July and August public hearings regarding new proposals to update shoreland development rules are scheduled for Rhinelander, Wisc., residents.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) first launched efforts to update the rules in 2003. Since then, the department reports having changed earlier drafts based on input from nearly a dozen public hearings and more than 50,000 public comments.

"It's been 40 years since current rules were put in place, and development has changed on the waterfront from a small cabin on the shore to larger, extensively landscaped year-round homes and condominiums," said DNR watershed management bureau chief Russ Rasmussen. "This newer style of development has increased runoff entering lakes and decreased the habitat critical for fish and wildlife."

"We've seen water quality worsen, evidenced by blooms of toxic blue-green algae and habitat decreased for loons, songbirds, fish and frogs, so we need changes in the minimum standards for shoreline development to address problems not envisioned 40 years ago."

Rasmussen also points out how vital new rules (i.e., storm water discharge permits for construction sites and municipalities) are to northern Wisconsin's $13 billion tourism industry.

Existing rules, as laid out in Natural Resources Chapter 115 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, set statewide minimums in unincorporated areas for lot sizes, structures' distance from water's edge and tree- and plant-removal limits. They have gone almost totally unchanged since lawmakers created the shoreland management program in 1966 and required counties to adopt and enforce shoreland zoning ordinances, said Mary Ellen Vollbrecht, DNR chief of habitat protection.

Since then, the number of dwellings on Wisconsin lakes has increased 216 percent. Lakes spanning 400 to 900 acres have seen an increase as high as 800 percent, according to Vollbrecht. As new residents move in, more native plants are removed and runoff-promoting hard surfaces installed.

Key provisions of the proposal seek to address such issues by, for instance, requiring minimum lot sizes for new single family homes and capping the amount of hard surfaces (i.e., roofs, patios, paved or gravel driveways) allowed within that space.

Source: The Daily News