Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 703 - Condominiums.
703.37 - Interpretation.

703.37 Interpretation. For purposes of interpretation of this chapter, a condominium is a form of ownership, not a form of land use, and is not a subdivision as defined in ch. 236.
History: 1977 c. 407; 2003 a. 283.
NOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 283, which affected this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.
Condominiums are not a form of land use. A condominium unit set aside for commercial use runs afoul of a zoning ordinance prohibiting commercial use. When an intended commercial use did not comport with a town's zoning restrictions, approval of the condominium by the town was de facto rezoning. A town could not seek to avoid the restrictions of applicable extraterritorial zoning by aiming to define its action as something other than a zoning change. Village of Newburg v. Town of Trenton, 2009 WI App 139, 321 Wis. 2d 424, 773 N.W.2d 500, 08-2997.
In this case, when restrictive covenants stated that a tract of land may not be divided so as to create any additional tracts, the defendants' attempt to convert the tract into a condominium comprised of three units violated the unambiguous terms of the restrictive covenants by dividing the tract into additional tracts. Nothing in the plain language of this section prevents a restrictive covenant from treating a condominium conversion as a division of land distinct from a subdivision, as that term is used in ch. 236. Nordstrom v. Kane, 2021 WI App 71, 399 Wis. 2d 522, 966 N.W.2d 91, 20-1942.

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