Technical Paper
Zoning Without Permitted Uses - Case Study of Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling: Town of Rhine versus Bizzell/Manitowoc Area Off-Highway Vehicle Association
2009-05-19
2009-01-2245
The property owners, an off-highway motor vehicle club, purchased an abandoned quarry to ride off highway motorcycles (OHM's), snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles (ATV's). The neighbors complained about the noise and tried to stop further riding of recreational vehicles in the quarry. As a result, the town filed a lawsuit against the property owners, citing several zoning code violations, including the fact that the property owners did not obtain a conditional-use permit, which the zoning ordinance requires for any use of the property. This paper reviews the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling finding the zoning ordinance unconstitutional because there were no permitted uses of the property, just several conditional uses. As written at that time, owners of property within this zoning classification could not use their property for any purpose (recreation, hunting, etc.) unless they applied for and obtained a conditional-use permit.