The Law and Why It Needs to Change
Since 2013, Wisconsin Statute § 66.0404 has sharply limited the ability of local governments — including Menomonee Falls — to regulate where cell towers and wireless facilities can be built, even in residential neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. This is the single biggest reason cell tower fights in Wisconsin communities are so hard to win: state law largely ties local officials’ hands before a hearing even starts.
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The attempted fix: Assembly Bill 348 / Senate Bill 425 (2017)
In response to fights like the one in Menomonee Falls, state legislators introduced companion bills — Assembly Bill 348 and Senate Bill 425 — that would have given local governments limited authority to require a tower setback (distance from residential property) equal to the tower’s height on land zoned single-family residential.
What happened: AB 348 passed the Assembly on June 21, 2017. But the Senate version failed to reach a final vote and died when the legislative session ended in March 2018. The setback protection never became law.
That means the underlying problem — § 66.0404 limiting local control over tower siting — is still in effect today. Any community facing a new tower proposal is working with the same constrained toolkit Menomonee Falls residents had in 2017.
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Why this still matters for Menomonee Falls
This isn’t just history. Village boards and Plan Commissions are still the front line on tower siting decisions, and residents are still the main check on those decisions when state law limits what officials themselves can do. The tools that worked in 2017 — organized public comment, petitions, direct outreach to board members, sustained attendance at meetings — remain the most effective levers available under current law.
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What residents and legislators could still do
- Press state legislators to reintroduce setback legislation, and to make it broader than single-family zoning — protecting multi-family, apartment, and condo residents too, and applying retroactively to pending proposals where possible.
- Push for §66.0404 reform directly, to restore more local zoning authority over tower placement.
- Show up locally. Plan Commission and Village Board meetings are where siting decisions actually get made, and public testimony and turnout has historically shifted votes in Menomonee Falls.