Whose lake and whose land is it, anyway?

If you live on a lake, what do you think of shoreland zoning laws? There are a couple of schools of thought on this subject. One says that if I buy lake property, it’s my land and I should be able to do what I want with it, free of interference. Another says restrictions on lake lot development are needed to protect water quality and aesthetics because lakes (at least here in Wisconsin) belong to the public, according to the state constitution.

I fall into the latter school. I write about this now because there is a move afoot here to roll back some of the shoreland zoning protections that were passed a few years ago after long debate and extensive compromise among many interests.

I see shoreland protection from two sides. For most of my 60 years I was a lake visitor and greatly appreciated the northwoods scenery on lakes where development was somewhat restrained – where most property owners left the native trees intact, refrained from planting lawns, kept piers unobtrusive, and generally went easy on the land. Now I own lake property (I live here on Birch Lake near Harshaw in northern Wisconsin) and my feelings about lake development haven’t really changed.

Our shoreland zoning here in Oneida County says that if we want to we can clear trees from a “viewing corridor” 30 feet wide. We have not done it nor do we intend to. We have a lovely “filtered view” of the water from atop a hill. You can hardly see our place from the lake. That's good for our neighbors and lake visitors, and for us, because the trees help confer privacy. 

What concerns me most about the proposed changes to the shoreland protection rules is a rollback of limits on impervious surfaces. We have a small lot potentially subject to such restrictions. I support them – for the simple reason that too much runoff, from our property and others, is a direct threat to the water quality in the lake. Shouldn’t I be willing to invest a little more for stormwater control, if doing so helps protect the lake, which is integral to my property and its value? Why would I want, in effect, to soil my own nest?

On one level I can understand those who say, “I paid a lot for this property and no one should be able to tell me what I can build on it, or where, or how much.” On the other hand, we have such things as zoning laws and, in certain subdivisions, architectural codes, because we’ve decided that life is much better if we use land in coordinated ways. In the very simplest sense, observing zoning laws and shoreland protection rules amounts to being a good neighbor. With the force of law, mind you, but nonetheless.

Our lakes are precious. I don’t believe I have the right to expose “my” lake to the risk of pollution just because I believe I can do what I want with “my” land. So I am all for shoreland protection. And if compliance costs me extra money and some inconvenience, so be it, because it is going to help protect the values – scenic, environmental and economic – of the lake I love.