Sheboygan, WI Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 66-13 applies to anyone who owns, occupies, uses or permits use of any property in the city, and it carves out no exception for land without a building. An owner of a vacant parcel must keep it in a clean and sanitary condition, free from any noxious odor or the accumulation of rubbish, garbage, debris, stagnant water, insect or rodent harborage, or abandoned vehicles. A violation is declared a nuisance, and the city can proceed by citation, by the abatement process of Article IV, or both.

Section 66-2(2) sets the forfeiture for any chapter section outside Article III at $50 to $500, with imprisonment in default not exceeding 90 days. Abatement runs on two tracks. Under section 66-100, when an officer finds imminent danger to public health, safety, peace, morals or decency, the notice orders abatement within not less than 24 hours or greater than seven calendar days. Under section 66-101, a nuisance without imminent danger gets a notice of not less than 15 calendar days, or an abatement plan hearing with the city attorney's office.

Section 66-102 requires an attempt at personal service, then posting on the premises and first class mail. Section 66-103 requires a person affected to apply to the circuit court before the abatement date or be forever barred. Section 66-107 defines the officer as any peace officer, police officer, fire inspector, building inspector or housing inspector, and requires an inspection before action. Section 66-7 charges the whole cost of city abatement plus 50 percent plus applicable sales tax, with a minimum fee of $25.00, to the owner or assesses it against the real estate.

Weeds and grasses over 12 inches are handled by section 66-42. Section 26-45(a) separately requires owners of vacant land who live outside Sheboygan County and the adjoining counties to appoint a local operator with a Sheboygan County address who can accept notice of violations, and to give written notice of that operator to the building inspection department. The text is as printed in the Municode edition current to March 8, 2023.