If your pier does not meet the DNR's new pier law exemption criteria but was in place before February 2004, you have an opportunity to register your pier with the DNR and receive grandfathered status. Registration must be completed by April 2011. You do not need to register your pier if it meets certain criteria published on the DNR website. The DNR offers an interactive decision tool to help you determine if you will need to register your pier, get a permit, or if action is not required.

The Pewaukee Lake Improvement Association opposed the Wisconsin Pier Regulations when it was being debated in the Wisconsin legislature over the course of several years. While the final law is better than the DNR pier rule it replaced, the PLIA feels it has three major flaws beyond it's general lack of clarity. One, the rules were made to take effect four years retroactively, so people who installed new piers in good faith after February 2004 and before the time the law was put in place in April 2008 may now be forced to remove significant portions of their piers. Secondly, the one size fits all philosophy prevalent in DNR thinking (witness the new shoreland zoning rules) results in unrealistically small allowable pier sizes for docks on larger lakes (for safe landing and docking of larger boats in all kinds of weather) and for condominium and multi-party access properties. Finally, we believe the "science" the law was based on is seriously flawed. Whether the four year retro-active portion of the law will survive a legal challenge is open to some question. The PLIA will endeavor to have the law modified when a more favorable political climate is in place in Madison.

You can download a copy of the Wisconsin’s Pier Regulations and the Piers Exemption Checklist (both PDFs) from the PLIA website. You'll need a copy of the FREE Adobe Reader® (or a similar PDF reader) to read these documents after  you download them. To obtain the latest version, if you don't already have a copy, click here. This will open a new window in your browser where you can download the program. Simply click back to this window to continue using this website, then click on either of these (turquoise text) document names above to download that information.

We invite your comments on the Wisconsin Pier Regulations. You can send us an email or click the "Post a Comment" link immediately below this entry.

Does Your Pier Meet Your Neighbor's With Little Space In-between?

Sometimes placing piers along water-edge areas like tightly curved bays or on lots with curved, irregular, or angled shorelines or lot lines can be difficult because even modest-sized piers can block neighboring lake access or mooring and navigation areas. The Wisconsin DNR publication Pier Planner (Pub. FH 017 - MARCH 2009) outlines rules for calculating dock sizes and where piers can be placed along the shore. This pamplet provides information on the Coterminous Method, among others, for calculating allowable pier placement areas that can be used to solve difficult situations such as these. Diagrams showing examples of the different placement calculations are also included in this publication.

This is an excerpt from the complete set of illustrations available in March 2009 Pier Planner.

On April 16th, 2008, new legislation concerning the placement of piers on Wisconsin Waterways went into effect. The law retroactively affects piers put in place for the first time after February 5, 2004! The PLIA opposed this legislation on the basis of fairness and clarity of the law. Look for a more in-depth analysis of this law on this site in the future. A Wisconsin DNR publication entitled Wisconsin’s Pier Regulations—Everything You Need to Know for 2010 explaining the new law is available by clicking the highlighted link.