Local land use restrictions. (FE)

Under the bill, during the first five years after an incorporation, a newly incorporated city or village is prohibited from adding or contracting to add any remaining town territory of the town from which the newly incorporated city or village was created by use of consolidation, a boundary agreement, or annexation other than annexation by unanimous approval, except that the city or village and the town territory remaining after incorporation may, if certain requirements are met, consolidate by ordinance passed by a two-thirds vote of all of the members of each board or council and ratified by the electors at a referendum held in each municipality.

Under current law, cities and villages are prohibited from annexing town territory across county lines without approval of the town. The bill allows cities or villages to annex town territory across county lines if there is unanimous approval of the owners of the annexed lands.

Current law generally authorizes cities and villages to exercise zoning authority within their extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction. Extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction consists of unincorporated areas (town or county territory) within three miles of the corporate limits of a first, second, or third class city or within one and one-half miles of a fourth class city or a village. The bill expressly provides that the unincorporated area subject to extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction includes areas that are either surrounding or entirely surrounded by a single city or village.

The bill also provides that, unless otherwise agreed to by a town, the authority of a city or village to exercise its extraterritorial powers outside of its adjacent outlying waters includes only town territory within the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of the city or village surrounding or included entirely within the primary geographical area of the city or village.

Current law also provides that a city or village that wishes to exercise extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction may enact an interim zoning ordinance to preserve existing zoning or uses in all or part of the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction while the comprehensive zoning plan is being prepared. Under the bill, such an ordinance may be enacted to preserve existing zoning in areas subject to a general town or county zoning ordinance and to preserve existing uses in areas not subject to a general zoning ordinance. Current law provides that such an ordinance may be in effect for no more than two years, unless the city or village and the affected town agree to a one-year extension. Under the bill, such an ordinance may be in effect for no more than eighteen months, although it may still be extended for an additional year as provided under current law. The bill also increases the time during which no other interim zoning ordinance may be enacted affecting the same area or part of an area from two years after the expiration of the interim zoning ordinance or the extension of such an ordinance to five years after the expiration of the ordinance or the extension. Under the bill, the changes to interim zoning ordinances first apply to such zoning ordinances that are in effect on the effective date of the bill, except that the change in the permitted duration from two years to eighteen months, before any extension, first applies to interim zoning ordinances adopted on the effective date of the bill.

The bill prohibits a municipality from using its condemnation powers in certain circumstances, providing that a municipal condemnor may not acquire blighted real property that it intends to convey or lease to a private entity if the property is outside of the boundaries of the municipality. Under the bill, before commencing the condemnation of real property that is outside of a municipality, that municipality must make written findings and provide a copy of those findings to the owner of the property and each town, village, or city in which the property is located. The findings must include a description of the project, a legal description of the project area, and the purpose of the condemnation.