Complaint Information

Complaints may be filed at any time for valid violations.  Please note all complaints are accessible to the public including the complainant's contact information unless the complaint is filed anonymously. When an anonymous complaint is filed, we are unable to obtain additional information from the complainant if necessary and the complainant can not be informed of outcome of the complaint.

COMPLAINT FORM 

Complaints, with photos if applicable, can be mailed or dropped off at our office at 112 Otter Ave, 3rd Floor or emailed to: Zoningdepartment@winnebagocountywi.gov.

INVESTIGATION PROCESS:

Once a complaint form is received, it is assigned to a staff member for appropriate action. Gaining compliance is achieved through the following process:

1. ​​​​  Staff member views the property to verify the complaint and if confirmed, a violation letter is sent to the property owner.

   1. The property owner is given approximately two weeks to contact the Zoning Department regarding the violation and the staff and property owner work together to remedy the violation.

   2. Staff can use their discretion regarding the amount of time allowed to bring the violation into compliance.

      1. If cooperation is not received, a citation will be issued to the property owner and does NOT negate the need to bring the property back into compliance.

      2. If the violation isn't corrected after at least 2 violation reminder letters being sent to the property owner, the matter will be handled through court.

      3. Staff will view the property following compliance to insure that the matter has been resolved properly.

There are some instances where an alleged violation cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant.  Some reasons for this are:  

•   Inability to prove a violation exists/sufficient evidence; 

•   The matter was not illegal at the time it happened; 

•   Inability to prosecute due to the nature of the violation; 

•   Not within jurisdiction of or regulated by the Winnebago County Zoning Department;

•   Complaints filed by contentious neighbors may not actually be valid violations of County and State of Wisconsin regulations.