Sauk County, WI Fence Regulations: Retaining Walls (2026)

Sec. 7.100(2) groups retaining walls with platforms, walks and drives as improvements the county lets encroach into any yard, including a required setback area, so long as the wall's top edge is no more than six inches above the average ground level on the abutting side. Below that threshold, no setback applies and no land use permit is triggered for the wall itself. Once a retaining wall's top rises above six inches, it falls out of the Sec. 7.100(2) exemption and must instead satisfy the ordinary yard setbacks in the Sec.

7.094 dimensional table for its zoning district: 10 feet from the side and front lot lines and 25 feet from the rear line in the residential and agricultural districts, or 10 feet on all three sides in the commercial and industrial districts. Sec. 7.100(3)(d) separately allows a retaining wall inside a vision clearance triangle that holds ground at or below its natural level, exempting it from the triangle's usual height limits so long as it does not block a motorist's sight line. A land use permit from the Zoning Administrator is required under Sec.

7.153 before any wall that no longer qualifies for the six-inch exemption is built, and a site plan showing the wall's location relative to lot lines and setbacks must accompany the application.