Updates to Dane County Shoreland Zoning Ordinance Introduced

May 17, 2012
Supervisor Patrick Miles Dane County Board of Supervisors (206-6462)
County Board

 

Proposed amendments to Dane County’s 30-year old shoreland zoning ordinance will benefit waterfront property owners while providing higher quality environmental protection to Dane County’s public waterways.

 

 “Dane County’s current shoreland regulations are cumbersome, inflexible, and do not provide adequate environmental protection for our lakes, ponds, streams and rivers,” says Dane County Zoning and Land Regulations (ZLR) Committee Chair, Supervisor Patrick Miles.  “This amendment will make it easier to do sensible reconstruction projects in existing residential and commercial areas.  At the same time, it also allows for sound mitigation of environmental impacts from development near the shore.”

 

In response to recent changes to Chapter NR 115, Wisconsin Administrative Code, a Dane County subcommittee has been working for nearly two years to update and modernize the county’s shoreland zoning ordinance.  The subcommittee, jointly created by the ZLR and the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission, has met with environmental groups, real estate professionals, builders, engineers, landscape architects, lake associations and individual property owners to craft and fine-tune the recommendations.  The proposed rules replace rigid regulations based on setbacks and minimum lot sizes with a more flexible approach based on site-specific mitigation of stormwater and vegetative impacts caused by shoreland development.  County shoreland zoning rules apply only to unincorporated shoreland areas, and to areas annexed after such rules are in effect.

 

 

“This amendment is the product of the most publicly inclusive process in the history of the Lakes & Watershed Commission,” said Melissa Mallott, Chair of the Lakes & Watershed Commission. “It strikes a balance between protecting property rights and protecting our waters from the impacts of near-shore development.”
 

Supervisor Miles will introduce the ordinance amendment to the County Board on May 17.  The Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission will hold a public hearing on the amendment at its June 14 meeting.  The Zoning and Land Regulations Committee (ZLR) will hold a separate public hearing on the amendment at its June 26 meeting. 

 

Additional information on the proposed changes, including the complete text of the proposed ordinance, is available online at: http://www.countyofdane.com/plandev/planning/Shoreland_Zoning_Update.aspx, or by contacting Brian Standing, Senior Planner with the Dane County Department of Planning & Development at Room 116, City County Building, Madison, WI 53703, or standing@co.dane.wi.us

(608) 267-4115.

 

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