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Board presses planning staff to clarify driveway enforcement after zoning rewrite
Summary
Supervisors asked planning staff how enforcement of driveway construction and culvert standards will be handled after zoning language was removed; planning said highway will hold technical standards and county will add enforcement language to relevant highway/building chapters.
A dispute over who enforces driveway construction standards surfaced during Marquette County’s May 26 meeting after planners said technical driveway-construction language was removed from the new zoning ordinance.
Zoning Administrator Jean Potter told the board the revised ordinance removed driveway construction specifics because those technical standards historically belonged to the highway department. Several supervisors expressed concern that without clearer county-level enforcement language, towns would become responsible for compliance and there would be “no teeth” to require culverts, widths or asphalt approaches.
Potter and other board members acknowledged the concern and said the plan is to coordinate with Highway Department leadership (named in the meeting as Brian) and add enforcement language to the appropriate highway and building chapters — not to return construction standards to the zoning chapter. Board members asked staff to follow up and provide written clarifications about who will enforce which standards and where the requirements will be codified.
Why it matters: Driveway standards affect public safety (emergency-vehicle access), road maintenance (plow and culvert interactions) and private development costs. Clear assignment of enforcement responsibility prevents gaps in implementation when ordinances are rewritten.
What was said: A supervisor argued that when zoning stepped away from driveway specifics the responsibility appears to have been “dumped in all the town’s laps.” Potter responded that zoning historically tracked access points on parcels while the highway department handled construction technique, culverts and technical approvals; she said she would contact highway leadership to ensure the enforcement pathway is documented.
What’s next: County staff agreed to consult with the highway department and report back with clarification. The board framed the item as something to resolve administratively rather than as a new ordinance change: the consensus was to place technical construction standards in highway/building chapters and to document enforcement responsibilities for towns and county staff.
