Revision Update 2006 and Earlier

Focus Groups

Advisory Committee Information

2005 Public Hearings on Chapter NR 115

Public hearings on Ch. NR 115 were held July 12 through August 4, 2005 at locations around the state. The purpose of public hearings is to provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on the proposed revisions to Wisconsin Administrative Codes.

2005 Hearing Summary

Wisconsin´s efforts to update its 38-year-old statewide shoreland protection standards entered a new phase in summer 2006. Department of Natural Resources staff finished reviewing the 12,000 citizen comments received during and after public hearings in summer 2005.

The comments roughly fell into nine main areas with several common themes. The public has indicated:

Their desire for a concise code that increases flexibility while guaranteeing statewide consistency and increased protections for our natural resources, and
Strong desire for greater resource protection in the new regulations.

Importantly, the critical player in carrying out and enforcing the rules – The Association of Wisconsin County Code Administrators— said the rules were too complicated and unworkable.

Changes are clearly needed to develop rules that work on the ground. The Department must also address other major areas identified in the comments.

Three technical work groups will help us in this task. Two groups will consider "impervious surfaces" and "mitigation" respectively, and try to develop options in those areas. And the third will be an implementation focus groups where the Department will meet with zoning administrators to ground test a new draft of the code. The impervious surface and mitigation focus groups will take place in the fall of 2006 and the implementation focus group will take place in Spring of 2007.

Additional Topics

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Public Hearing Information

For more information, contact:

Toni Herkert, Shoreland Management Specialist
(608) 266-0161

Last Revised: Wednesday July 16 2008