renting or leasing of residential property for a period
of 30 continuous days or less.
A circumstance where special conditions, which were not self-created, affect a particular property and make strict conformity with restrictions governing area, setbacks, frontage, height or density unnecessarily burdensome or unreasonable in light of the purposes of this chapter. [See also § 396-85B(4) of this chapter.]
Any activity that meets all of the following conditions:
The activity will not convert land that has been devoted primarily
to agricultural use.
The activity will not limit the surrounding land's potential
for agricultural use.
The activity will not conflict with agricultural operations
on the land subject to a farmland preservation agreement.
The activity will not conflict with agricultural operations
on other properties.
Include public and private utility uses such as water wells,
water and sewage pumping stations, water storage tanks, power and
communication transmission lines, booster stations, electrical power
substations, static transformer stations, telephone and telegraph
exchanges, microwave radio relays, and gas regulation stations, but
not including wastewater treatment plants or municipal incinerators,
warehouses, shops, and storage yards.
An authorization granted by the Board of Adjustment to construct,
alter or use a building or structure in a manner that deviates from
the requirements of this chapter.
A self-propelled mode of transportation; basic entities include
but are not necessarily limited to automobile, truck, van, motor home,
motorcycle, boat, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and snowmobile.
Lot width as measured in a straight line from the points
of intersection of the ordinary high-water mark and the lot lines.
Those areas where water is at, near or above the land surface
long enough to be capable of supporting aquatic or hydrophytic vegetation
and which have soils indicative of wet conditions.
An open space which is unoccupied and unobstructed from the
ground upward, except for vegetation, and is on the same lot or parcel
with a structure. The front and rear yards extend the full width of
the lot.
A front yard extends across the full width of the lot, the
depth of which is measured at right angles from the existing or proposed
street or highway right-of-way line to the nearest point of the principal
structure.
The yard extending across the full width of the lot whose
depth is measured from the rear lot line to the nearest point of the
principal structure. This yard shall be opposite the front yard or
one of the front yards on a corner lot.
A side yard is one whose depth is measured from the side
lot line to the nearest point of the principal structure.
