Milton, WI Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Milton's Chapter 78 zoning ordinance builds agricultural protection into the (RH-35) Rural Holding District rather than a standalone right-to-farm ordinance. Sec. 70(1) states the district's intent is to permit very low-density single-family development at no more than one dwelling unit for every 35 gross acres, and describes the district as a "holding zone" meant to preserve productive agricultural lands in the long term, protect existing farm operations from encroachment by incompatible uses, promote further investment in farming, and maintain eligibility for farming incentive programs until urban services justify a more intensive rezoning.

The district permits agricultural services, cultivation, community gardens, husbandry and intensive agriculture by right or as a conditional use, alongside compatible uses like bed and breakfasts and artisan production shops. That agricultural focus is reinforced elsewhere in Chapter 78: Sec. 26(1) bars new agricultural service uses from locating in or adjacent to an existing residential subdivision, and separately requires new husbandry and intensive-agriculture buildings and outdoor containments to sit at least 300 feet from residentially zoned property, a buffer that runs both ways to keep farm and subdivision uses apart.

RH-35 also allows a one-time lot split, carving a new 20,000-square-foot to 2-acre lot from a larger parent parcel of 1 to 70 acres so a farmstead's existing residence can be sold off while keeping the remaining acreage in agricultural use.