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 construction would lie inside the 75-foot shore yard without the variance. "We're trying to keep at least 25 feet between the existing neighbors and the building we're proposing," Bernard said, describing a planned 10-foot lateral shift of the new house to preserve neighbor utilities and create a swale to carry drainage away from adjacent properties.

Zoning staff and the applicants discussed utilities and easements. Jerry said neighbors' service lines currently cross the property and that the applicants had flags in place showing utility locations; Bernard said the team planned to contact utility companies and use Diggers Hotline before construction. Board members pressed whether recorded easements exist for those utilities; Jerry and Bernard said the survey did not show a recorded easement and that the applicants would pursue clarifying documentation with utility companies before construction.

Beth (zoning staff) read a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources that the department sent to the board before the hearing. The DNR letter emphasized that the applicant carries the burden of proving all statutory variance criteria and cautioned that repeated variances closer to the ordinary high-water mark can have cumulative impacts on water quality and habitat. As summarized in the DNR text read to the board, "the applicant must prove that they will suffer unnecessary hardship if the provisions of the county shoreland Zoning Ordinance are literally enforced," and the DNR asked the board to consider whether a compliant building area exists on the lot.

Applicants and staff said the proposal would reduce existing impervious surface in parts of the site, remove failing structures (including a gazebo), and implement stormwater and erosion control during construction. Bernard and the applicants described a proposed engineered swale designed by Batterman Engineering to capture runoff from adjacent, higher-elevation lots and route it to the lake while reducing overland flow across the applicant's property.

Beth listed written support in the meeting file, including a letter from the Town of LaGrange planning body recommending approval, multiple adjacent property letters of support, and the DNR letter (received March 7). No members of the public spoke in opposition during the hearing. The board closed the public hearing on the item; no final county action appears on the record in the transcript from the March 12 session.

Because the DNR had provided written comment and multiple neighbors had submitted letters supporting the adjustment, the board's deliberations focused on whether the parcel's narrow buildable area, existing utilities crossing the lot, and the applicants' plan to reduce impervious surface together satisfied the statutory variance criteria. The applicants indicated they would pursue utility easement clarification and follow required erosion‑control and shoreland procedures if the variance is granted.

The record includes the Town of LaGrange recommendation and the DNR letter; the transcript shows the hearing was closed for this item but does not record a board vote on the request.