Marathon County, WI Ordinances (2026)

Marathon County confines adult entertainment businesses to its Commercial (C) zoning district as a conditional use, and bars them within 500 feet of another such business and 1,000…

Marathon County bars selling or giving cigarettes, nicotine products (including vapes) or tobacco to anyone under 18, and bans vending machines within 500 feet of a school -- but the…

Marathon County requires temporary garage, yard, and estate sale signs to come down on the sale's last day, and bars placing them in the public right-of-way.

Marathon County exempts holiday decorations from its exterior lighting standards while they're in season, freeing seasonal displays from the shielding, wattage, and intensity limits…

Marathon County allows electronic message center signs on single-tenant ground signs in nonresidential districts, but requires automatic dimming and lets the county shut off any…

Restaurant patios and sidewalk cafes in unincorporated Marathon County towns need a right-of-way use permit, must leave a 5-foot clear walkway, and can't obstruct visibility or utility…

Any gathering of 5,000 or more people in Marathon County's unincorporated area, including parades, races, and festivals, needs an Assembly Permit from Conservation, Planning and…

Anyone wanting to hold a public meeting or gathering in a Marathon County park must get a Parks Commission permit at least 48 hours ahead, under Section 19.02 of the county code.

Anyone selling goods door-to-door in Marathon County outside a fixed business address must register in person with the County Clerk, pass a Sheriff's Department background check, and…

Marathon County bars direct sellers from calling door-to-door before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m., or at any home posted with a "No Peddlers" or "No Solicitors" sign, under its direct-seller…

Marathon County bars leaving any vehicle unattended on a public highway, on county waters, or on public or private property for more than 48 hours without the landowner's or Sheriff's…

Marathon County fines common on-street parking violations flat forfeitures: blocking a driveway or alley, parking on the wrong side of the roadway, or blocking part of a roadway each…

Detached sheds and garages in Marathon County's Urban Residential district top out at 1,400 square feet, need a 15-foot gap from the house, and must sit at least 7 feet off side and…

Marathon County zoning flatly bars using a detached garage, shed, or other accessory building as a separate dwelling unit, and residential lots are capped at one house anyway.

Marathon County requires developers disturbing more than one acre during a land division to prepare a DNR-approved soil erosion control and stormwater management plan before starting…

Marathon County requires every major subdivision built on unincorporated land to have its stormwater management plan approved by the DNR and county or town engineer, using facilities…

Marathon County zoning caps site lighting at 0.5 footcandles at any residential property line, protecting neighboring homes from commercial and industrial glare spilling across the lot…

In towns under county zoning, exterior lighting must be fully shielded and aimed straight down: oblique wall-pack lenses are banned, and fixtures need full cutoff housings to cut…

Marathon County caps home occupation and home professional business signage at one sign, with no other outward evidence of the business permitted under the county's zoning code.

Marathon County restricts traffic and parking generated by a home occupation or home professional business to no more than what's normal for a residential neighborhood, with no numeric…

Marathon County zoning treats home daycare separately from home businesses: a Type A Day Care Home covers four to eight children and a Type B covers nine to 15, both allowed in an…

Marathon County lets a minor home occupation run in the dwelling without a permit, but requires a conditional use permit for use of an accessory building or any major home occupation.

Marathon County bars owners from letting a dog disturb neighbors with frequent or habitual howling, barking, or yelping, but only in unincorporated towns that haven't adopted their own…

Marathon County requires a written Parks Commission permit before anyone runs a sound truck, loudspeaker or other loud device in a county park, under the park nuisance rule at Section…

On Marathon County's designated ATV/UTV routes and trails, every all-terrain and utility-terrain vehicle must run a muffler or noise-suppressing system in good working order at all…

Marathon County bars depositing newspaper, aluminum cans, or glass bottles at the county landfill, and requires each municipality using it to enforce its own ordinance separating those…

Marathon County makes it illegal to deposit garbage, refuse or litter anywhere in the county -- on a highway, in a lake or river, on the ice, or on anyone else's public or private…

Marathon County's zoning Table 2 caps most residential and agricultural structures at 35 feet, Rural Residential included, with limited height exceptions for chimneys, silos, and…

Marathon County's zoning Table 2 sets a 20-foot side and 35-foot rear yard setback in the General Agriculture (G-A) district, with road setbacks measured from the right-of-way…

Marathon County's Table 2 caps building footprint at 15 to 30 percent of lot area depending on zoning district, calculated as total structure square footage divided by lot area, and…

Marathon County requires peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants to register with the County Clerk, pass a Sheriff's Department background check, and post a bond before selling…

A deck is a structure under Marathon County's zoning code, so building one in a town under county zoning requires a zoning permit before construction starts, unless it counts as a…

Marathon County's zoning code caps garage, yard, estate, and in-home sales at four per year, three days each, in the unincorporated towns where county zoning applies.

Wis. Stat. §167.10 requires a user's permit for nearly all consumer fireworks (firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, mortars, aerial repeaters). Permits are issued by the mayor…

Marathon County bans smoking in, or within 50 feet of, county park playgrounds, sports fields and seating, swimming areas, and the Marathon County Sports Complex under Section 19.03(8).

Marathon County requires dogs to stay on the owner's property, on a leash, or under direct supervision: the running-at-large ban applies only to the county's unincorporated towns, not…

In the county's Rural Residential zoning district, Marathon County caps backyard fowl at six birds on lots under one acre and 12 on larger lots, allows only hens (no roosters), and…

Marathon County's zoning code sets no cap on dogs a resident personally owns, but boarding, breeding, or training seven or more dogs over six months old, for pay or belonging to…

A fence meets Marathon County's broad definition of 'structure,' so in towns under county zoning, erecting one generally requires a zoning permit, reviewed against the height…

Marathon County's zoning code bans barbed wire and similar hazardous fencing materials in residential districts, with an exception for agricultural uses, but only in the unincorporated…

Residential fences in unincorporated Marathon County towns can run up to 6 feet along most lot lines, but drop to 4 feet in the road setback or corner side yard, and can't sit within 2…

Solar energy systems are allowed by right in every Marathon County zoning district but need a zoning permit and a to-scale site plan approved by the Zoning Administrator before…

Wis. Stat. §66.1014 preempts local STR bans for stays of 7 consecutive days or more. Hosts renting more than 10 nights per year must hold a Tourist Rooming House license from Wisconsin…

Marathon County shields farmland from sprawl through its General Agriculture (G-A) and Farmland Preservation (F-P) zoning districts, but county zoning only applies in unincorporated…

Marathon County closes every county park from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., with narrow exceptions for registered campers, permitted event guests staying until midnight, and boaters using…

Any Marathon County pool holding more than 1.5 feet of water counts as a structure needing a zoning permit, and it must go in a side or rear yard with a clear 15-foot emergency-access…