Zoning in Green Lake County, Wisconsin: A Town-by-Town Breakdown

The 6 zoned towns and the 4 unzoned towns

Of Green Lake County's 10 towns, 6 have adopted the county's general zoning ordinance (Chapter 350 of the county code): the Town of Berlin, the Town of Brooklyn, the Town of Green Lake, the Town of Mackford, the Town of Manchester, and the Town of Marquette. In these towns, county zoning districts, permitted-use tables, and conditional-use-permit review apply to land-use and building decisions the way a buyer would expect from a typical Wisconsin county-zoned town.

The remaining 4 towns -- the Town of Kingston, the Town of Princeton, the Town of Saint Marie, and the Town of Seneca -- have not adopted the county's general zoning ordinance. This does not necessarily mean these towns have their own separate town-level general zoning ordinance instead (this research pass found no evidence that any of the 4 has adopted one); it appears to mean these towns simply have no general zoning-district map or use table at all, county or town, for most land uses.

What still applies in the 4 unzoned towns -- it's not a regulatory vacuum

"Unzoned" does not mean unregulated. Green Lake County's zoning ordinance describes a land-use permit as required "within the zoned Towns or within the jurisdiction of the ordinances this Department administers" -- meaning the county's other, non-general-zoning ordinances still reach the 4 unzoned towns. Specifically, this includes the county's land-division ordinance (governing how a parcel can be split via certified survey map or subdivision plat), its shoreland zoning ordinance (implementing statewide NR 115 standards, which no town can opt out of regardless of general-zoning status), its floodplain zoning ordinance, and its nonmetallic mining reclamation-plan requirement.

What does NOT apply in the unzoned towns, based on this research pass's findings, is conditional-use-permit review -- a mechanism specific to general zoning districts -- meaning a use that would need a conditional-use permit in one of the 6 zoned towns may not face that same review step in Kingston, Princeton, Saint Marie, or Seneca. That can cut both ways for a buyer: potentially less procedural friction for an unusual land use, but also less predictability about what a neighboring parcel might be used for, since there's no zoning-district use table constraining it the same way.

What to actually check before buying in this county

1. Confirm which of the 10 towns your parcel is in, and cross-check it against this page's list -- Berlin, Brooklyn, Green Lake, Mackford, Manchester, and Marquette are county-zoned; Kingston, Princeton, Saint Marie, and Seneca are not.
2. If your town is one of the 4 unzoned towns, ask Green Lake County Land Use Planning & Zoning directly what does apply to your specific plan (land division, shoreland, floodplain, or nonmetallic mining reclamation) rather than assuming an absence of general zoning means an absence of all rules.
3. If your town is one of the 6 zoned towns, confirm the specific zoning district and its permitted/conditional uses for your parcel, the same as you would in any other county-zoned Wisconsin town.
4. Regardless of which category your town falls into, separately confirm shoreland-zone status (1,000 ft of a lake/pond/flowage, 300 ft of a river/stream) given this county's concentration of lakes -- it applies in every town, zoned or not.
5. Confirm this breakdown is still current directly with the county before relying on it, since a town's zoning-adoption status can change through its own town-board action.