Walworth County, WI Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Section 74-61 of the Walworth County Code governs agricultural and related conditional uses, and subsection (9) places veterinarian facilities among the uses that are conditional, not permitted by right, and limits them to the A-1 Prime Agricultural, A-2 Agricultural Land, and A-4 Agricultural-Related Manufacturing, Warehousing, and Marketing districts. Because § 74-61 lists these as an exception to whatever is a principal use under division 3, a veterinary clinic proposed for A-1, A-2, or A-4 land must go through the county's conditional use process rather than opening with a routine zoning permit.

Section 74-58 requires the applicant to file with the County Zoning Administrator, describe the site, structure, and proposed operation, and, for larger buildings of 10,000 square feet or more in districts such as A-4, complete a pre-application meeting first; the application must also go to the township where the parcel sits for a recommendation. Section 74-59 directs the Planning, Zoning, and Sanitation Committee to review the site, existing and proposed structures, traffic generation, drainage, and waste disposal, and to hold a public hearing after a Class 2 notice, and it lets the Committee attach conditions on hours of operation, screening, parking, and similar operational controls before authorizing the County Zoning Administrator to issue the permit.

Appeals from a Committee decision go to the Walworth County Circuit Court by certiorari and must be filed within 30 days of the decision. Operating a veterinary facility without the conditional use permit, or outside its approved conditions, is a violation enforced under §§ 74-46 and 74-47.