Waukesha County, WI Ordinances (2026)

County zoning requires off-street loading space in business and industrial districts: one loading space for every 10,000 square feet (or fraction over 3,000) of commercial building…

County zoning requires off-street parking to sit at least 10 feet from the abutting lot line and the base setback line, and driveways must be at least 12 feet wide. Off-street lots for…

County zoning treats oversized commercial and industrial vehicles, trucks, buses, semi-trailers, tractors, construction and grading equipment, as prohibited on residential and most…

Under Wis. Stat. 342.40, a vehicle left unattended without the owner's permission, beyond 48 hours in first-class cities, or a period set locally elsewhere, is deemed abandoned and a…

In unincorporated towns under county zoning, only one recreational vehicle may be parked on a residentially zoned lot, kept outside the district offset area unless on a driveway, and…

Waukesha County adopts Wisconsin's statewide stopping and parking rules, Wis. Stat. §§ 346.50-346.55, wholesale for unincorporated roads, and layers on its own $10 forfeiture and…

Unincorporated Waukesha County allows up to five hens (no roosters) on lots of at least one acre, but lots under three acres must register with the Planning and Zoning Division, and…

Wisconsin restricts dangerous exotic and wild animals at the state level. Under Wis. Stat. 169.11, no one may possess a designated 'harmful wild animal', including cougars, bears, and…

In unincorporated Waukesha County towns, animal hospitals, veterinarian clinics and commercial kennels need a conditional use permit in every zoning district except C-1 Conservancy and…

Unincorporated Waukesha County does not ban any dog breed. Instead, under Sec. 14-453 through 14-459 of the County Code, the Administrative Officer investigates bite and attack…

The Basic Zoning Ordinance classifies beekeeping as an "Agricultural or Farm Use," so it is permitted only where agriculture is allowed at all: the A-1 Agricultural District and…

Waukesha County protects wildlife inside its parks by banning any disturbance of a bird's nest. Sec. 14-158(c) makes it unlawful to take, catch, kill, hunt, trap, pursue or otherwise…

Wisconsin has no statewide leash mandate, but state law makes any dog off its owner's premises and not under control a dog 'running at large,' subject to capture and impoundment. Each…

Animal hoarding is addressed through Wisconsin's animal-cruelty and neglect statutes plus local pet-limit and kennel rules. Wis. Stat. 951.02 bars treating any animal cruelly, and…

Wisconsin's dog-licensing statute does not require cats to be licensed statewide, so cat rules in Waukesha County are municipal. Some communities require cat licensing, rabies…

Waukesha County closes every park, lake access site and greenway at 10:00 p.m. each night until sunrise, and no one may remain inside during those hours. Registered campers heading to…

Waukesha County bans fireworks throughout its unincorporated towns by adopting Wis. Stat. § 167.10(1) as a county offense, with a local forfeiture of $25 to $100 per violation. Inside…

Recreational backyard fires are governed by your municipality. In the Town of Waukesha, outdoor fires must use an approved incinerator or a permit, stay 20 feet from structures, be…

Propane (LP-gas) storage is regulated statewide by Wisconsin SPS 340, which adopts NFPA 58 for container design, siting and clearances. Only the container's owner or an authorized…

Wisconsin state law (Wis. Stat. 101.145) requires a functional smoke detector in the basement, at the head of each stairway, and in or within 6 feet of each sleeping area. Landlords…

Wisconsin DNR rules and your municipality control open burning. You may burn only small amounts of dry leaves, clean untreated wood and unrecyclable paper; garbage, plastic, rubber and…

Waukesha County bars landfilling or burning yard waste without energy recovery, matching the statewide ban in Wis. Stat. § 287.07. Section 14-263(4) instead steers leaves, grass…

Waukesha County Code requires multi-family owners to supply enough recycling containers, meeting a 20-gallon-per-week-per-unit standard or a 2:1 trash-to-recycling ratio, and…

Wisconsin's littering statute, Wis. Stat. 287.81, bars dumping solid waste anywhere in Waukesha County's unincorporated towns, on a highway, in any waters of the state, on ice, or on…

Waukesha County requires occupants of single-family homes, two-to-four unit residences, multifamily buildings and non-residential properties to separate fifteen categories of…

State law, not just county ordinance, bans landfilling, burning or converting into fuel eleven everyday recyclables statewide, including aluminum cans, glass, newspaper, office paper…

Waukesha County Code Sec. 14-264(c)-(e) sets the mechanics behind pickup once collection is mandated: haulers must report tonnage twice a year, private haulers serving unincorporated…

Waukesha County Code Sec. 14-264 requires each member municipality, meaning a town for which the county is the state-designated "responsible unit" under Wis. Stat. 287.09(1), to either…

On ordinary residential lots there is no county tree-trimming permit. But within 35 feet of a lake or stream's ordinary high-water mark (OHWM), removal or destruction of buffer…

Waukesha County issues a Vegetation Removal permit for cutting trees within the Shoreland/Floodland jurisdiction, Environmental Corridors and Isolated Natural Resource Areas, and on…

Wisconsin law (Wis. Stat. 66.0407) makes destroying noxious weeds MANDATORY. Every landowner must destroy Canada thistle, leafy spurge, field bindweed and any locally-declared noxious…

Waukesha County sets no countywide night cap. Under Wis. Stat. 66.1014, a municipality may limit rentals of 6 to 30 consecutive days to no fewer than 180 days per year, and cannot ban…

Waukesha County sets no countywide STR permit. Statewide, anyone renting fewer than 30 days for more than 10 nights a year needs a DATCP tourist rooming house license; your city…

Waukesha County has no countywide primary-residence-only STR rule. Under Wis. Stat. 66.1014, a municipality may not prohibit renting a residential dwelling for 7 consecutive days or…

Wisconsin sets no statewide decibel limit. Noise at a Waukesha County STR is enforced through municipal noise/nuisance ordinances and Wisconsin's disorderly-conduct statute, Wis. Stat…

Waukesha County cannot levy a room tax. Under Wis. Stat. 66.0615 only municipalities (cities, villages, towns) may impose a room tax, capped at 8 percent. STRs also pay state and…

Waukesha County sets no countywide quiet-hours ordinance; your city, village or town does. In unincorporated towns the county nuisance and Wisconsin disorderly-conduct law apply. As an…

Loud vehicles are governed by Wisconsin state law, not a county ordinance. Wis. Stat. 347.39 requires an adequate muffler that prevents excessive or unusual noise and bans exhaust…

Waukesha County limits amplified sound in its parks by distance, not decibels: radios, disc players, musical instruments and similar devices may not be heard more than 15 feet away in…

Waukesha County's zoning code imposes no general fence-material palette for residential lots in unincorporated towns. Material rules appear only in specific contexts: refuse-disposal…

Waukesha County's zoning code excludes fences from its definition of "Structure," so ordinary offset and setback height rules do not apply to them, but a two-foot height cap kicks in…

Waukesha County regulates retaining walls as Structures. A wall five feet or greater from a lot line generally needs a Minor Grading zoning permit and an owner agreement; a wall closer…

The county treats a fence as excluded from its "Structure" definition, so no county zoning permit is required for an ordinary fence in unincorporated towns. Fences within 75 feet of a…

Boundary-fence disputes in Waukesha County are governed by Wisconsin's partition-fence law, not the county. On adjoining farm or grazing land, both owners must build and maintain the…

In unincorporated Waukesha County towns, a tobacco store is a permitted principal use only in the B-4 Community Business District. Opening one elsewhere in town zoning requires a…

Waukesha County confines Adult-Oriented Establishments to the A-B, B-4 and Q-1 zoning districts and bans them everywhere else. A local town or municipal license is required, and the…

Waukesha County requires a license from the county clerk before anyone organizes, promotes or advertises an assembly of 1,000 or more people expected to last 18 or more consecutive…

Waukesha County requires a written permit from the director of parks and land use before anyone can hold a planned or advertised public meeting, assembly, or sporting or athletic event…

In the Downtown Okauchee District, storefront window sign lettering cannot cover more than 40% of the window area under Section 33(h)3.C of the Shoreland Protection Ordinance. A permit…

Digital message boards are flatly prohibited in the Downtown Okauchee District: Section 33(h)4.B bans them outright, along with any internally illuminated signage and blinking or…

Waukesha County's town zoning sign chapter does not set specific garage-sale-sign rules, and it prohibits signs in the public right-of-way that create a traffic hazard. Garage-sale…

Wisconsin state law protects political signs. Under Wis. Stat. 12.04(3), no county or municipality may regulate the size, shape, placement, or content of a political-message sign on…

Waukesha County caps impervious surface at 15% of any lot within 300 feet of a navigable waterway's ordinary high water mark, rising to 30% with an approved mitigation plan, and up to…

Waukesha County caps house height at 35 feet on lots narrower than 65 feet, or 44 feet to the peak (32 feet to the eave on a pitched roof) on wider lots, while detached accessory…

In unincorporated towns zoned by Waukesha County, typical residential setbacks are a 50-foot front-yard setback (35 feet from a Local Road), a 20-foot minimum offset from side and rear…

A solar energy system in unincorporated Waukesha County that cannot meet the county's normal accessory-structure setbacks needs a special exception or variance from the five-member…

Waukesha County's operative outdoor lighting standard requires off-street parking area lights to use cutoff or decorative fixtures that avoid glare onto neighboring properties, with…

Off-street parking lighting in unincorporated Waukesha County towns cannot exceed 0.2 footcandles measured at a residential property line, or 0.5 footcandles at any other property…

Waukesha County bans riding or parking electric scooters, along with segways, hoverboards and unicycles, on any bridle path, hiking trail, beach, playground, picnic area or…

Waukesha County confines bicycles to designated trails inside its park system and requires riders to travel single file in the extreme right-hand lane of park drives at all times…

Waukesha County lets Class 1 electric bicycles use its park trails the same as regular bikes but bars Class 2 and Class 3 electric bicycles outright. Section 14-165(a)-(b) ties the…

Waukesha County requires a wall or fence at least four feet high around an in-ground pool, but an above-ground pool is exempt if its own walls are at least four feet above grade and…

Above-ground pools are permitted in most Waukesha County zoning districts. No separate fence is needed if the pool walls are at least four feet above grade and extend at least five…

A guesthouse in unincorporated Waukesha County can never be leased or rented for human occupancy: Sec. 3.20 limits it to occasional occupancy by the homeowner's guests, caps it at one…

Unincorporated Waukesha County towns allow an in-law unit as a conditional use in Residential, Agricultural, B-1 and B-2 districts, but it is capped at 1,000 square feet and two…

Waukesha County town zoning effectively blocks most tiny homes: any single-family dwelling must have 1,100 sq ft overall floor area (850 sq ft on the first floor), and…

In unincorporated Waukesha County towns, a lot is limited to two accessory buildings and a total footprint of 600 sq ft (lots under 14,000 sq ft) or 750 sq ft / 2% of lot area on…

In unincorporated Waukesha County towns where the Shoreland Protection Ordinance applies, marinas and boat liveries cannot extend piers past the pierhead line, and total pier length…

Waukesha County Code Sec. 14-333 requires a stormwater permit before any land-disturbing project in the unincorporated towns that disturbs 3,000 square feet or moves more than 400…

Wisconsin Statute 87.30 requires every county and municipality with FEMA-mapped floodplain to adopt a floodplain zoning ordinance meeting Wis. Admin. Code ch. NR 116 and 44 CFR 59-72…

Waukesha County requires a Storm Water Permit before any land-disturbing project on unincorporated land clears 3,000 square feet, moves more than 400 cubic yards of material, or adds…

In unincorporated Waukesha County's floodfringe areas, new and substantially improved residential structures must have the lowest floor built two feet above the regional flood…

Wisconsin, not Waukesha County, licenses in-home child care. Under Wis. Stat. 48.65, anyone caring for four or more children under age seven for less than 24 hours a day must be…

Unincorporated Waukesha County towns bar a Home Occupation from conducting any retail or wholesale business on the premises, meaning no walk-in customers buying goods at the residence…

Wisconsin, not Waukesha County, sets cottage-food rules. Non-hazardous home baked goods may be sold direct to consumers without a license. Home-canned high-acid foods (pickles) can be…

Waukesha County zoning allows home occupations and professional offices as accessory uses in residential districts when incident to the residential use and conducted in the same…

In the unincorporated towns of Waukesha County, a home-based business is limited to a nameplate no larger than three square feet under the county's Basic Zoning Ordinance. Full…

In the unincorporated towns, the county zoning administrator inspects construction in two stages: a zoning permit before work starts and a follow-up inspection within 10 days of a…

No building can be erected, structurally altered, or relocated in an unincorporated Waukesha County town without a town building permit, and the town cannot issue that permit until the…

For single-family homes, grilling is generally unrestricted. On multi-family premises the Town of Waukesha bans charcoal, propane and open-flame grills except on the ground floor at…

Waukesha County requires a written permit from the Parks and Land Use Department before anyone launches or lands a drone inside a county park. Section 14-161 groups unmanned aircraft…

Waukesha County bars minors under 17 from loitering in public places between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless a parent or guardian is present, under Code Sec. 13-152. A separate, newer rule…

Waukesha County adopts the state marijuana possession statute as a county forfeiture offense rather than a criminal charge. Under Code Sec. 13-102, a first possession violation of Wis…

Waukesha County bans smoking outright in every building and facility it controls, and within 40 feet of any building entrance on county grounds, with only a handful of designated…

Waukesha County bans possessing or drinking from an open container of beer or liquor on any public thoroughfare, a term the code defines broadly to include county trunk highways…

In the Downtown Okauchee District of the Town of Oconomowoc, any new building, an addition over 50% of an existing building's footprint, or an exterior color or material change…

The A-1 Agricultural District, the base zoning for most unincorporated Waukesha County farmland, permits farm uses by right but scales animal-keeping to lot size: small lots are…

Nobody may build a driveway or alter ditches, culverts, signs, berms, fences, landscaping or retaining walls inside a Waukesha County trunk highway right-of-way without a Public Works…