Washington County committee to draft resolution after Druid Lake floodplain remap upends building rules

Washington County Land Use and Planning Committee members said they will press state regulators after new floodplain maps for Druid Lake, Wis., impose stricter building limits that residents and county staff say could make lakefront properties difficult or impossible to repair or sell.

Brett Schur, Washington County’s land use manager, told the committee that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources used LiDAR-based data for updated FIRM maps and that, after the DNR finalizes the maps, the county will have six months to adopt the new maps into the county floodplain ordinance.

The new maps place many Druid Lake lots into a DNR-defined “flood storage” layer that, unlike the current FEMA-based flood fringe designation, prohibits adding fill without removing an equal amount elsewhere on the property. That requirement, combined with DNR rules that generally require houses to be raised about 2 feet and a 15-foot ring of fill around structures, is difficult to meet on lots that Schur said are often about 50 to 60 feet wide.

“If you do add fill, you have to remove the same amount of fill somewhere else on the property,” Schur said. “It’s kind of contradictory if you’re acquiring 15 feet of fill around a new home, but you have to remove another yards and yards off your property.”

Why it matters: Committee members and staff said the change could sharply reduce homeowners’ ability to renovate, expand or even sell lake lots. Schur estimated the assessed value of land and structures on Druid Lake at more than $23,000,000 and said residents have been contacting county staff weekly with questions. Supervisors expressed support for residents and asked staff to draft strong resolution language to press the DNR to allow additional engineering methods to meet flood-elevation requirements.

Committee discussion and next steps

Schur reviewed the timeline: preliminary FIRM maps were released in March 2024, the DNR held an open house in May, a 90-day appeal process began in September and closed in December with no appeals submitted from unincorporated areas of the county. Two recent board of adjustment variance requests were granted in February; both required months of work with staff and engineering input. Schur said the DNR’s flood storage overlay is distinct from FEMA requirements and is imposed by the Wisconsin DNR, which can be more restrictive than FEMA standards.

Supervisors repeatedly urged county staff to show visible support for affected residents. “This is once again the heavy hand of the DNR and the federal government, not the heavy hand of your county,” Supervisor Kelly said. Multiple supervisors said they would back a county resolution and that the county should coordinate with other counties and the Wisconsin Counties Association to press for regulatory change.

Schur described homeowner options and constraints: under FEMA rules, improvements are limited by an assessment-based threshold (often called the 50% rule), meaning that after a certain total of improvements a homeowner must bring the structure into full compliance rather than continue incremental renovations. Schur said the DNR does not treat disability- or ADA-related additions as exemptions from its rules and that some engineering options recognized elsewhere—stilt foundations, helical piers or other engineered pile systems—are effectively disallowed by the Wisconsin DNR unless a 15-foot fill ring is provided.

Appeals and map corrections

Schur explained remedies that can be pursued after maps are finalized: property owners may seek a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or similar FEMA map amendment, but that process typically requires hiring an engineer or surveyor and has a nontrivial cost. Schur said initial application fees to FEMA were roughly $6,000–$7,000 plus survey costs and that total costs can exceed $10,000–$20,000 for many property owners. He also said the DNR could audit local permitting if the county approves many variances inconsistent with DNR recommendations, and that in extreme cases FEMA could remove a community from the National Flood Insurance Program—raising insurance rates dramatically.

Local outreach and planned actions

County staff said they will meet with Druid Lake residents on June 30 at Aaron Town Hall; Schur said he had been in touch with Jim Bartz, head of the property owners’ PRD, to coordinate the meeting. Committee members asked staff to draft one or more resolutions — targeted at the DNR and possibly at federal agencies or legislative bodies — urging regulatory flexibility, especially to allow engineered alternatives to large fill requirements. Schur said the county is considering multiple drafts that could pursue state- and federal-level changes but that county authority to change the underlying DNR rule is limited.

No formal vote was recorded in committee on a resolution; members expressed consensus support for pursuing draft language and for staff outreach to residents. Schur said the DNR had not yet issued formal notice finalizing the maps, which would start the county’s six-month window to amend county ordinance Chapter 275 to match the new maps.

Ending

County staff will meet with affected residents June 30 and will prepare draft resolution language for committee review; staff also warned that technical appeals or FEMA map amendments are costly and may not be practical for many homeowners.