Dane County
Property Rights

The  Dane County Waterbody Classification Project (DCWCP) is a proposal to extend the County’s regulatory authority into the shoreland zone of villages and cities. You might be an owner of one of the approximately 57,000 lots that could be negatively impacted. The DCWCP would:

• Allow the County to negate home rule authority within the shoreland zone.
• Extend the shoreland zone from its current 75’ in most villages and cities to 1000’ from a lake or pond (including some retention ponds) and 300’ feet from a river or stream.
• Apply to all properties – residential, commercial or industrial.
• Have no grandfathering – properties with existing homes and businesses would still be regulated.

The DCWCP proposes that all properties within the shoreland zone could be regulated when there is new construction or when a property owner makes improvements such as an addition, construction of a garage or accessory building or other such improvements. Property owners would have to conduct various activities such as installing special vegetation buffers, painting their houses or removing existing structures to earn the necessary 100 “points” to obtain a building permit.

Among the significant negative impacts on project owners who fall into this program are:

• The costs of identifying, designing and installing the required features.
• The cost of maintaining and replacing the features in perpetuity.
• The impacts of having to now disclosure to a potential buyer that you are now in a special zoning area with  new restrictions and obligations (remember this will extend the shoreland zone from 75’ from the water in most villages and cities to 300’ or 1,000’, sweeping tens of thousands of properties into the shoreland zone).
• The impact of having to inform a potential buyer that if any features (like a rain garden or special vegetation buffer) have been installed, they are now responsible for maintaining or replacing them).

Knowledgeable local builders, remodelers, REALTORS®, mortgage bankers, appraisers, assessors and municipal leaders have all expressed concerns with the size and scope of this proposal and its impacts on families, municipalities and school districts. The concerns include the impacts of falling assessments in the shoreland zone that could require general tax increases in a city or school district to make up the lost tax revenue. Another is the impact on lending practices if property values should fall in the shoreland properties.

Considering the scope of this proposal and its potential negative impacts, one would think that the County would have conducted an economic impact study on its potential effects. Requests for such a study were made as early as February, 2008. To this date, the County has still not conducted such study and says that it will not conduct a study. The only effort was a 3-hour meeting with a limited panel of experts who made various remarks expressing their concerns and requests for more information. It should also be noted that the County has said that they cannot quantify what benefits to our lakes and rivers that might be derived from this project.

THUS, THE COUNTY IS SAYING THAT IT CANNOT QUANTIFY THE BENEFITS OF THIS PROPOSAL AND WILL NOT QUANTIFY ITS ECONOMIC IMPACTS ON PROPERTY OWNERS AND MUNICIPALITIES.

This website is designed to educate you on the Dane County Waterbody Classification Project and direct you to information and analysis about it. Please visit it often as new information and items will be frequently added.

When are the next Hearings?

What has been the Professional Analysis of the DCWCP?

How can I get Notification of the DCWCP's Effect on my Property?

What has been the News Coverage of the DCWCP?

Where can I go for More Information?