Dane County, WI Ordinances (2026)

Ch. 10.251(7) caps total building coverage in Dane County's SFR-08 single-family district at 35% of an interior lot's area and 40% on a corner lot, with any detached accessory building…

In Dane County's SFR-08 single-family district, ch. 10.251(6) caps a principal residence at two and a half stories or 35 feet, whichever limit is reached first, and limits an accessory…

In Dane County's SFR-08 single-family district, the county's small-lot residential zone in unincorporated towns, front yards must meet the road-class setback table in ch. 10.102(9)…

Dane County doesn't set a flat decibel ceiling for commercial or industrial uses; instead town boards and the zoning committee set case-by-case decibel limits as a condition on…

Dane County bans excessive noise from motor vehicles, radios and other mechanical devices countywide under ch. 34.04, wherever a person's stereo, muffler or engine noise unreasonably…

Dane County Code § 34.04 bans excessive noise, including amplified radios, phonographs, tape and disc players, and other electrical devices, loud enough to unreasonably disturb the…

Dane County Code ch. 47.19 bars anyone owning, renting, leasing, operating or occupying a building or premises from keeping an animal that disturbs the peace and quiet of neighbors…

Dane County's zoning code requires outdoor lighting tied to any permitted or conditional land use to point downward and away from neighboring properties and public roads, minimizing…

Dane County caps how signs, including billboards, may be lit: external fixtures must aim only at the copy from a downward angle, no up-lighting is allowed, and glare toward roadways is…

Dane County's zoning code bars keeping livestock at all on parcels smaller than one acre, and once a lot reaches an acre, animal density is capped at one animal unit per acre under ch…

Dane County does not license cats the way it licenses dogs, but ch. 47.17(3)-(4) requires cats kept in residentially zoned areas to wear an identification tag with the owner's name…

Dane County has no general pet-microchipping mandate, but ch. 47.18(9)(b) requires an owner whose animal has been declared dangerous to provide written veterinary proof that a…

Dane County makes it unlawful to intentionally feed wild deer anywhere in the county under section 47.42, with a carve-out for standing or stored crops and for captive deer kept on…

Dane County's zoning code defines a veterinary clinic as an establishment for medical or surgical treatment of animals, with boarding limited to patients under active treatment. In the…

Dane County outlaws live skunks outright: section 47.41 of the animal control ordinance makes it unlawful to sell, give away, trade or even possess a live skunk anywhere in the county…

Beekeeping is permitted as an agricultural use in Dane County. Wisconsin DATCP apiary registration (Wis. Stat. §93.45) is required. County zoning (Chapter 10) classifies domestic…

Dane County Code ch. 47.17 bars owners and custodians from letting an animal run at large anywhere off the owner's premises without control, and it applies countywide in the…

Dane County's Public Health Department for Madison and Dane County can formally declare any animal dangerous under Code ch. 47.18 after it bites, attacks, or menaces a person or…

Dane County parks are open from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. under section 53.04; being present after hours is unlawful unless you're a registered camper, hold an after-hours permit, or are…

Dane County Code § 34.08 bars anyone under 15 from public streets, alleys, or areas between 10 p.m.–5 a.m. Sunday–Thursday and 11 p.m.–5 a.m. Friday–Saturday, and bars…

Dane County bars boats from tying up at county-owned piers on navigable waters without authorization, and bars docking at any privately owned pier, mooring buoy or raft without the…

Dane County requires a stormwater management permit before land-disturbing development that adds 20,000 square feet or more of impervious surface, or disturbs over 4,000 square feet on…

Diesel-powered commercial motor vehicles in unincorporated Dane County cannot idle more than five minutes in any sixty-minute period under ch. 34.26. The rule targets diesel trucks…

Dane County's floodplain zoning ordinance requires two feet of freeboard above the regional flood elevation before a structure counts as flood-protected, and new or substantially…

Development in Dane County that adds 20,000 square feet of impervious surface since August 22, 2001, or that requires a plat or certified survey map, needs a stormwater management…

Dane County regulates every Zone A, AO, AH, A1-30 and AE area on the Flood Insurance Rate Map under Chapter 17 of its Code of Ordinances, adopted under Wis. Stat. §§ 59.69, 59.692…

Dane County protects working farms in unincorporated towns through Farmland Preservation zoning districts (FP-1 and FP-35) under Chapter 10.220-.222 of the county code, capping…

Dane County does not ban drinking in its parks outright, but any group of ten or more people of legal drinking age who bring or serve alcoholic beverages must first get a written…

Dane County Code § 34.07(5) bans smoking and tobacco use within 15 feet of any entrance, operable window, or ventilation intake of a building where indoor smoking is prohibited, at any…

Dane County bars possessing, using, or delivering any controlled substance, including marijuana, which Wisconsin has not legalized for recreational use, anywhere in a county park…

Dane County requires a license to operate a tattooing or body-piercing establishment and for every practitioner working in one, under Code ch. 48.13. The Public Health Madison and Dane…

Dane County confines adult entertainment businesses to the AED overlay on M-I (Manufacturing and Industrial) zoned land and requires 1,000 feet of separation from churches, homes…

Dane County has no general secondhand-goods dealer license, but its zoning code regulates junk dealers directly: salvage operations must sit 100 feet from any residential district…

Dane County's smoking ordinance defines a 'retail electronic delivery device store' as a shop deriving 75% or more of its gross income from selling e-cigarettes and accessories, and §…

Anyone planning a public meeting, assembly, entertainment, tournament or speech in a Dane County park needs a written permit purchased in advance under Code ch. 53.02(1)(a), and…

Dane County bans grass clippings and leaves from every county-owned landfill outright, and Chapter 41's mandatory-recycling rule adds brush to the list of materials landfill users…

Dane County bars any municipality from using its county-owned landfills unless the municipality first adopts an approved recycling program covering metal cans, cardboard, glass…

To report an unsanitary or nuisance condition in unincorporated Dane County, you file with the health department under ch. 46.26: the department must inspect any premises complained of…

Dane County lets landowners put up free-standing solar collectors as accessory structures under s. 10.102(10)(i), but caps their height at whatever limit applies to accessory buildings…

Dane County requires a sanitary permit before anyone installs, repairs, modifies, enlarges, converts, reconnects or structurally alters a private sewage system, per ch. 46.07(1)(a)…

Before a septic system in unincorporated Dane County gets covered up, the division has to see it: ch. 46.11(1) requires an inspection after construction but before backfilling, no…

In Dane County's unincorporated towns, a zoning permit from the zoning administrator is required before erecting a new building, expanding an existing one, changing a building's land…

Dane County backs Wisconsin's certified food manager requirement with a financial penalty: sec. 46.34(4) of the county code lets Public Health Madison and Dane County charge a…

Dane County limits electronic message components to on-premise ground and pylon signs; since a billboard is defined as an off-premise advertising sign, Sec. 10.802(4)(g) effectively…

Dane County treats a garage-sale sign as a temporary sign under its zoning ordinance: only one sign per parcel, capped at 32 square feet and 12 feet tall, and displayable for just 60…

In Dane County parks, bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles must stay on trails or grounds the parks division has designated for that use: riding elsewhere isn't allowed without a…

Dane County Code § 34.03 deems any vehicle, trailer, or mobile home left unattended on a public street or on private property without the owner's permission for more than 48 hours…

RV and boat storage in unincorporated Dane County is primarily regulated by Dane County Chapter 10 (Zoning). Many rural residential districts allow on-lot storage of RVs and boats.

Dane County has no specific commercial vehicle parking ordinance for unincorporated areas. Wisconsin traffic laws and county zoning restrictions on business activities apply.

Dane County's health department can order any land or building that poses a health risk abated as a nuisance under ch. 46.22, and can go further under ch. 46.225 by declaring housing…

Dane County's zoning ordinance defines a "day care center" as any place or home caring for nine or more children under age seven for less than 24 hours a day and licensed under Wis…

Signage for home businesses in unincorporated Dane County is regulated through Chapter 10 zoning. Residential districts typically allow small, non-illuminated signs only.

Home occupations in unincorporated Dane County are regulated through Chapter 10 (Zoning Ordinance). Agricultural districts are generally permissive; residential-transitional districts…

Home occupation customer traffic standards in unincorporated Dane County vary by zoning district. Rural and agricultural zones are more permissive; residential-transitional zones…

A Dane County tourist rooming house permit issued under ch. 46.33 runs on the annual cycle set out in ch. 46.34 and ch. 46.35: fees are set in the county's Public Health fee schedule…

Operators of tourist rooming houses, Wisconsin's regulatory term covering short-term rentals, in unincorporated Dane County need a Public Health Madison and Dane County permit under…

Anyone soliciting house to house for contributions, orders, or sales in unincorporated Dane County needs a Solicitor's Permit from the County Clerk first: fingerprints, a photo, and a…

Dane County requires every public swimming pool to hold a valid permit from the county health officer before opening, decided within 30 days of a complete application under Chapter 46…

Dane County zoning treats above-ground pools the same as in-ground ones: both are classified as 'buildings,' so erecting one generally requires a zoning permit under s. 10.101(1)(a)…

Dane County Code § 34.05 bars anyone from bringing or possessing fireworks containing an explosive or flammable compound on any land the county owns or leases, county parks, forests…

Dane County limits open fires in its parks to firepits, fireplaces, grills, or spots the parks division specifically designates, so a freelance campfire anywhere else on park land is…

ADUs in unincorporated Dane County are permitted in appropriate zoning districts under Chapter 10. ADUs must be accessory to the principal dwelling and cannot be sold separately.

A shed of 120 square feet or less on a non-permanent foundation needs no zoning permit in unincorporated Dane County, as long as it still meets setback, height and lot coverage rules…

Dane County's zoning code flatly bars turning a garage or other accessory building into living space. Section 10.004(2) defines an accessory building as incidental to the main building…

In Dane County's unincorporated shoreland areas, within 300 feet of a lake, river, or stream's ordinary high-water mark, removing trees and shrubs from the vegetative buffer zone is…