In 1978, following a catastrophic 200-year flood, the Village of Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, set out to become a new model of how human settlements can relate to their environment. Soldiers Grove suffered a 70-year history of flooding. After the historic disaster of 1978, the village rejected proposals by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a levee and voted to relocate to higher ground. The project became an example of resolving environmental conflict by changing the behavior of people rather than trying to subdue ecosystems. The people of the village also decided to make their community a model in other ways. They designed their new business district to make it completely accessible to the handicapped, long before accessibility was required by Federal law. They conducted a microclimate analysis to detect wind and sunlight patterns, and used earth berming and landscaping to shield the new town from winter winds. They passed an energy performance standard for new buildings, requiring them to be twice as energy efficient as state law required at the time. And they passed the nation's first ordinance requiring that new non-residential buildings receive at least half their heating energy from solar energy systems. By setting a standard rather than specific requirements, the ordinance allowed building owners to choose their own solar designs and hardware, and to become as creative as they wished in fulfilling or exceeding the 50% rule. Soldiers Grove dedicated its now solar community in 1983. Today, it is not unusual for the village's businesses to receive 75% of their winter heating requirement from solar energy systems. 

(For more information on Soldiers Grove, see "Rebuilding for the Future...A Guide to Sustainable Redevelopment Disaster Affected Communities", U.S. Department of Energy, Sept. 1994) 

AN ORDINANCE TO REPEAL AND RECREATE SECTION 2.06, AND TO CREATE SECTIONS 2.09 AND 2.10 OF THE ORDINANCES OF THE VILLAGE OF SOLDIERS GROVE, CRAWFORD COUNTY, WISCONSIN.  

The Village Board of the Village of Soldiers Grove, Crawford County, Wisconsin, meeting at a regular meeting of said Board, does ordain and adopt as follows: 

A. Section 2.06 Site Restrictions, is hereby repealed and recreated to read as follows:

All Lots shall abut upon a public street, and each lot shall have a minimum frontage of thirty (30) feet. 

All Principal Structures shall be located on a lot; and only one principal structure shall be located, erected, or moved onto a lot, with the exception of structures in the Planned Development Districts PD-R, PD-C and PD-I. 

No Zoning Permit shall be issued for a lot which abuts a public street dedicated to only a portion of its proposed width and located on that site thereof from which the required dedication has not been secured. 

Solar Access shall be protected in the following manner. No structure, whether Principal Use or Accessory Use; and no plant materials, whether trees, shrubs or other; and no permanently fixed equipment shall be of such a height that it would cast a shadow during daylight between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. of the winter solstice on any potion of another building or the buildable area of a parcel if no building exists. Compliance with this standard must be graphically shown in Application for Zoning Permit. 

2.07 USE RESTRICTIONS.  
The following use restrictions and regulations shall apply: 

Principal Uses. Only those principal uses specified for a district, their essential services, and the following uses shall be permitted in that district. 

Accessory Uses and structures are permitted in any district but not until their principal structure is present or under construction. Residential accessory uses shall not involve the conduct of any business, trade, or industry except for permitted home occupations and professional home offices, as defined in this Ordinance. Accessory uses include incidental repairs; storage, parking facilities; gardening; servant's, owner's, intinerant agricultural laborers, and watchmen's quarters not for rent; private swimming pools; and private emergency shelters. 

Conditional Uses and their accessory uses are considered as special uses requiring review, public hearing, and approval by the Village Plan Commission in accordance with Section 5.0. 

Unclassified or Unspecified Uses may be permitted by the Zoning Board of Appeals after the Zoning Administrator has made a review and recommendation provided that such uses are similar in character to the principal uses permitted in the district. 

Temporary Uses, such as real estate sales field offices or shelters for materials and equipment being used in the construction of a permanent structure, may be permitted by the Zoning Administrator. 

Mobile homes may be permitted by the Zoning Administrator for up to one year for emergency situations and temporary living quarters during construction. 

2.08 REDUCTION OR JOINT USE.  
No lot, yard, parking area, building area or other space shall be reduced in area or dimension so as not to meet the provisions of this Ordinance. No part of any lot, yard, parking area, or other space required for a structure or use shall be used for any other structure or use. 

B. Section 2.09, THERMAL PERFORMANCE FOR BUILDINGS, 
and Section 2.10, SOLAR HEATING, are hereby created to read as follows:

2.10 SOLAR HEATING. 
Where it is feasible to collect sufficient sun, new non-residential buildings shall be at least 50% solar heated. 

Feasibility shall be defined in the following manner, Between the hours of 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. on the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year), there shall be a clear solar access at the building site, not obstructed by any building, equipment, trees or shrubs which would block the south face of the building, at wall and/or at roof line. 

Graphic representation of solar access shall be required in Application for Zoning Permit. 

The use of passive solar heating systems is encouraged. Active collection devices must be integrated with the surface to which they are affixed, parallel with the wall or roof to which they are attached, and not projecting from that surface a distance greater than that which may be required for weatherproofing. 

Passed and approved May 8, 1980 
Published May 18, 1980 

Larry Emerson, Village President 
ATTEST Pauline M. Gander, Clerk-Treas.

Back to Top