PLATTING LANDS AND RECORDING AND VACATING PLATS
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
236.01 Purpose of chapter.
236.015 Applicability of chapter.
236.03 Survey and plat; when required.
APPROVAL OF PLAT
236.10 Approvals necessary.
236.11 Submission of plats for approval.
236.12 Procedure for approval of plats.
236.13 Basis for approval.
LAYOUT REQUIREMENTS
236.15 Surveying requirements.
236.16 Layout requirements.
236.18 Wisconsin coordinate system.
FINAL PLAT AND DATA
236.21 Certificates to accompany plat.
RECORDING OF PLATS
236.26 Notification to approving authorities.
236.27 Filing of copy of plat.
236.28 Description of lots in recorded plat.
236.292 Certain restrictions void.
236.293 Restrictions for public benefit.
236.295 Correction instruments.
PENALTIES AND REMEDIES
236.30 Forfeiture for improper recording.
236.31 Penalties and remedies for transfer of lots without recorded plat.
236.32 Penalty for disturbing or not placing monuments.
236.33 Division of land into small parcels in cities of the first class prohibited; penalty.
236.335 Prohibited subdividing; forfeit.
236.34 Recording of certified survey map; use in changing boundaries; use in conveyancing.
SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS
236.35 Sale of lands abutting on private way outside corporate limits of municipality.
VACATING AND ALTERING PLATS
236.40 Who may apply for vacation of plat.
236.42 Hearing and order.
236.43 Vacation or alteration of areas dedicated to the public.
236.445 Discontinuance of streets by county board.
SUBDIVISION REGULATION AND REGIONAL PLANS
236.45 Local subdivision regulation.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
236.50 Date chapter applies; curative provisions as to plats before that date.
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
236.01
236.01
Purpose of chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to regulate the subdivision of land to promote public health, safety and general welfare; to further the orderly layout and use of land; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to lessen congestion in the streets and highways; to provide for adequate light and air; to facilitate adequate provision for water, sewerage and other public requirements; to provide for proper ingress and egress; and to promote proper monumenting of land subdivided and conveyancing by accurate legal description. The approvals to be obtained by the subdivider as required in this chapter shall be based on requirements designed to accomplish the aforesaid purposes.
236.01 Annotation
Discussion of the circumstances under which the statutory platting standards set forth in 236.16 (1), (2) and (3) and 236.20 (4) (d), may be waived or varied, with specific reference to the approval of island subdivision plats. 62 Atty. Gen. 315.
236.01 Annotation
"Outlots" under ch. 236 discussed. 66 Atty. Gen. 238.
236.01 Annotation
Chapter 236 discussed in reference to the platting, replatting and division of lots within a recorded subdivision. 67 Atty. Gen. 121.
236.015
236.015
Applicability of chapter. This chapter does not apply to transportation project plats that conform to
s. 84.095.
236.015 History
History: 1997 a. 282.
236.02
236.02
Definitions. In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter clearly requires otherwise:
236.02(1)
(1) "Alley" means a public or private right-of-way shown on a plat, which provides secondary access to a lot, block or parcel of land.
236.02(2)
(2) "Copy" means a true and accurate copy of all sheets of the original subdivision plat. Such copy shall be on durable white matte finished paper with legible dark lines and lettering.
236.02(3)
(3) "County planning agency" means a rural county planning agency authorized by
s. 27.019, a county park commission authorized by
s. 27.02 except that in a county with a county executive or county administrator, the county park manager appointed under
s. 27.03 (2), a county zoning agency authorized by
s. 59.69 or any agency created by the county board and authorized by statute to plan land use.
236.02(4)
(4) "Department" means the department of administration.
236.02(5)
(5) "Extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction" means the unincorporated area within 3 miles of the corporate limits of a first, second or third class city, or 1 1/2 miles of a fourth class city or a village.
236.02(6)
(6) "Municipality" means an incorporated city or village.
236.02(7)
(7) An "outlot" is a parcel of land, other than a lot or block, so designated on the plat.
236.02(8)
(8) "Plat" is a map of a subdivision.
236.02(9)
(9) "Preliminary plat" is a map showing the salient features of a proposed subdivision submitted to an approving authority for purposes of preliminary consideration.
236.02(9c)
(9c) "Record" means, with respect to a final plat or a certified survey map, to record and file the document with the register of deeds.
236.02(9m)
(9m) "Recorded private claim" means a claim of title to land based on a conveyance from a foreign government made before the land was acquired by the United States.
236.02(11)
(11) "Replat" is the process of changing, or the map or plat which changes, the boundaries of a recorded subdivision plat or part thereof. The legal dividing of a large block, lot or outlot within a recorded subdivision plat without changing exterior boundaries of said block, lot or outlot is not a replat.
236.02(12)
(12) "Subdivision" is a division of a lot, parcel or tract of land by the owner thereof or the owner's agent for the purpose of sale or of building development, where:
236.02(12)(a)
(a) The act of division creates 5 or more parcels or building sites of 1 1/2 acres each or less in area; or
236.02(12)(b)
(b) Five or more parcels or building sites of 1 1/2 acres each or less in area are created by successive divisions within a period of 5 years.
236.02(13)
(13) "Town planning agency" means a town zoning committee appointed under
s. 60.61 (4) (a) or any agency created by the town board and authorized by statute to plan land use.
236.02 Annotation
In determining lot sizes under sub. (8), 1981 stats. [now sub. (12)], such lots may not extend across navigable waters or public easements of passage nor include any land whose servitude is inconsistent with its integrated functional use and unified ownership. 66 Atty. Gen. 2.
236.02 Annotation
Certified survey maps under s. 236.34 cannot substitute for subdivision surveys under s. 236.02 (8), 1981 stats. [now sub. (12)] Penalties under s. 236.31 apply to improper use of certified surveys. 67 Atty. Gen. 294.
236.03
236.03
Survey and plat; when required. 236.03(1)
(1) Any division of land which results in a subdivision as defined in
s. 236.02 (12) (a) shall be, and any other division may be, surveyed and a plat thereof approved and recorded as required by this chapter. No map or survey purporting to create divisions of land or intending to clarify metes and bounds descriptions may be recorded except as provided by this chapter.
236.03(3)
(3) Subsection (1) shall not apply to the sale or exchange of parcels of public utility or railroad right-of-way to adjoining property owners if the governing body of the municipality or town in which the property is located and the county planning agency, where such agency exists, approves such sale or exchange on the basis of applicable local ordinances or the provisions of this chapter.
236.03 Annotation
The provisions of s. 236.41 relating to vacation of streets are inapplicable to assessors plats under s. 70.27. Once properly filed and recorded an assessor's plat becomes the operative document of record, and only sections specified in s. 236.03 (2) apply to assessor's plats. Schaetz v. Town of Scott,
222 Wis. 2d 90,
585 N.W.2d 889 (Ct. App. 1998).
236.03 Annotation
A replat of a recorded subdivision must comply with the formal platting requirements of ch. 236, relating to new subdivision plats, including those relating to the survey, approval and recording. 63 Atty. Gen. 193.
APPROVAL OF PLAT
236.10
236.10
Approvals necessary. 236.10(1)(1) To entitle a final plat of a subdivision to be recorded, it shall have the approval of the following in accordance with the provisions of
s. 236.12:
236.10(1)(a)
(a) If within a municipality, the governing body, but if the plat is within an area, the annexation of which is being legally contested, the governing bodies of both the annexing municipality and the town from which the area has been annexed shall approve.
236.10(1)(b)
(b) If within the extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction of a municipality:
