SB 479

Under current law, if a town board has been granted the authority to exercise

village powers, the town board may enact zoning ordinances using the zoning

statutes that are used by cities and villages, subject to a number of conditions. If the

county in which the town is located has enacted a county zoning ordinance, town

zoning ordinances may not take effect until such ordinances are approved either by

a town meeting or by a referendum vote of the electors of the town and are approved

by the county board. In addition, in counties having a zoning ordinance, no town

zoning ordinance, or amendment of a zoning ordinance, may be adopted by the town

unless approved by the county board; the bill repeals this provision, except as it

applies to Waukesha County.

Also under current law, a county zoning ordinance may not take effect in a town

unless it has been approved by the town board. Once a town board has approved a

county zoning ordinance, the town may not withdraw its approval.

Under this bill, a town board that is located in a county with a population of at

least 485,000 may enact an ordinance withdrawing from coverage of a county zoning

ordinance and a county development plan. A town board may enact the ordinance

during 2017, or during the one-year period every three years after January 1, 2017.

Such an ordinance may not take effect unless the town notifies the county clerk and

one or more officials of the other towns in the county of the proposed ordinance and

the town enacts, and sends copies to the county clerk, a town zoning ordinance, a

comprehensive plan, and an official map. The zoning ordinance that the town must

enact must be either essentially identical to the county zoning ordinance that is in

effect when the town begins its efforts to withdraw from county zoning, or it must be

a model ordinance that is developed and recommended by a group of towns in a

county that have all begun an effort to withdraw from county zoning. In addition,

the ordinance must preserve nonconforming uses. A town that enacts an ordinance

based on the county ordinance may amend it, and the model ordinance may be

amended by a vote of the majority of the towns that have enacted the model

ordinance. With regard to the type of zoning ordinance that applies in a town, the

town may switch back and forth between having the ordinance that is essentially

identical to the county zoning ordinance apply and having the model ordinance

apply. County board approval of a town zoning ordinance is not required if the town

has withdrawn from county zoning.

If a county clerk receives notice from a town before July 1 that the town intends

to withdraw from county zoning, the bill authorizes a county board to enact an

ordinance, before October 1, to repeal all of its zoning ordinances, other than

shoreland and floodplain zoning ordinances. The county must notify all of the towns

that are subject to its zoning ordinances that it intends to enact an ordinance to

repeal those ordinances. The county ordinance to repeal its zoning ordinances must

have a delayed effective date of one year. If a town is so notified, it must enact a