Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 30 - Navigable waters, harbors and navigation.
30.11 - Establishment of bulkhead lines.

30.11 Establishment of bulkhead lines.
(1) Who may establish. Any municipality may, subject to the approval of the department, by ordinance establish a bulkhead line and from time to time reestablish the same along any section of the shore of any navigable waters within its boundaries.
(2) Standards for establishing. Bulkhead lines shall be established in the public interest and shall conform as nearly as practicable to the existing shores, except that in the case of leases under sub. (5) and s. 24.39 (4) bulkhead lines may be approved farther from the existing shoreline if they are consistent with and a part of any lease executed by the board of commissioners of public lands.
(3) How established. Whenever any municipality proposes to establish a bulkhead line or to reestablish an existing bulkhead line, the municipality shall indicate both the existing shore and the proposed bulkhead line upon a map and shall file with the department for its approval 6 copies of the map and 6 copies of the ordinance establishing the bulkhead line. The map shall use a scale of not less than 100 feet to an inch or any other scale required by the department. The map and a metes and bounds description of the bulkhead line shall be prepared by a professional land surveyor licensed under ch. 443. The department may require the installation of permanent reference markers to the bulkhead line. Upon approval by the department, the municipality shall deliver the map, description, and ordinance to the office of the register of deeds of the county in which the bulkhead line lies, to be recorded by the register of deeds.
(4) Riparian rights preserved. Establishment of a bulkhead line shall not abridge the riparian rights of riparian owners. Riparian owners may place solid structures or fill up to such line.
(5) Finding of public interest.
(a) Prior to the execution of any lease by the board of commissioners of public lands concerning rights to submerged lands or rights to fill in submerged lands held in trust for the public under s. 24.39, the department shall determine whether the proposed physical changes in the area as a result of the execution of the lease are consistent with the public interest. Thirty days before making its determination, the department shall notify, in writing, the clerk of the county and clerk of the city, village, or town in which the changes are proposed and the U.S. army corps of engineers of the application for the lease. In making its finding the department shall give consideration to all reports submitted to it. The department shall not approve a lease applied for under s. 24.39 (4) (a) 2. if the department determines that the lease may threaten excessive destruction of wildlife habitat.
(b) When considering leases to allow certain initial improvements such as, but not restricted to, filling on submerged lands to create sites for further facilities, the department may determine whether such initial improvements are consistent with the public interest in the navigable waters involved even though the exact final use to which these improvements will be put is not known. The department, at the time it finds that a proposed lease would be consistent with the public interest in the navigable waters involved, may include in its findings such limitations upon the use of improvements as it considers necessary to confine their use to functions primarily related to water transportation or otherwise of public benefit. The board of commissioners of public lands shall include in the lease such limitations on final use as is determined by the department.
(c) Upon the complaint of any person to the department that current use made of rights leased under s. 24.39 (4) is inconsistent with both its original findings and the public interest, the department shall hold a public hearing thereon after the publication of a class 2 notice, under ch. 985. If the department finds that the present use conforms neither to its original finding nor to the present public interest, it shall submit its findings to the governor. The governor may cause the attorney general or the district attorney of the proper county to bring action in the name of the state in a court of competent jurisdiction to declare the lease terminated and to institute appropriate action for removal of structures or cessation of practices in violation of such lease.
(6) Shoreline not invalidated. A shoreline lawfully established before January 1, 1960, is a lawfully established bulkhead line.
History: 1987 a. 374; 1991 a. 32; 2003 a. 118; 2013 a. 358; 2015 a. 196.
A bulkhead line is not merely the natural shoreline, but one legislatively established by a municipality. It may differ from the existing shoreline and is also distinguishable from the low- and high-water marks previously judicially defined. State v. McFarren, 62 Wis. 2d 492, 215 N.W.2d 459 (1974).
The private right to fill lakebeds granted under this section does not preempt the zoning power of a county over shorelands under s. 59.971 [now s. 59.692]. State v. Land Concepts, Ltd. 177 Wis. 2d 24, 501 N.W.2d 817 (Ct. App. 1993).
When a bulkhead line has been established, a riparian owner must nonetheless obtain a permit or contract pursuant to s. 30.20 prior to removing material from the bed of a navigable water landward of the bulkhead line, but within the original ordinary high water mark. 63 Atty. Gen. 445.
A bulkhead line is not legally established until the filing requirements of sub. (3) are met. A bulkhead line established by a town on lands subsequently annexed to a municipality that has not established such line, remains in effect. 64 Atty. Gen. 112.

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