AB 403

Under current law, a city, village, or town that is authorized to exercise village

powers (municipality) or county is authorized to enact zoning ordinances that

regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other

structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of yards and other

open spaces, the density of population, and the location and use of buildings,

structures, and land for various purposes.

A municipality's board of appeals or a county's board of adjustment (board) is

authorized under current law to hear and decide appeals that allege there is an error

in the enforcement of a zoning ordinance, to hear and decide special exceptions to the

terms of a zoning ordinance, and to authorize a variance from the terms of a zoning

ordinance. A "use" variance grants permission for a use that is not permitted by the

zoning ordinance, and an "area" variance relaxes restrictions on dimensions, such as

setback, frontage, height, bulk, density, and area. To grant a variance, a board must

find four things:

1. The variance will not be contrary to the public interest.

2. Substantial justice will be done by granting the variance.

3. The variance is needed so that the spirit of the ordinance is observed.

4. Due to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the zoning

ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship.

This bill authorizes a municipality or county to enact an ordinance specifying

an expiration date for a variance. If no such ordinance exits, however, the bill

specifies that a variance that is granted does not expire unless the board specifies in

the variance, at the time it is granted, a date after which the variance does not apply.

The bill also codifies a court decision (

Goldberg v. Milwaukee Zoning Appeals Board

,

115 Wis. 2d 517 (Ct. App. 1983)) stating that a variance runs with the land.

The bill first applies, retroactively, to a variance that was granted before the

effective date of the bill.