Development

Welcome to the City of Watertown

The City of Watertown, Wisconsin, pop. 24,000, is located in beautiful southeastern Wisconsin, midway between Milwaukee and Madison.  We are a friendly, hard-working city surrounded by lush forests and beautiful farmland. Distinct and self-sufficient, Watertown is big enough to have all the amenities you'll need, but small enough to access them in 10 minutes or less.  Watertown is truly a wonderful place to live, work, dine, shop, play and do business!  It's a genuine American hometown.

Services

In order to facilitate your development concepts, the Manager of Economic Development and Strategic Initiatives is your primary point of contact with the city, and works closely with the mayor to ensure that the city takes a proactive approach in responding to development inquiries:

Mason Becker, Manager of Economic Development and Strategic Initiatives  

Emily McFarland, Mayor

The Building Safety & Zoning (BS&Z) Department is your primary point of contact to facilitate the permitting process, code administration, and building inspection inquiries. BS&Z performs various services to develop the community in a safe, healthy, and attractive manner. BS&Z primarily focuses on land use activities, property development, and code enforcement, along with zoning and future land use questions.

BS&Z oversees the community planning and zoning activities that occur in the City and works with developers through the proposal and review processes while coordinating with other departments. BS&Z services include administering the Municipal Zoning Code, implementing the Comprehensive Plan, walking developers through the meeting and permitting process, reviewing site plans, processing permits and requests, and completing any required inspections.

Contacts

Brian Zirbes, Zoning & Floodplain Administrator

Building, Safety &  Zoning Division

  • 920-262-4060

  • 106 Jones Street, PO Box 477
    Watertown, WI – Room 2034

  • Office Hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 a.m. Monday-Friday

Development Partners 

In addition to the City of Watertown resources noted above, the city works closely with the Watertown Redevelopment Authority (RDA). For more information about the Redevelopment Authority please visit their website.

The City of Watertown works closely with Jefferson County Economic Development to provide site selection services, demographic and industry data, confidential project management, introduction to financial assistance and more. For more information please visit their website. 

Deborah Reinbold, ThriveED President

Watertown is home to the State of Wisconsin's longest historic downtown. The Main Street Program is a vibrant resource that provides assistance with design, historic tax credits, historical information, and more. Please contact the Executive Director for more information.