A bill has been introduced to the Wisconsin Assembly that would make
it easier to identify wetland areas, like this one in Eau Claire, for
landowners, builders and local governments. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

By Paul Snyder

Disputes between the state and builders over construction projects
near wetlands have prompted a lawmaker’s attempt to force better
communication between the sides.

State Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, has introduced a bill requiring
the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources provide information
about wetlands to landowners, builders and local governments that
issue building permits. The bill would establish a $50 fee a landowner
can pay for a DNR wetlands map of the property and a $300 fee for a
DNR employee to visit a property and mark off wetlands.

“The idea here is making the DNR a little easier to live with,” Bies
said. “We want to prevent a situation where an individual went to
local town and county governments, got building permits and then had
to stop construction because the DNR then said, ‘Hey, you can’t build
here.’”

Kewaunee resident Mike Rodrian can relate. The DNR in 2005 told him to
stop construction of a storage shed on his property because he was
building on wetlands.

“I got all the permits to do it from the town and county and had
already spent over $40,000 building it,” Rodrian said. “I had the
concrete poured, the walls up and the trusses on, and then the DNR
came in and said I had to stop and basically tear it down.”

Rodrian refused, which prompted a state lawsuit the Wisconsin
Department of Justice ultimately dropped. The state dropped the case,
Rodrian said, because a DNR representative had taken pictures of his
property before and during construction without telling him to stop
before work began.

Before the state dismissed the case, Rodrian said, the DNR threatened
as much as a $5,000 fine for every day he did not tear down the shed.
Landowners and builders need protection from such fines, he said.

Kevin Slottke, a registered land surveyor with Milwaukee-based The
Sigma Group, said commercial and residential subdivision developers
run into the same issues.

“If people don’t know they have wetlands on their property,” he said,
“they’re not going to know they need to get the proper information
about it.”

Cherie Hagen, the DNR’s wetlands team leader, said she does not know
how often the department stops construction or design work because of
wetlands interference.

“But it is a common occurrence,” she said. “Are there still instances
where people begin projects or start planning and have to stop? I’m
sure.”

But Hagen said those instances have declined since last year when the
department placed wetland identification tools, including maps, on its
Web site.

But Bies said the information still is not getting to the people who
need it.

“We’re just trying to get people that heads-up,” he said of his bill.

The DNR supports working with property owners and builders, Hagen
said, but the $300 fee for site visits might not be enough.

“Given the state budget and hiring freezes that are in place,” she
said, “we’re concerned we’re not going to be able to provide the staff
to meet the potential demand.”

The DNR is finalizing an analysis, which should be complete next week,
detailing how many people, and at what expense, would be needed to
perform several hundred site visits per year. Hagen said Michigan has
a similar program that led to about 600 visits in one year.

“We want to help people do their due diligence,” she said. “And this
bill will help if we have the right funding for it.”