|
Intro || Zoning 101 || Catching Up With the Zoning Approval Process || Public Participation || Shoreland Zoning Introduction: Local Government Approvals with Potential Wetland Impacts
Momentum builds with each stage of approval. The more time and money an applicant spends securing approvals for a particular project design, at a particular location, the more pressure decision-makers at all levels may be under to provide the remaining permits for the preferred alternative.
Most of the decisions you’ll want to watch occur through the implementation of local and county zoning ordinances. > Click here to continue for a brief overview of how zoning ordinances work.
|
The approval process for most construction proposals starts at the local (i.e., town, city, village) or county level. Local and county units of government have no authority to authorize wetland fill, but local approvals do lead to requests for state and federal permits to fill wetlands. Though local governments must require developers to avoid wetland impacts in the shoreland zone, beyond the shoreland zone local officials have no obligation to consider the wetland impacts of proposed development projects or to require developers to submit plans that avoid and minimize wetland impacts. Local elected officials may not even be aware of state or federal wetland regulations and may not understand the many public benefits that wetlands provide such as water quality improvement, flood storage, shoreland protection, wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge, etc. 
Citizen Input Can Save Wetlands:
You can help minimize wetland destruction in your community by tracking the local construction approval process and by providing early input to ensure that local decisions result in project designs that are consistent with state and federal requirements to avoid and minimize wetland impacts.