Portage County, WI Ordinances (2026)

In unincorporated Portage County, Wisconsin Code § 4.9.12 bars owners from letting any animal run at large, and the county defines restraint under § 4.9.3(21) as a leash, lead, or the…

Portage County doesn't ban pet-shop sales outright but regulates them as a 'commercial animal establishment' under Code § 4.9.15: any pet shop, kennel, cattery or grooming shop must…

Portage County doesn't mandate spaying or neutering for pets generally. Code § 4.9.16(2) only requires it for dogs and cats adopted from the county-designated pound or animal shelter…

In the towns under Portage County zoning, residents of R1, R2, R3 and R5 districts may keep up to 12 egg-laying chickens or ducks, but no roosters, drakes or other fowl. Coops are…

In the unincorporated General Agricultural District (A4), Portage County Code § 7.1.6(2)(c)22 lists 'zoological centers, zoos, housing of exotic animals' as a Special Exception Use…

Portage County's zoning code lists beekeeping as a permitted use in the Exclusive Agricultural District (A1) and other agricultural districts covering most of the unincorporated…

Portage County parks close nightly under Code § 6.1.1(4)(a): no person or vehicle may enter or remain in any county park between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., except registered campers…

Portage County bars anyone under 17 from being in a public place or business establishment in the unincorporated towns between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. under Code § 2.9.2. Parents…

In Portage County parks, fires are confined by Code § 6.1.6(1) to designated fireplaces, fire rings or grills, with an exception only for portable stoves, heaters or grills used for…

Portage County adopts Wisconsin's fireworks statute, Wis. Stats. § 167.10, by reference as its own regulation under Code § 2.7.1, leaving out the state's own penalties. A first county…

Portage County's only local burning restriction targets its recycling program: § 4.8.8 makes it 'prohibited for any person to burn' materials designated as recyclable, including…

Anyone wanting to hold a public meeting or gathering in a Portage County park needs a permit first. Code § 6.1.2(1) requires an application to the Park Commission at least 48 hours…

In the towns of Portage County, Wisconsin under county zoning, the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance's sign definition at Code § 7.7.12(7) exempts political signs outright. The Zoning…

Portage County's Neighborhood Commercial District zoning bars flashing or intermittent lighting on business signs, but carves out an exception for information signs that display the…

In the towns of unincorporated Portage County, an accessory dwelling unit can only get a holding-tank special exception under Code § 7.9.9(5)(c) if a code-compliant private sewage…

In the R2 Single Family Residence District of unincorporated Portage County, sheds and other accessory buildings are capped at 2,800 square feet on lots under two acres and 3,200…

Portage County bars parking in its own Courthouse, Annex and 1039 Ellis Street lots in Stevens Point between 11:00 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. under Code § 2.1.4(2)(c). County and City…

Leaving any vehicle unattended more than 48 hours on a public highway, private or public property, or county waters is prohibited under Portage County Code § 2.6.2 without landowner or…

In the Residence Districts of unincorporated Portage County, no commercial motor vehicle over five tons rated capacity may be stored in a private garage or on any lot, and inoperable…

Portage County's zoning code requires any commercial or industrial lot that abuts a public or private alley to provide sufficient onsite loading space so the alley stays free and…

Portage County makes it a violation to operate a motor vehicle in a way that creates, causes or provokes a disturbance through unreasonably loud use, under Code § 2.1.5. A conviction…

Portage County prohibits letting a dog's barking, yelping or howling become excessive or unusual noise that disturbs neighbors, under Code § 2.12.3(2). Violators face a forfeiture of…

In unincorporated Portage County, registered campers at the county's designated campgrounds, Collins, DuBay, Jordan and Lake Emily Parks, must keep quiet hours from 10:00 p.m. until…

Portage County requires a $300.00 sexually oriented business license and a $100.00 employee license before an adult bookstore, cabaret, motel, theater, escort agency or similar use may…

Anyone who operates a tattoo or body piercing establishment, or personally tattoos or pierces clients, in Portage County must hold a license from the Health and Human Services…

Sec. 2.23 of the Portage County Code requires anyone operating as a pawnbroker in unincorporated Portage County to hold a $500.00 annual license from the County Clerk, post a $2,500.00…

Sec. 2.23 of the Portage County Code, which regulates pawnbrokers and secondhand shops together, defines a secondhand shop as a business buying and selling used coins, jewelry, digital…

Any mobile restaurant, defined as a restaurant operating from a movable vehicle, pushcart, trailer or boat that changes location while preparing or selling meals to the public, must…

Portage County makes it a violation to possess or attempt to possess marijuana (tetrahydrocannabinols) or synthetic cannabinoids anywhere in the county under Code § 2.10.3, tracking…

Sec. 2.12.6 of the Portage County Code bars loitering in unincorporated Portage County, meaning the towns under county zoning, whenever it occurs at an unusual time or manner that…

Sec. 2.27 of the Portage County Code makes anyone who hosts or controls a gathering of three or more people where alcohol is present liable if they knowingly permit, or fail to take…

Portage County bans selling or consuming alcoholic beverages anywhere on the Green Circle Trail Corridor, the county's roughly 30-mile trail linking Stevens Point, Plover, Whiting and…

Every hotel, motel, tourist rooming house and bed and breakfast in Portage County must hold a permit from the Health and Human Services Department before opening. Sec. 4.3.5 gives most…

A Portage County bed and breakfast can rent to no more than 20 tourists or transients across no more than eight guest rooms at a time. Sec. 4.3.3(1) also requires the owner to live…

Portage County's Health and Human Services Department issues the permit required to operate a pool, but Sec. 4.2.3(8) defines a regulated public swimming pool to exclude any pool…

Portage County's Health Officer can declare dilapidated, unsafe or unsanitary housing a human health hazard under Sec. 4.5.6(5), and Sec. 4.5.5 bans anyone from creating or maintaining…

An accumulation of trash, rubbish, garbage, decayed animal or vegetable matter, or fecal matter that lets flies, rats, mice, skunks or other vermin breed or nest is a declared human…

In unincorporated Portage County, meaning the towns under county zoning, Sec. 2.12.5 of the County Code bars anyone from impeding, obstructing, or endangering the free flow of…

Sec. 3.14.5 of the Portage County Code requires anyone building or altering a driveway or other access point onto the county trunk highway system to first get an entrance permit from…

Sec. 2.14 of the Portage County Code requires anyone going door-to-door in unincorporated Portage County to solicit, canvas for orders, or offer goods or services to residents to first…

Unincorporated Portage County's A1 Exclusive Agricultural District is written to preserve productive farmland, keep agriculture a major part of the county's economy, and minimize…

Unincorporated Portage County requires a stormwater control plan before a Zoning Permit issues for any accessory building, or combined accessory buildings, exceeding 2,000 square feet…

Portage County requires a storm water management and erosion-control plan before any major subdivision, county plat, or minor subdivision breaks ground in the unincorporated towns…

Portage County requires two feet of freeboard above the regional flood elevation before a structure counts as protected, and any new residential construction or substantial improvement…

Any new construction or substantial improvement Portage County finds sited in a mapped floodplain must be engineered to resist flotation and lateral movement, built of flood-resistant…

A home occupation or professional office in unincorporated Portage County may display just one sign per parcel, capped at six square feet and eight feet in height. The sign can sit at…

Unincorporated Portage County allows a home occupation in a residence only if it is incidental to residential use, involves no external alterations, and uses no more than 50 percent of…

In unincorporated Portage County, syringes, needles and other medical waste fall under the county's infectious-waste disposal ban. Portage County Code § 4.7.10 bars dumping infectious…

Dumping solid waste anywhere in unincorporated Portage County besides a DNR-licensed disposal site is unlawful under Portage County Code § 4.7.19, and § 4.7.20 separately bans dumping…

Unincorporated Portage County has no curbside trash pickup: residents and haulers bring solid waste to the county transfer facility instead. Portage County Code § 4.7.14 limits…

Portage County Code § 4.7.7(27) defines yard waste as leaves, grass clippings, and woody debris no more than six inches thick, bans it from the county transfer facility under § 4.7.10…

Portage County Code § 4.8.7 makes it 'prohibited for anyone to scavenge or steal any recyclable materials' set out for collection in the county, and once those materials are delivered…

Portage County Code § 4.8.2 requires everyone in the unincorporated county, from single-family homes to nonresidential properties, to separate materials like newspaper, glass…

In unincorporated Portage County, side and rear yard setbacks differ by zoning district. The Single Family Residence District (R2) requires a 10-foot minimum side yard and 25-foot rear…

Most zoning districts in unincorporated Portage County cap building height at 35 feet, applied under Section 7.1.2(1)(d) for residential districts and matched in the Exclusive…

In the Neighborhood Commercial District, Portage County zoning caps total lot coverage at 75 percent, counting every building, equipment and material storage area, parking lot, loading…

Portage County's shoreland zoning code sets no special height, permit, or engineering standard for retaining walls; instead it names them, alongside fences, signs, and propane tanks…

In unincorporated Portage County, the zoning code does not cap fence height on ordinary lots, but it bans any fence, hedge, or object between two and one-half feet and ten feet tall…

In the unincorporated towns, Portage County's Open Space Design Option lets a landowner count conservancy-zoned acreage on the same tax parcel toward a project's total lot density…

Before anyone builds, enlarges, alters, or moves a building, sign, or other structure, or changes the use of land, anywhere in unincorporated Portage County, the county's zoning code…

Along navigable lakes and streams in unincorporated Portage County, removing trees and shrubs within 35 feet of the ordinary high-water mark is banned by default; the shoreland zoning…