By Sam Schroeder

City of Marshfield Zoning Administrator

Cleaning out your house and thinking about having a garage sale?

Last fall the Marshfield Common Council amended the Municipal Zoning Code to include additional regulations pertaining to garage sales. The new regulations adopted by the city will not impact 99 percent of the properties that have a garage sale once, maybe twice a year, and that starts early Saturday morning and ends Sunday evening.

The new rules are, however, designed to give the city a tool to regulate those garage sales that may be pushing the limits of “temporary” and are potentially causing problems in a neighborhood. Garage sales are meant to be a short-term sale of miscellaneous used items commonly associated with residential use, for which owners no longer have a use. They are not meant to be a business or a home occupation.

In the light of the new changes to the Municipal Zoning Code, please be aware of the following regulations:

—No permits are required.

—Sales shall occur only during daylight hours.

—No sale shall exceed four consecutive days in duration.

—No property may have more than four sales within one calendar year.

Also, as a reminder, please remove any temporary signage at the end of the sale. All signs shall be installed on private property with the property owner’s permission. Typically, as a rule of thumb, signs are not permitted in the terrace (the area between the sidewalk and the road) because it is public property and could potentially cause safety concerns.

If you have any questions pertaining to garage sales, please feel free to contact me at 715-486-2077 or by email at [email protected].

For all of you looking to empty your closets this spring, I hope you all have a great garage sale season.