Drainage districts and regulating the removal of material from certain drainage ditches. (FE)

After a hearing the board may, but is not required to, issue an order transferring jurisdiction of the drain or part of the drain to the city or village.

Under this bill, the owners of a majority of the land proposed to be transferred in a drainage district that is located entirely, or partly, within the boundaries of a municipality may petition the board having jurisdiction over the district to transfer jurisdiction of the district, or a part of the district that is located in the municipality, to the municipality. After a hearing, the board must order transfer of jurisdiction if it finds that a sufficient number of owners has signed the petition, the governing body of the municipality approves the transfer, and the municipality and district have entered into an agreement that contains the following items: 1) the municipality agrees to ensure district access to, and maintenance of, drain access corridors; 2) the municipality agrees, upon request by the district, to maintain and repair former district drains; and 3) the district may complete any maintenance work not performed by the municipality and assess the costs to certain properties that were subject to assessment by the district prior to the transfer of jurisdiction.

Also under this bill, a municipality may petition the board with jurisdiction over a drain to transfer jurisdiction of the drain or part of the drain to the municipality. After a hearing, the board may, but is not required to, issue an order transferring jurisdiction of the drain or part of the drain to the municipality if the municipality has entered into an agreement with the district regarding continuing maintenance and repair of former district drains and access corridors, as described above.

Under current law, members of the drainage district board are appointed by the court having jurisdiction over the district. In general, the board is made up of three or five persons selected from persons recommended by a county committee on agriculture and extension education or certain landowners owning property in the district. Under this bill, if a district is located entirely or partially within the corporate limits of a city or village, the chief executive of the city or village or his or her designee is also a member of the board.

Under current law, DATCP has promulgated rules governing drainage district drain access corridors. This bill provides statutory regulation of district access corridors, which regulations are generally consistent with current DATCP rules.

Specifically, the board must establish district corridors extending 20 feet from the top of the ditch bank on each side of a district ditch and 20 feet from the centerline on each side of any other district drain or facility. The board may, upon notice to affected landowners, provide for a wider corridor. The board must provide notice of these corridors to the county and the municipality in which the corridor is located.

District corridors are to be maintained by the board so as to allow effective access and protect water quality in the district drain or facility. The board is, with limited exceptions, authorized to access, maintain, and improve the corridor without prior notice to the landowner. The landowner is also generally prohibited from taking certain actions within the corridor, including row cropping and placement of any obstruction that interferes with the district's ability to maintain the corridor.

Municipalities and counties are prohibited from restricting the board's maintenance of corridors and ditches.

Also under this bill, lands that are within the corporate limits of a city, village, or certain towns may not be included in a newly organized drainage district or annexed to a drainage district unless the governing body of the city, village, or town adopts a resolution approving the inclusion or annexation. Also, no lands that are located in a county in which no portion of the drainage district is located may be annexed to the district.

Current law generally prohibits a person from removing material from the bed of a navigable body of water unless the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has issued an individual permit or a general permit authorizing the removal. This bill creates an exemption from this prohibition for the removal of material from the bed of a drainage ditch operated by a drainage district. In order for the exemption to apply, certain conditions must be met including that the removal is for the purpose of maintaining the ditch, the material is not removed from an area listed by DNR in a database identifying contaminated properties, and the drainage district takes certain action to clean its equipment in order to prevent the spread of invasive species or viruses from one navigable water to another.

Under current law, a person may not discharge dredged material into a wetland unless the discharge is authorized by a wetland general permit or an individual permit issued by DNR or the discharge is exempt from the permit requirement.

Among the activities that are generally exempt from the permit requirement are normal farming, irrigation ditch construction, and drainage ditch maintenance.

Current law provides that even if these activities are exempt, a permit must still be obtained if the discharge is incidental to an activity to bring a wetland into a use for which it was not previously subject and if the discharge affects the wetland in certain other ways. This bill specifies that in order for the permit exemption to be inapplicable, the activity must be one that brings a wetland into a land use for which it was not previously subject.

Current law also requires a drainage district board to obtain a permit to conduct certain activities affecting a drainage district drain including repairing, enlarging, clearing, or maintaining the drain (drain maintenance permit). This bill exempts a drainage district board from the requirement to obtain a drain maintenance permit to remove material from the bed of a drainage district drain if the board is also exempt from the requirement to obtain a permit from DNR to remove the material.