Zoning in Ashland County, Wisconsin: Madeline Island's Unique Shoreland Authority

Why Madeline Island needed its own rule in the first place

Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, is entirely within the Town of La Pointe -- part of Ashland County, but reachable from the county's mainland only by ferry (or, in winter, an ice road) and, by car, only via a drive through neighboring Bayfield County. That geographic isolation is central to why the island ended up with its own legislatively-created zoning exception.

Wisconsin's general rule for shoreland zoning follows a "first in time" principle established by appellate case law: a town cannot adopt its own shoreland zoning ordinance if its county already adopted a shoreland zoning ordinance first. Ashland County adopted its shoreland zoning roughly six months before the Town of La Pointe attempted to adopt one of its own, which under that precedent blocked La Pointe's independent shoreland ordinance -- even though the town wanted stricter shoreland rules for the island than the county's ordinance provided.

A law written for one town: 2015 Wisconsin Act 178

In response, then-state Senator Janet Bewley introduced Senate Bill 104, narrowly drafted to apply only to Madeline Island, specifically because of its unique situation -- an island community reachable only by ferry and a drive through another county to reach the rest of its own county. The bill passed the Wisconsin Senate and became part of 2015 Wisconsin Act 178, creating a specific statutory exception allowing the Town of La Pointe to enact its own shoreland zoning ordinance -- as long as it is more restrictive than Ashland County's shoreland zoning, not less.

In the years since, the town and county worked out an Intermunicipal Agreement establishing how zoning is actually administered on the island: La Pointe's own Planning & Zoning Administrator administers and enforces the applicable Ashland County ordinances directly -- shoreland zoning, floodplain zoning, subdivision review, and POWTS/septic permitting -- rather than routing island permit applications through the mainland Ashland County zoning office.

What this means for a Madeline Island buyer

1. Call the Town of La Pointe's own Planning & Zoning Administrator, not the mainland Ashland County zoning office, for any Madeline Island parcel -- the intermunicipal agreement routes island permitting through the town directly.
2. Ask whether the island's shoreland setback or other shoreland standards differ from (and are stricter than) the standard Ashland County shoreland ordinance that would apply to a comparable mainland lakefront parcel, since Act 178 specifically allows La Pointe to be more restrictive.
3. For a POWTS/septic permit on the island, confirm the current process with the town's administrator -- it's administered locally under the intermunicipal agreement even though it draws on county-level SPS 383 standards.
4. Don't assume island zoning tracks whatever you may have read about general Ashland County zoning districts and permitted uses on the mainland -- the island's zoning ordinance, while drawing on county ordinance structure, is the town's own adopted document.