Applicants seek shoreland setback relief on Lauderdale Lake to rebuild residence and manage neighbor runoff

Jerry (applicant) and architect Jason Bernard told the Walworth County Board of Adjustment on March 12 that they want to replace an existing, largely nonconforming set of structures at N7688 West Shore Drive in Elkhorn with a single-level residence and detached garage that would better serve a wheelchair user in the family.

The applicants requested a variance from the county Shoreland Zoning Ordinance requiring a 75-foot shore yard setback to allow the house at 65 feet from the ordinary high-water mark and to retain a driveway 30.3 feet from that mark. "Our goal is really to make this our retirement home," Jerry said. The property is zoned R‑1, the architect said, and the site totals about 1.9 acres.

The project team told the board the parcel is unusually constrained by shoreline configuration and by existing nonconforming buildings. Bernard said about 80 percent of the parcel is effectively unbuildable shore yard and that the design fits a roughly 45-foot-wide buildable area. He estimated about 780 square feet of new…