THE VIEW WE PRIZE FROM LAND AND WATER
Anyone who has ever spent time along one of Wisconsin's crystal clear lakes or gurgling streams has had a shoreland experience. Whether you are a canoeist who had floated with the current of the a river or fished for trout on a quiet stream or cooled off on the beach of your lake home, you appreciate how shorelines enrich our lives.
The Public Trust Doctrine, a body of law that dates back to the time when Wisconsin was part of the Northwest Territory, holds waters of this state in trust for all people and forever free.
Case law from the past 160 years designated the state as keeper of that trust with the responsibility to protect those rights. So how does the DNR bring together the collective shoreline experiences of past and present generations to ensure their future enjoyment? Education, experience and regulation.
State laws require DNR approvals and local review of proposed development at the water's edge.
Permits are required to ensure proposed projects don't supersede the greater public rights to a water body. Polluted runoff, removing vegetation and increasing impervious surfaces on the landward side of the shoreline degrade quality habitat. So the State Legislature created rules and a public trust partnership with counties. The counties empower local agencies to regulate zoning and land development. The state establishes minimum standards and assists the counties in carrying out those programs. Each county has a set of shoreland zoning ordinances that requires permits before altering the shoreland within 1000 feet of a lake, stream or flowage, or within 300 feet of a river, stream or floodplain.
Most of the county ordinances were adopted in the early 1960's but the nature of lakeshore development has changed dramatically since that time. Many small cottages and old fishing resorts have been torn down and replaced with larger year-round houses and condos. About 7 years ago, DNR lakes specialists and community zoning officials decided it was time to bring the codes up to date by revising development rules. (NR115)
So-called "nonconforming structures" like old cottages built much too close to the shoreline in the days before the rules were put in place, have been a continuing concern. Septic wastes from these cottages can drain right into the water. Erosion right along the shoreline is hard to slow down and there is both physical noise and visual "noise" from allowing development right to the water's edge. That is why zoning rules require a certain setback from the shoreline. In the past, zoning restricted how much these small cottages could be modified or improved but homeowners who bought those cottages as fixer-uppers with dreams of building a much more substantial lakeside home didn't care for the restrictive approach.
The new code would limit the percent of "impervious surface'-roads, paved areas and other drainage over compacted soil where water quickly flows across the land without filtering out the nutrients, sediments and pollutants otherwise quickly flowing into the public waters. If a property owner wants to exceed that percent, they will have to take steps to offset those conditions. Mitigation might include removing a cement patio, installing a rain garden or creating a vegetation buffer along a portion of the shoreline. Many property owners have the mistaken belief that they will have to stop mowing existing lawns. Mitigation offers many different options and will be required if the property owner proposes to change properties in ways that exceed the accepted levels.
Other changes in the new rule include proposed limits on the height of shoreland building to protect natural scenic beauty when viewed from the water. Several sections of the new rule clarify and define practices that counties have enforced for years under the old codes, such as limits to tree and shrub cutting along the shoreline.
As restrictive as these rules may sound, they are rules that will protect the environment and surroundings of our beautiful North Sand Lake.
The new rules supporting and supporting information will be available on the website listed below once the final rule is submitted to the Natural Resources Board. If the board approves the proposed changes, they will be sent to the Wisconsin State Legislature for review and possible modifications, There may be an opportunity to appear before the Board and testify in front of the Legislature if hearings on the code are held. Once passed into law, counties will have 2 years to bring their shoreland ordinances in compliance and begin requiring property owners to follow the revised standards, which aim to protect clean water, healthy habitat and natural scenic beauty.
The documents referred to above can be found at:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/dsfm/shore/news.htm
The Public Trust Doctrine, a body of law that dates back to the time when Wisconsin was part of the Northwest Territory, holds waters of this state in trust for all people and forever free.
Case law from the past 160 years designated the state as keeper of that trust with the responsibility to protect those rights. So how does the DNR bring together the collective shoreline experiences of past and present generations to ensure their future enjoyment? Education, experience and regulation.
State laws require DNR approvals and local review of proposed development at the water's edge.
Permits are required to ensure proposed projects don't supersede the greater public rights to a water body. Polluted runoff, removing vegetation and increasing impervious surfaces on the landward side of the shoreline degrade quality habitat. So the State Legislature created rules and a public trust partnership with counties. The counties empower local agencies to regulate zoning and land development. The state establishes minimum standards and assists the counties in carrying out those programs. Each county has a set of shoreland zoning ordinances that requires permits before altering the shoreland within 1000 feet of a lake, stream or flowage, or within 300 feet of a river, stream or floodplain.
Most of the county ordinances were adopted in the early 1960's but the nature of lakeshore development has changed dramatically since that time. Many small cottages and old fishing resorts have been torn down and replaced with larger year-round houses and condos. About 7 years ago, DNR lakes specialists and community zoning officials decided it was time to bring the codes up to date by revising development rules. (NR115)
So-called "nonconforming structures" like old cottages built much too close to the shoreline in the days before the rules were put in place, have been a continuing concern. Septic wastes from these cottages can drain right into the water. Erosion right along the shoreline is hard to slow down and there is both physical noise and visual "noise" from allowing development right to the water's edge. That is why zoning rules require a certain setback from the shoreline. In the past, zoning restricted how much these small cottages could be modified or improved but homeowners who bought those cottages as fixer-uppers with dreams of building a much more substantial lakeside home didn't care for the restrictive approach.
The new code would limit the percent of "impervious surface'-roads, paved areas and other drainage over compacted soil where water quickly flows across the land without filtering out the nutrients, sediments and pollutants otherwise quickly flowing into the public waters. If a property owner wants to exceed that percent, they will have to take steps to offset those conditions. Mitigation might include removing a cement patio, installing a rain garden or creating a vegetation buffer along a portion of the shoreline. Many property owners have the mistaken belief that they will have to stop mowing existing lawns. Mitigation offers many different options and will be required if the property owner proposes to change properties in ways that exceed the accepted levels.
Other changes in the new rule include proposed limits on the height of shoreland building to protect natural scenic beauty when viewed from the water. Several sections of the new rule clarify and define practices that counties have enforced for years under the old codes, such as limits to tree and shrub cutting along the shoreline.
As restrictive as these rules may sound, they are rules that will protect the environment and surroundings of our beautiful North Sand Lake.
The new rules supporting and supporting information will be available on the website listed below once the final rule is submitted to the Natural Resources Board. If the board approves the proposed changes, they will be sent to the Wisconsin State Legislature for review and possible modifications, There may be an opportunity to appear before the Board and testify in front of the Legislature if hearings on the code are held. Once passed into law, counties will have 2 years to bring their shoreland ordinances in compliance and begin requiring property owners to follow the revised standards, which aim to protect clean water, healthy habitat and natural scenic beauty.
The documents referred to above can be found at:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/dsfm/shore/news.htm
NR 115