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Zoning Code

Zoning Code

WHY?

The Columbia County Zoning Ordinance was adopted in 1961 and codified in its present format in 1971 and amended many times to delete and add elements.  For many years there have been serious concerns about the ability of the Zoning Ordinance to address current land use issues and community concerns.  Faced with the need to update its Ordinance and develop a Comprehensive Plan mandated by the State of Wisconsin, the consensus of policy makers was to develop the Plan first so it could be used to assist and provide direction to update the Ordinance.  The County and many towns have adopted their Comprehensive Plans so we began the process to update the Ordinance.

WHO?

The new Zoning Code was created by Staff from the Planning & Zoning Department, a consultant (Vandewalle & Associates, Inc.) that was hired by the County, the Planning & Zoning Committee and the Town Advisory Committee.

The Town Advisory Committee are citizens that were selected by their towns to serve in an advisory capacity in the process to update the County Zoning Ordinance. 

To help answer questions relating to the Columbia County Zoning Code (Draft) and provide a forum to share comments, concerns, and suggestions from other towns, a series of Quadrant Meetings were held in January, 2011. 

WHEN?

The process to create the new Zoning Code began in October, 2008.  It is was adopted by the Planning & Zoning Committee in June, 2011 and The Columbia County Board of Supervisors on March 21, 2012.  Each Town Board will then review and adopt the new Zoning Code and zoning maps.  Please refer to the proposed timeline for more detail.