I downloaded a nice PDF file zoning map of my local area, complete with a nice legend. A nice colorful box appears next to each Number/Letter combo.
Sadly, It doesn’t tell me what the number/letter combo stand for.
It seems the A designations are some sort of agricultural designation. At least my farmland seems to carry an A-1 designation, while my neighbor’s carries an A-2. And the two B designations appear to be commercial. As for C, HC, M, I’ve no idea. P seems to be cemetaries, and the Rs seem to be residential.
These abbreviations cover the rural area only: The local village zonings are not included on these maps.
My efforts at web searches have not helped. Can anyone enlighten me further as to what the below designations mean in terms of zoning in the State of Wisconsin?
The codes below are from the City of Sacramento and could be wrong, but I’m willing to bet that the general classifications are correct:
A-1 / A-2 / A-3 / A-4 / A-5: Agriculture
B-1 / B-2: Not sure
C-1 Commercial
HC Highway commercial
M-1 / M-3 Mixed use (light industrial or heavy industrial)
P-1 /P-2: Not sure.
R-1 / R-2 / R-4 Residential. Generally, R-1 is single-family, R-2 two-family (duplex) and R-4 multiple-family units such as apartments or townhomes.
The problem is that once you get past the general category, each municipality will have its own interpretations of what the terms mean. For example, “light industrial” may mean professional offices in one area, warehouses in another.
After loading up a few of the other maps, I see why they want you to ask the Town Clerk. It’s all too convoluted to handle it at the county level. Good luck finding out.
There is no standard as far as I know. The allowable uses & regulations will be defined in your community’s zoning ordinance. You’ll have to call your town’s office and ask.
It is public, but how it’s made public is the kicker.
When I was living in York, SC, you had to go down to the courthouse, where they’d show you the huge platt books that showed maps of each plot. Then, you had to figure out the assessed value (which I believe was expressed in mils, which is probably 1/10th a hectare or some such.) Very complicated. In some courthouses, you can get interrogated as to what you want to know and why (which is illegal under sunshine laws, but it happens anyway).
My sis-in-law in Orlando can access her records by computer and gets the values in dollars, too. No muss, no fuss.
Exactly. I’ve spent oodles of time in the courthouse in the past, trying to find out what I’ve now looked up in just a couple of hours at home, while surfing the SDMB in between. Geez, some of my neighbors got screwed on their assessments! I’m glad we appealed ours!
I did fond reference to legends, but not at standard code that you’re looking for.