Buying Land in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin

All Six Towns Run Their Own Zoning -- The County Has No Operative General Zoning

Case-by-case / verify locally

Ozaukee County has no confirmed general zoning ordinance covering unincorporated land in its towns. Each of the county's six towns -- Belgium, Cedarburg, Fredonia, Grafton, Port Washington, and Saukville -- administers its own independent zoning ordinance under town authority (Wis. Stat. sec. 60.61/60.62). This means the FIRST call for any zoning question on an Ozaukee County parcel is that parcel's own town, not the county -- a real reversal from counties where the opposite default applies. See our dedicated zoning page for what this means in practice.

County Zoning Authority Is Limited to Shoreland, Floodplain, and County Land

Generally favorable

Ozaukee County's own confirmed zoning role is the statewide-mandated Shoreland Protection Ordinance (Chapter 19, NR 115) and Floodplain Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 18) in unincorporated shoreland/floodplain areas -- rules that apply regardless of a town's own general zoning, since towns cannot opt out of the statewide shoreland mandate -- plus a separate ordinance covering only county-owned land. If a parcel is near Lake Michigan, an inland lake, or a mapped floodplain, both the town's general zoning AND the county's shoreland/floodplain rules can apply at once.

A Large, Active Land Deal Is Reshaping Part of Port Washington

Case-by-case / verify locally

Landowners in the Town of Port Washington have reported a commercial real estate agent securing rights, on behalf of an undisclosed buyer described as a semiconductor manufacturer, to purchase between 1,000 and 2,000 acres of mostly farmland at roughly $40,000 per acre, with sellers bound by non-disclosure agreements. This is a live, unfolding land-market event as of this research pass -- if you're evaluating land in the northern part of the Town of Port Washington specifically, confirm current status directly rather than relying on this summary alone.