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Wisconsin's shoreline rules — which tell where property owners may build or make improvements to buildings alongside lakes and streams — are being revised.
A citizens committee spent the past two years studying the existing rules and proposing changes.
Now the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has come up with the new rules and is holding a series of public hearings.
La Crosse's hearing will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of the Kumm Building on Sixth Street in downtown La Crosse.
Officials will make a presentation of the proposed changes at 4:30 p.m., and hold a hearing to get citizen input at 6 p.m.
The new rules will still have the same minimum lot sizes for single-family homes and the same 75-foot setback requirements.
But proposals that now limit alterations, additions or major repairs done to structures built before the current rules went into effect in the 1960s will be changed.
DNR officials say the changes will allow more flexibility while at the same time protecting Wisconsin's waterways and wetlands.
According to a news release from the DNR, property owners would be allowed to make unlimited repairs and maintain structures that are "built on foundations that do not extend below the ordinary high-water mark or extend over navigable waters within the setback area."
But owners could be required to take "mitigation" actions including restoring native vegetation or developing an erosion-control plan.
Property owners definitely will want to know what is changed in the new regulations, and what they can and cannot do under them.
Anyone not able to attend Tuesday's meeting can submit written comments to Toni Herkert, Wisconsin DNR — WY/2, P.O. Box 7921, Madison WI 53707-7921, or send an e-mail message to toni. herkert@dnr.state.wi.us. Comments will be accepted until Aug. 26.
It pays to stay on top of whatever changes are proposed.
Tuesday's public hearing will be a good opportunity to do that.
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