Latest on Pier Bill

-- The Senate Natural Resources Committee today unanimously passed modifications to the so-called pier bill.

The Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, and the Wisconsin Builders Association are supporting it, and even the Wisconsin Realtors Association likes most of it.

But one of the lead authors – Republican Rep. Scott Gunderson of Waterford – cautioned the committee and said he knows Assembly Speaker John Gard, the other lead author, has not signed off on all the changes. That means if Assembly Bill 850 passes the Senate tomorrow, its future could be shaky. The DNR, the Wildlife Federation and others said today if there are amendments or significant changes to this latest compromise package, the supporters will back away from the bill.

AB 850 was passed by the Assembly last December and originally sought to grandfather in all existing piers from pending DNR regulations of piers and wharves. The bill’s supporters argued the DNR had overstepped its authority by seeking to apply the rules to existing piers – namely the 1 percent or so of the largest structures seen as either harming the wildlife habitat or violating the public trust doctrine.

Among the changes included in the amendment is the provision grandfathering in most piers that existed before the law calling for the pier rules was enacted – Feb. 6, 2004. The change adopted today allows for a pier that is up to 8-feet wide and has a deck, or loading platform, of up to 200 square feet in size – or up to 300 feet square feet as long, as the platform is no more than 10-feet wide.

The amendment also calls for about $400,000 in funding, which would come in allotments over three years from a transfer of tax revenues of gasoline sold for motorboats from the Transportation Fund. The funding is a key provision for the DNR.

Gunderson warned the committee they will hear from people who have decks larger than 300 feet and from others who want all piers grandfathered in – and from people who will argue these larger piers will violate the public trust doctrine. “There is no way, no how, that is going to happen,” Gunderson said, adding in his heart he believes all existing piers should be exempt.