Buying Land in Washburn County, Wisconsin

Zoning: county-zoned in most towns, with three confirmed exceptions

The Washburn County Zoning Department (Court House, PO Box 506, 10 Fourth Avenue, Shell Lake, WI 54871; (715) 468-4690) administers the county's comprehensive and shoreland zoning, floodplain zoning, subdivision control, nonmetallic mining oversight, and POWTS (septic) regulation. The county's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance applies in 18 of the county's 21 towns, covering the great majority of unincorporated Washburn County.

Three towns are the confirmed exception: Bashaw, Evergreen, and Trego are not covered by the county's Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance outside the statewide-mandated shoreland band. The Town of Bashaw's own website states directly that the town "is not included in Washburn County Zoning, so no building permits are required" for a site more than 1,000 feet from water; the Town of Trego's site similarly confirms it is "not included in the Washburn County Zoning ordinances" while still being subject to Shoreland Zoning and state regulations. This research pass could not confirm whether Bashaw, Evergreen, or Trego has since adopted its own separate town zoning ordinance to govern non-shoreland land -- if you're evaluating a parcel in one of these three towns, ask the specific town directly whether any town-level zoning exists, rather than assuming either a county rule or a complete absence of zoning.

Regardless of which general-zoning regime applies (or doesn't) to a given town, Washburn County's shoreland zoning ordinance -- covering all unincorporated land within 1,000 feet of a navigable lake, pond, or flowage and 300 feet of a navigable river, stream, or creek, per Division 27 of the county's Zoning Code -- applies uniformly across all 21 towns, including Bashaw, Evergreen, and Trego, since towns cannot opt out of the statewide NR 115 mandate.

Nearly 1,000 lakes, and a federal river corridor on top of ordinary shoreland rules

Washburn County markets itself around its lake-country identity: nearly 1,000 lakes, over 30,000 acres of fishable water, and more than 800 miles of lakeshore. Shell Lake itself (2,513 acres, up to 36 feet deep) anchors the county seat, and Long Lake (3,300 acres, stretching 19 miles) is known as the "Walleye Capital of Wisconsin." As with any Wisconsin county this lake-dense, expect the statewide 1,000-foot shoreland band to reach a large share of the county's land base -- confirm a specific parcel's distance to the nearest navigable lake before assuming standard, non-shoreland setbacks apply.

The Namekagon River, which flows through Washburn and Sawyer Counties, is one of the two rivers making up the federally-designated St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (a unit of the National Park System, alongside the St. Croix River itself on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border). Federal designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act generally requires the counties along a protected river corridor to maintain land-use controls -- building setbacks, vegetative buffers, restrictions on development visible from the river -- that go beyond ordinary shoreland standards, in order to preserve the river's undeveloped character for recreational users. This research pass could not confirm the precise Wisconsin administrative code mechanism applying these additional standards specifically to the Namekagon corridor in Washburn County (as distinct from the Lower St. Croix segment, which is governed by NR 118); ask Washburn County Zoning directly what applies to a specific Namekagon-adjacent parcel.

A small, aging, but growing lake-country population

Washburn County's year-round population (roughly 16,850 as of 2024, with a median age near 53) is small, but it grew a notable 7.4% between 2019 and 2024 -- consistent with the broader pattern of second-home and retirement in-migration seen across Wisconsin's northern lake counties. The county's largest employment sectors are manufacturing, retail trade, and health care/social assistance, alongside the tourism and recreation economy its lakes support.

Septic, GIS/records, and agricultural extension

The Washburn County Zoning Department handles POWTS (septic) permitting under the statewide SPS 383 standard as part of its broader zoning function. The county's Register of Deeds ((715) 468-4616; 10 4th Ave., Shell Lake, WI 54871) holds recorded deeds, easements, and plats, and the county's GIS/Land Information office ((715) 468-4656) maintains parcel mapping and land records.

UW-Madison Division of Extension maintains a Washburn County office supporting agriculture, natural resources, and community-development programming for the county.