Walworth County LCC approves amendment to nonmetallic mining reclamation ordinance to align with NR 135

The Walworth County Land Conservation Committee voted June 16 to approve an amendment to Article 6 of the Walworth County Code of Ordinances concerning nonmetallic mining reclamation and will forward the amendment to the County Board for consideration on July 8, 2025, the committee was told.

Heather Markworth, senior urban conservation specialist with the Walworth County Land Use and Resource Management Department, said the amendment responds to a routine audit by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which reviewed how the county enforces its ordinance against Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 135. "We had a DNR audit last year for, it was a routine program audit... they accompany us on site inspections to make sure that we are, the codes properly out in the field and, they observe our communication with the pit operators," Markworth said. She told the committee the updates mainly correct references, punctuation and grammar and align local language with NR 135; she said there were "no nothing major" added or removed that would warrant extended discussion.

Committee members moved and seconded approval at the Land Conservation Committee level; the motion passed by voice vote and the amendment will be forwarded to the County Board in July. Markworth noted a scrivener's error in the packet: the County Board meeting date listed as 09/09/2025 will be corrected to 07/08/2025.

The transcript records that the county ordinance is largely based on NR 135 and that the changes are intended to correct inconsistencies identified in the audit and to update references to state statutes and code sections. The committee did not discuss additional substantive policy changes, and no county‑level adoption occurred at the June 16 meeting—the item will proceed to the County Board.