DNR Reworking NR 115

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Toni Herkert, the DNR's shorelands management team leader, said they will make substantial changes to impervious surface limits and mitigation sections in the rewrite of Chapter NR 115 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.

She said the department is about one year away from going to the Natural Resources Board for final approval.

Determined through studies to be outdated and not entirely effective at protecting water quality and lakefront wildlife habitat, NR 115 is being revised for the first time since its inception in 1966.

“We could get rid of nonconforming if we regulated structure placement in the shorelands area with impervious surface limits,” said Herkert. “It makes more sense than worrying about conformity because impervious surface is more directly linked to runoff and sedimentation — the key environmental factors we are trying to address.”

Herkert said they also want to take a closer look at mitigation to provide more flexibility than just forcing people to re-establish a natural 35-foot buffer along the waterfront.

“At Lake Geneva, where everyone basically has a lawn that goes down to the water, we might have to look at some options,” said Herkert. “Conservationists might say we are talking about giving up too much, but we can't force everyone to have a natural buffer.”