Wausau, WI Parking Rules: Curb Color Rules (2026)

30(2) of the Wausau Municipal Code, titled 'Sign limitations,' bars anyone from pasting, taping, stapling, or otherwise fastening paper or other material to, or painting, stenciling, or otherwise writing or coloring, any object, vegetation, or pavement located within a street right-of-way; it also forbids defacing any such object, vegetation, or pavement in any manner. Because the code defines street right-of-way broadly elsewhere in Article IX to include the entire public sidewalk and street terrace area, the ban reaches curb painting, sidewalk chalking or stenciling, and markings on street trees or boulevard grass, not just the paved travel lane.

The rule sits inside the sign article because it is most often invoked against unauthorized advertising, house numbers, or graffiti-style markings placed on public infrastructure rather than a proper sign, but its text is not limited to commercial speech. The single carve-out is narrow: painting may be allowed on curbs, but only when the Common Council approves it after receiving a favorable recommendation from the Director of Public Works, who must first investigate a written request. That sequence, a written request, a Public Works investigation, a favorable recommendation, and a Common Council vote, means there is no staff-level or administrative path to a curb-painting permit; every approval requires the governing body's sign-off. 30's regulations apply to signs and markings in all zoning districts alike.