Middleton, WI Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

28(5) covers detached buildings accessory to a principal use, expressly naming garages and carports, sheds, workshops, kennels, greenhouses, boathouses, and pool houses. 43 is required before placing any such structure, except on lots zoned SR-L, SR-M, SR-H, MH-D, TR-D, or TR-F, where it is waived. On size, the code allows a combined 1,000 square feet of building footprint for all detached accessory buildings on a property by right; for lots over one acre, that allowance grows by one additional square foot for every 100 square feet of lot area beyond the first acre.

The detached accessory footprint can never exceed the ground floor area of the principal building, and an attached garage does not count toward the 1,000-square-foot total at all, since it is not detached. Height is governed separately by the district height table in Article II of the zoning ordinance. On placement, detached accessory buildings belong only in the rear and side yards, meeting the minimum accessory-structure setback for that zoning district; a narrow exception applies to lakeshore lots that already existed on August 17, 1984, where the Zoning Administrator may allow a garage or storage structure on the street-frontage side if the lot's dimensions support it, provided parked vehicles never overhang the street right-of-way.