Landmarks Commission to lead outreach helping Middleton owners renounce historic racially restrictive covenants

The Middleton Landmarks Commission agreed to take on an outreach and education project to help property owners identify and, if they choose, formally renounce historically racially restrictive covenants appearing in deed records.

Commission member Charles summarized the Dane County effort that mapped parcels with restrictive covenants and said, “In Middleton, we have, I think just over a 120 parcels, which contain these covenants.” Commissioners discussed options for outreach: an initial mailing to affected properties, follow-up volunteer door-to-door outreach for stragglers, an open information session, and coordination with Dane County groups and local historical society. Staff noted that the Wisconsin Legislature in 2024 passed a law enabling property owners to record a document that formally renounces a restrictive covenant; the commission emphasized that covenants are legally void but that a formal renunciation has symbolic and record-keeping value.

Members stressed careful, nonjudgmental messaging to avoid alarming homeowners or creating deed-fraud concerns; one commissioner said communications should frame renunciation as an opportunity "to right a wrong done by somebody else." The commission asked staff to draft a letter for review and to involve city communications staff and partners who may help cover recording fees. Recording of renunciations would occur at the register of deeds; commissioners discussed tracking completions by checking records periodically.