Walworth County, WI Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Walworth County's zoning ordinance treats piers, boat hoists and boathouses as the only accessory structures the Land Use and Resource Management Department will allow inside the shore yard under Code § 74-38(2). The shoreland regulations in § 74-174(B)(3)(a) then set the actual construction standards for a boathouse built within the ordinarily required 75-foot ordinary-high-water-mark setback. On a lot with slopes of 12 percent or less, the boathouse cannot extend below the ordinary high water mark, must sit inside the county's designated viewing and access corridor, cannot exceed 400 square feet of horizontal area, and its side walls are capped at ten feet measured to the eave with a roof pitch no steeper than 4:12.

On steeper ground, over 12 percent slope, the same design rules apply but the footprint drops to 150 square feet. A boathouse can never be closer than three feet to a side lot line, cannot include a fireplace, plumbing, heating or cooking facilities, and cannot double as a deck unless it already has a flat roof without side walls or screens. Only one boathouse is allowed per lot as an accessory structure, and it is limited exclusively to storing watercraft and marine equipment: using it for human habitation or any commercial purpose is not permitted. The County Zoning Administrator in Land Use and Resource Management reviews and issues the waterfront zoning permit that authorizes construction.