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Zoning staff: 253 permits issued in 2024; shoreland protection model update and records scanning planned
Summary
Zoning staff reported 253 permits issued for Ashland County in 2024 and outlined plans to update a DNR shoreland protection model, scan historic permit files, and add permits to the Catalyst permitting system for public access.
Zoning staff told the Ashland County Zoning and Land Committee that the department issued 253 permits in 2024 and is preparing several administrative and regulatory updates for the winter.
Krish, who presented the permit summary, said October had 30 permits, November 15 and December 12, for a 2024 total of 253 permits compared with 261 in 2023. “If there's not any questions about that, I'll just go on with a little bit of our action items here,” Krish said.
Staff said the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has changed the format of its shoreland protection model. The county will route the updated shoreland protection ordinance language to corporate counsel, seek DNR certification where required, and then return the draft to the committee before presenting it to the county board.
The department is also digitizing older permit records. Trisha reported that the most recently scanned permits date to 2017 but that physical permit files on paper extend back to 1969 and are deteriorating. Trisha said staff aim to scan as many historic permits as possible to make files legible and responsive to public records requests.
Zoning staff are adding permits to a new system called Catalyst; once staff complete data entry, members of the public will be able to search and retrieve permit information online. Staff also demonstrated online GIS viewers with zoning overlays and township-specific permit lookups.
Committee members asked for the permit reports to include a township or parcel identifier to track where new construction or activity is concentrated. Krish agreed to add a column for township or parcel IDs to future reports. The committee also discussed coordination with the comprehensive plan update and how permit and equalized value reports can inform planning work.
