Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 236 - Platting lands and recording and vacating plats.
236.10 - Approvals necessary.

236.10 Approvals necessary.
(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:
(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.
(b) Except as provided under s. 62.23 (7a) (am), if within the extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction of a municipality:
1. The town board; and
2. The governing body of the municipality if, by July 1, 1958, or thereafter it adopts a subdivision ordinance or an official map under s. 62.23; and
3. Subject to sub. (1m), the county planning agency if such agency employs on a full-time basis a professional engineer, a planner or other person charged with the duty of administering zoning or other planning legislation.
(c) If outside the extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction of a municipality:
1. The town board; and
2. Subject to sub. (1m), the county planning agency, if there is one.
(1m)
(a) Except as provided in par. (b), a county planning agency under sub. (1) (b) 3. or (c) 2. has no authority to approve or object to the preliminary or final plat of a subdivision that is located in a town that has, before the preliminary plat is submitted for approval, or before the final plat is submitted for approval if no preliminary plat is submitted, enacted an ordinance under s. 60.23 (34) withdrawing the town from county zoning and the county development plan.
(b) A county planning agency under sub. (1) (b) 3. or (c) 2. may object to any of the following portions of a subdivision that is located in a town described in par. (a):
1. Any portion of the subdivision that is shoreland, as defined in s. 59.692 (1) (b), in the county.
2. Any portion of the subdivision that is in a 100-year floodplain in the county.
(2) Except as provided under s. 62.23 (7a) (am), if a subdivision lies within the extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction of more than one municipality, the provisions of s. 66.0105 shall apply.
(3) The authority to approve or object to preliminary or final plats under this chapter may be delegated to a planning committee or commission of the approving governing body. Final plats dedicating streets, highways or other lands shall be approved by the governing body of the town or municipality in which such are located.
(4) Any municipality, town or county may under s. 66.0301 agree with any other municipality, town or county for the cooperative exercise of the authority to approve or review plats. A municipality, town or county may, under s. 66.0301, agree to have a regional planning commission review plats and submit an advisory recommendation with respect to their approval. A municipality, town or county may agree with a regional planning commission for the cooperative exercise of the authority to approve or review plats only as provided under s. 66.0309 (11).
(5) Any municipality may waive its right to approve plats within any portion of its extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction by a resolution of the governing body recorded with the register of deeds incorporating a map or metes and bounds description of the area outside its corporate boundaries within which it shall approve plats. The municipality may rescind this waiver at any time by resolution of the governing body recorded with the register of deeds.
History: 1979 c. 248; 1993 a. 301; 1999 a. 150 s. 672; 2015 a. 178; 2021 a. 198.
A city improperly included lots not within its extraterritorial plat approval jurisdiction in the city's calculation of fees assessed to a developer. Brookhill Development, Ltd. v. City of Waukesha, 103 Wis. 2d 27, 307 N.W.2d 242 (1981).
Section 236.12 (2) (a) does not restrict a town's authority to impose public improvements as conditions for plat approval during a contested annexation. When a town is legally contesting the annexation, sub. (1) (a) requires both the annexing municipality and the town from which the area has been annexed to approve a final plat in accordance with s. 236.12. KW Holdings, LLC v. Town of Windsor, 2003 WI App 9, 259 Wis. 2d 357, 656 N.W.2d 752, 02-0706.
Artificial Lakes and Land Subdivisions. Kusler. 1971 WLR 369.