2025 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 91 - Farmland preservation.
91.48 - Rezoning of land out of a farmland preservation zoning district.
91.48 Rezoning of land out of a farmland preservation zoning district.
(1) A political subdivision with a certified farmland preservation zoning ordinance may rezone land out of a farmland preservation zoning district without having the rezoning certified under s. 91.36, if the political subdivision finds all of the following, after public hearing:
(a) The land is better suited for a use not allowed in the farmland preservation zoning district.
(b) The rezoning is consistent with any applicable comprehensive plan.
(c) The rezoning is substantially consistent with the county certified farmland preservation plan.
(d) The rezoning will not substantially impair or limit current or future agricultural use of surrounding parcels of land that are zoned for or legally restricted to agricultural use.
(2) A political subdivision shall by March 1 of each year provide to the department a report of the number of acres that the political subdivision has rezoned out of a farmland preservation zoning district under sub. (1) during the previous year and a map that clearly shows the location of those acres.
(3) A political subdivision that is not a county shall by March 1 of each year submit a copy of the information that it reports to the department under sub. (2) to the county in which the political subdivision is located.
(4) If a political subdivision fails to comply with sub. (2), the department may withdraw the certification granted under s. 91.06, 2007 stats., or under s. 91.36 for the political subdivision’s farmland preservation zoning ordinance.
History: 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 32; 2011 a. 257 s. 56.
Sub. (1) unambiguously imposes a condition that must be satisfied to rezone land out of a certified farmland preservation zoning district. The findings identified in sub. (1) are “discretionary” only in the sense that the political subdivision need not make them if it opts to instead ask the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to certify the rezoning. If the political subdivision does not have the rezoning certified by the department, and the political subdivision’s designated zoning agency makes the required findings and the political subdivision adopts them, the political subdivision has satisfied the requirement that it make findings under sub. (1). Defend Town Plans, U.A. v. Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, 2024 WI App 67, 414 Wis. 2d 271, 14 N.W.3d 665, 23-1996.
