Commissioners pass lakeshore regulations

The Lincoln County Board of

Commissioners unanimously passed revamped lakeshore regulations

Wednesday afternoon that they say formalizes practices they’ve used

for years and will create a less subjective permitting process.

“There are some standards there to give

the commissioners good guidelines,” commissioner John Konzen said.

“And if someone thinks they have something unusual, they can ask

for a variance.”

Codes regulating dock length and

actions that would change the character of the lakeshore, such as

clearing vegetation and erecting retaining walls, are now stricter

on paper than the 1976 regulations, Konzen and fellow commissioner

Tony Berget agreed, but they are also more straightforward,

spelling out what is and isn’t permitted.

“We were looking at streamlining and

making the permitting process easier down the road,” Berget said.

“… We wanted to leave it as common-sense as we could.”

A professional Environmental Impact

Statement won’t be needed, but environmental information must be

provided in lieu of it, Berget said. A five-year study will no

longer be required to determine the line at which water meets land

if past data isn’t available.

In addition, the regulations contain a

grandfather clause for structures not currently under appeal or in

violation of previous regulations.

Before the new regulations passed,

Konzen said, landowners weren’t given the requirements to obtain a

lakeshore construction permit until they stopped in the planning

department’s office. Nearly half of the new 18-page lakeshore

regulation document is an appendix that contains the general

standards.

Commissioners took ideas from the

planning department and the board-appointed planning committee, as

well as numerous suggestions from the public, to form the new set

of regulations. The process began in April and included four public

hearings throughout the county.

“We are trying to protect lakes and

shorelines and be reasonable about that while still respecting

people’s property rights,” Konzen said at the meeting. “It’s a

delicate balance.”

Five more lakes will be added to the

list of bodies of water with county-regulated lakeshores. The old

regulations applied to all lakes with a surface area of at least

160 acres, while the new guidelines will apply to bodies of water

20 acres or larger that are accessible to the public and that

support fisheries.

Small lakes have the potential for

environmental and scenic impact, county planning director Kristin

Smith said. By adding the two criteria, some of the smaller bodies

of water that probably won’t see growth can be excluded.

“We didn’t want to regulate all lakes

over 20 acres because, frankly, there are a lot of lakes,

especially in the north part of the county, that are glacial

remnants,” Smith said. “They’re potholes… development is pretty

minimal.”

People will find that the new

regulations are not too restrictive, Smith said.

“I think by and large people who have

lakeshore property will appreciate the protective measures that

have been put in place,” she said. “I don’t think they’ll find the

process has changed if they apply for a permit for work.”