News Bulletin: Sept. 20-27

WHAT HAPPENED

• If your shoreline is eroding due to high water and wave action, learn what you may (and may not) do about it. Proceeding without proper authorization from all permitting agencies could result in significant costs from fines or after-the-fact permit fees, and/or having to redo your project to meet regulations. 

Here are the contacts you may need: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) call center, 608.267.3125. If your waterfront property is located in a town, call the appropriate Land Use Services Department staff person (see the list below) for shoreland and floodplain zoning information related to shoreline protection projects (e.g., “rip rap”). In addition to a DNR permit, the installation of these projects may require county zoning permits.

• For the Towns of Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor and Sevastopol, call Jeff Kussow at 920.746.2222.

• For the Towns of Gibraltar, Liberty Grove and Washington, call Rick Brauer at 920.746.2217.

• For the Towns of Clay Banks, Gardner, Jacksonport, Nasewaupee, Sturgeon Bay and Union, call Sue Vanden Langenberg at 920.746.2221.

If your property is located in Sturgeon Bay or one of the waterfront villages, check with municipal staff to see whether your project will require any local-level permits.  

• City of Sturgeon Bay, 920.746.2910

• Village of Egg Harbor, 920.868.3334

• Village of Ephraim, 920.854.5501

• Village of Sister Bay, 920.854.4118

• For another year, more than 99 percent of the state’s public water systems provided water that met safe drinking standards, according to the 2018 Annual Drinking Water Report published by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. This comes as we celebrate the Year of Clean Drinking Water, an initiative that Gov. Tony Evers introduced earlier this year. 

“Of the 11,589 public water systems in Wisconsin – the most of any state in the nation – 99.1 percent provided water that met all the health-based standards for regulated contaminants,” said Steve Elmore, program director of the DNR’s Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater. “This really shows how diligently our public water system operators are monitoring and managing water quality.” 

The DNR and its partners conducted more than 2,500 inspections of public water systems to ensure compliance with construction, operation and maintenance requirements. The report is available at dnr.wi.gov/topic/drinkingwater, or call 608.266.1054 to request a copy.

COMING UP

• The  Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will host a public meeting to hear comments on decommissioning the Kewaunee Nuclear Plant. The NRC is soliciting input from residents near the Kewaunee plant to identify best practices and lessons learned to establish and operate community advisory boards associated with power-reactor decommissioning activities. The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act, signed into law in January, included a requirement that the NRC submit a report to Congress on best practices for such boards. The meeting will be held Sept. 24, 6 pm, at Carlton Town Hall, N1296 Town Hall Road in Kewaunee.

• HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital will open a new, state-of-the-art pediatric emergency center Oct. 3 within the hospital’s emergency department. The K.C. and Georgia Stock Pediatric Emergency Center will provide 24/7 emergency care to children of all ages and will offer a play area, a waiting room and six patient rooms specially (and whimsically) designed for children. 

“Now, thanks to the generous support of K.C. and Georgia Stock, as well as many other donors who have made our new pediatric emergency center possible, we will be able to provide an enhanced level of care, comfort and experience for the thousands of children who receive emergency care at our hospital each year,” said Heidi Warpinski, executive director of HSHS St. Vincent Children’s Hospital.  

Pediatric emergency care will still be provided 24/7 at the hospital prior to the Oct. 3 opening of the new facility. 

• The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board will consider multiple issues when it meets Sept. 25 in Mishicot. Among the topics will be requests to consider proposed rules related to increasing the operational efficiency of and simplifying the air permit process, proposed rules related to minor changes to fishing regulations, and proposed rules related to ruffed grouse management.

The meeting will begin at 8:30 am in the Southern/Northern Pines Room at Fox Hills Resort, 250 W. Church St. The board will also offer remote participation from the DNR’s Service Center, 3911 Fish Hatchery Road in Fitchburg, for an open forum at about 10:15 am. Open forum is an opportunity for citizens to provide testimony about matters that are not otherwise on the meeting agenda. Comments should address broad general policy rather than day-to-day operations. Advance registration by the posted deadline is required. 

Future remote open-forum locations include Rhinelander for the Oct. 23 meeting in Madison, and Green Bay for the Dec. 11 meeting in Madison.