Wausau, WI Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Parking Rules (2026)

Wausau Municipal Code Section 23.03.10(14) sets a bedroom-based parking formula for every vacation rental home approved under the City's 2019 zoning rewrite: subsection (f) requires "one space per each bedroom" and states plainly that "all guest vehicles shall be parked on site." That on-site requirement means street parking does not satisfy a vacation rental's obligation: guests generate the demand and the property itself must absorb it, unlike the ordinary parking rules for a standard single-family home. Subsection (g) addresses how that parking can be arranged: "a driveway may contain one or more legal parking spaces," and driveways qualify as legal "stacked" parking as long as "each driveway parking space is no less than eight feet in width and 18 feet in depth." Stacked spaces let guests park nose-to-tail in a single driveway rather than requiring a separate paved stall for every bedroom, which matters for older Wausau lots near the Wisconsin River and downtown where lot widths do not always accommodate side-by-side parking.

Because parking compliance is one of the conditions attached to a vacation rental home's conditional use permit, the Inspections and Zoning Division checks it alongside the bedroom count, occupancy cap and night limit whenever a complaint or renewal review comes in; a rental that cannot fit its required spaces on site, whether in a garage, driveway, or striped lot area, does not meet Section 23.03.10(14) regardless of how compliant it is on noise or occupancy.