Mount Pleasant, WI Short-Term Rentals: Noise Rules (2026)

The Village of Mount Pleasant lies in Racine County and is incorporated under Wis. Stat. Ch. 61. Its zoning authority is Wis. Stat. Sec. 61.35, which adopts the city zoning enabling statute (Sec. 62.23). Wis. Stat. Sec. 66.1014 limits a Wisconsin municipality's authority to regulate residential rentals of 6 to 29 consecutive days: a village may require a license, may require professional cleaning between rentals, and may impose any reasonable health, safety, building or licensing rule that applies to comparable dwellings, but it may not prohibit short-term rentals outright. Mount Pleasant's Chapter 70 (Taxation), Article III imposes an 8 percent room tax on the gross receipts of any 'hotel,' a defined term that expressly includes 'tourist homes, tourist houses or courts, lodging houses, rooming houses ... and any other building or group of buildings in which accommodations are available to the public,' rented for less than one continuous month. Operators must file a monthly return with the Village Treasurer. Although Mount Pleasant does not publish a separate STR permit ordinance, every operator must still hold a state Tourist Rooming House license under Wis. Stat. Sec. 97.605 and Wis. Admin. Code Ch. ATCP 72, comply with Mount Pleasant's Chapter 46 (Licenses and Permits) where applicable, and comply with all Chapter 90 zoning standards as a 'household living' or 'lodging' use. On noise, the controlling provisions are in Division 90-450, Performance Standards. Sec. 90-450.70 prohibits operation of any motor vehicle or recreational vehicle 'without a functioning muffler or in such a manner as to create unreasonable or excessive noise' and prohibits any activity in zoning districts other than the BP (Business Park) or M (Manufacturing) Districts that produces a sound level at the property boundary exceeding the limits in Table 90-450-3. Because the great majority of Mount Pleasant STRs are sited in R-zoned (residential) districts, Table 90-450-3's residential limits apply. Construction-related and emergency exemptions are available only with the prior written approval of the Community Development Director, Public Works Director, or Village Administrator and only after a written plan is filed with the Village. Enforcement is by the Mount Pleasant Police Department, with violations also constituting a public nuisance under Chapter 62. Sec. 90-450.70 was added to the Code as part of the comprehensive zoning rewrite that took effect June 8, 2020, and it has been amended through subsequent ordinances, most notably Ord. No. 8-2023, which repealed the older Sec. 54-5 unreasonable-noise standard.