1. (1) Specifications required. By December 31, 2000, every county drainage board shall adopt complete specifications for each drainage district under that board’s jurisdiction. The department shall approve the specifications before the county drainage board adopts them. The specifications shall include all of the following:

   1. (a) A map which clearly and accurately shows all of the following:

      1. 1. The boundaries of the drainage district, as last confirmed by the circuit court or as last revised by the county drainage board under ss. 88.77 to 88.80, Stats.

         Note: If the existing boundary of a drainage district is not clearly documented by a circuit court order, or by a county drainage board order under ss. 88.77 to 88.80, Stats., the county drainage board should clarify that boundary by appropriate procedures under ss. 88.77 to 88.80, Stats. See s. ATCP 48.21 (1).

      2. 2. The intended alignment and extent of every district drain. If private drains are connected to district drains, the map shall clearly identify which drains, or portions of drains, are district drains.
      3. 3. The intended location and width of every district corridor required under s. ATCP 48.24.

   2. (b) The intended cross-section of every district drain. Each vertical section in the cross-section of a district ditch shall include all of the following elements:

      1. 1. The intended top and bottom width of the ditch.
      2. 2. The intended depth of the ditch.
      3. 3. The intended side slope angle of the ditch.

      4. 4. Any drainage structures intersected by that vertical section.

         Note: The vertical sections comprising the cross-section of a district drain should normally be taken at intervals of not more than 1/3 mile along the entire length of the drain, and at points where structures or changes in drain slope occur.

   3. (c) The grade profile of every district drain. The grade profile of a district ditch shall include all of the following elements:

      1. 1. The intended grade elevations of the top and bottom of the ditch.
      2. 2. The estimated water surface elevations in the ditch at base flow. The county drainage board shall use a method described in ch. ATCP 48 Appendix A, or another method approved by the department, to estimate water surface elevations at base flow.

      3. 3. The peak water surface elevations in the ditch in the event of a 10-year 24-hour storm event. The county drainage board shall use the method described in ch. ATCP 48 Appendix A, or another method approved by the department, to estimate peak water surface elevations in the event of a 10-year 24 hour storm event.

         Note: The formally established “grade profile” effectively determines drainage access and the depth of drainage provided to landowners. When a county drainage board documents the “grade profile” of a district drain, the county drainage board may also wish to determine the elevations of known points at which private drains empty into that district drain.

2. (2) Notice to landowners; opportunity to object. Before a county drainage board applies to the department for approval of proposed drainage district specifications required under sub. (1), the county drainage board shall do all of the following:

   1. (a) Mail or deliver, to every known landowner in the drainage district, written notice of the proposed specifications. The notice shall include the proposed specifications or shall explain how the landowner may obtain them. The notice shall also include an announcement of the meeting required under par. (c), including the date, time and place of the meeting.
   2. (b) Publish a class 2 notice, under ch. 985, Stats., of the meeting under par. (c). The notice shall explain the purpose of the meeting, and shall include the meeting date, time and place.
   3. (c) Hold a public meeting to explain and discuss the proposed specifications. The county drainage board shall make the proposed specifications available for public inspection at the meeting.
   4. (d) Give landowners at least 30 days after the public meeting to file, with the county drainage board, written objections to the proposed specifications.

3. (3) Department approval.

   1. (a) To obtain the department’s approval under sub. (1), a county drainage board shall file all of the following with the department:

      1. 1. The drainage district specifications for which the county drainage board seeks approval.
      2. 2. A description of how the county drainage board established the specifications.
      3. 3. Documentation showing that the county drainage board has complied with sub. (2).
      4. 4. Notice of every landowner objection filed under sub. (2) (d).
      5. 5. The county drainage board’s position on every unresolved objection under sub. (2) (d).
      6. 6. Other relevant information required by the department.

   2. (b) Within 90 days after a county drainage board files a complete application under par. (a), the department shall approve or disapprove the specifications proposed by the county drainage board. The department may, for good cause, extend the approval deadline to a date specified by the department.

      Note: The department will consult with the department of natural resources before approving drainage district specifications proposed by the county drainage board. Among other things, the department will ask the department of natural resources to identify which, if any, drains in the district have a navigable stream history.

4. (4) Filing approved specifications. Within 30 days after the county drainage board adopts drainage district specifications under this section, the county drainage board shall file the specifications with the department, the county zoning administrator and the county register of deeds. Specifications are not formally established until they are approved, adopted and filed.

   Note: A landowner may challenge formally established drain specifications that violate this chapter or ch. 88, Stats., even if the department has approved those specifications. (In some cases, the department may not be aware of a violation when it approves the specifications.)

5. (5) Designating district drains. A county drainage board may not, over the objection of any landowner who owns or holds an easement to the land on which a drain is located, designate that drain as a district drain under sub. (1) (a) 2. unless the drainage board does at least one of the following:

   1. (a) Documents that a circuit court has, by order, designated that drain as a district drain.
   2. (b) Documents that the drain has, historically, been operated and maintained as a district drain.

   3. (c) Complies with s. ATCP 48.21 (2).

      Note: A drain is not necessarily a “district drain” merely because it is located on land within a drainage district, or merely because it provides drainage for more than one landowner. In some cases, lands within a drainage district are drained by private drains that empty into district drains. Private drains are not operated or maintained by the county drainage board; nor is there any district corridor surrounding a private drain.

6. (6) Drain cross-section, grade profile and alignment.

   1. (a) Except as provided in par. (b) or (c), the county drainage board shall adopt under sub. (1) the cross-sections, grade profiles and alignments last confirmed by the circuit court. If a county drainage board is unable to locate court specifications for a drain cross-section, grade profile or alignment, the drainage board may reconstruct those specifications based on physical evidence of historical conditions in the drainage district.

      Note: For example, a county drainage board may be able to document a historical grade profile by physical evidence including soil conditions and invert elevations of historical structures along the alignment of the district drain.

   2. (b) A cross-section, grade profile or alignment adopted under sub. (1) shall incorporate changes which the county drainage board, acting within its statutory authority, approved prior to September 1, 1999, except that a grade profile adopted under sub. (1) may not incorporate a change which the drainage board purported to approve prior to September 1, 1999, over the unresolved objection of a landowner whose access to drainage was affected by that change. A grade profile change is deemed to affect a landowner’s access to drainage if it impedes gravity flow of water from his or her land, through a real or assumed drain, to any real or assumed outlet at the formally established cross-section and grade profile of the district drain.
   3. (c) A county drainage board may proceed under s. ATCP 48.21 to change or clarify the cross-section, grade profile or alignment of a district drain.

History

History: Cr. Register, June, 1995, No. 474, eff. 7-1-95; r. and recr. Register, August, 1999, No. 524, eff. 9-1-99; corrections in (1) (c) 2., 3. made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register April 2013 No. 688.