Buying Land in Marinette County, Wisconsin

Zoning: no county ordinance -- each of the 18 towns is on its own

Marinette County's Land Information Department (1926 Hall Ave, Marinette, WI 54143; (715) 732-7541) administers shoreland zoning, floodplain and wetland review, and structure-setback questions countywide, plus POWTS (septic) permitting -- but the county has no general zoning ordinance of its own covering land outside those state-mandated overlays. Instead, general zoning is handled independently across the county's 18 towns (Amberg, Athelstane, Beaver, Beecher, Dunbar, Goodman, Grover, Lake, Middle Inlet, Niagara, Pembine, Peshtigo, Porterfield, Pound, Silver Cliff, Stephenson, Wagner, and Wausaukee). The county's Land Information Department hosts a public directory of each town's own zoning ordinances rather than administering a single countywide code, and this research pass directly confirmed independent, town-adopted zoning ordinances for three of the 18: the Town of Grover (its own Chapter 10 zoning ordinance, whose zoning administrator refers shoreland/wetland/floodplain-area building-permit applicants to the county for approval before a town permit can issue), the Town of Pound (its own Chapter 10 zoning ordinance), and the Town of Lake (Title 13 of its own code of ordinances).

This research pass did not individually confirm the zoning status of all 18 towns -- if a parcel sits in one not named above, contact that town directly (or Marinette County Land Information, which can point you to the right office) rather than assuming either a town ordinance or no zoning applies. Regardless of which town governs general zoning, Marinette County's own shoreland zoning ordinance applies countywide within the statewide NR 115 shoreland zone (1,000 feet of a lake, pond, or flowage; 300 feet of a navigable river or stream) -- and with a Green Bay shoreline, the Menominee River border with Michigan, and numerous inland lakes and streams, that shoreland layer reaches a meaningful share of the county.

PFAS groundwater contamination: a major, current, well-documented case

From 1962 until 2017, Tyco Fire Products and its predecessor Ansul Company used PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) in firefighting research and testing at Tyco's 380-acre Fire Technology Center near the City of Marinette. Decades of foam discharge contaminated soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater at and around the site, with sampling showing PFOA (one of the most-studied PFAS compounds) as high as 254,000 parts per trillion in on-site groundwater -- and a documented contamination plume extending north into the neighboring Town of Peshtigo, where hundreds of private wells have been tested. As of the most recent reporting reviewed for this page, 236 of 776 wells tested by Tyco or the Wisconsin DNR showed PFAS levels above the state's groundwater health-advisory standards, and the DNR has continued expanding well-testing and drinking-water advisories in the Town of Peshtigo as newer, stricter PFAS groundwater standards take effect.

The State of Wisconsin sued Tyco and its parent company Johnson Controls in 2022, alleging the companies knew about the contamination as early as 2013 but did not notify the state until 2017. In June 2026, the state reached a $10 million settlement: Tyco must pay into a state PFAS cleanup trust fund and continue providing affected residents with clean water -- bottled water, point-of-entry treatment systems, or new deep wells -- for up to 20 years. An on-site groundwater extraction-and-treatment system has been operating since 2022 (more than 450 million gallons treated as of recent reporting), reducing but not eliminating PFAS discharge from the site. See our dedicated well-water page for what this means specifically if you're evaluating a well or a parcel anywhere near the City of Marinette or the Town of Peshtigo.

Green Bay shoreline, the Michigan border, and the Waterfalls Capital of Wisconsin

Marinette County occupies Wisconsin's northeastern corner, bordering Michigan's Upper Peninsula along the Menominee River and touching Green Bay/Lake Michigan at its southeastern tip near the City of Marinette (across the river from Menominee, Michigan). The county brands itself the "Waterfalls Capital of Wisconsin," with 15 documented waterfalls -- most located within the county park system and connected by a self-guided waterfall tour promoted by both the county and Travel Wisconsin. As with any Wisconsin parcel near a lake, river, or flowage, confirm whether a specific property falls within the statewide 1,000-foot/300-foot shoreland zone described above before assuming town-level general zoning alone governs it -- a genuinely relevant question in a county with this much river, lake, and Green Bay shoreline frontage.

Septic, GIS, records, and other departments to know

Marinette County's Land Information Department (same office as zoning/shoreland above, 1926 Hall Ave, Marinette; (715) 732-7541) also administers POWTS (septic) sanitary permits, soil evaluations, and inspections under the statewide SPS 383 standard, and handles GIS mapping and parcel data through the county's Land Information Portal. The Register of Deeds ((715) 732-7550) holds recorded deeds, easements, and plats; the County Treasurer ((715) 732-7430) handles property tax payment and assessment support; and UW-Madison Division of Extension's Marinette County office (1926 Hall Ave, Marinette; (715) 732-7514) supports agriculture, natural resources, and community-development programming.