Ashwaubenon, WI Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

Ashwaubenon's shoreland-wetland zoning district, created under Article 1 of Chapter 23 and covering land within 1,000 feet of a navigable lake or 300 feet of a navigable river under Section 23-2-108, requires most new development to obtain a shoreland-wetland permit from the Zoning Administrator under Section 23-1-202(A). The application must give the owner's name and parcel number, a scaled site plan, the location of the ordinary high-water mark, and the location of any structures measured from the lot lines; once issued, the permit expires one year from the date of issuance under Section 23-1-202(A)(3).

Piers and boat docks get a specific carve-out from that local process. Section 23-1-302(A)(2)(e) lists the construction and maintenance of piers, docks, walkways, observation decks and trail bridges built on pilings among the uses that do not require a shoreland-wetland permit, provided the work involves only limited excavating or filling and no wetland alteration. That exemption is conditioned: Section 23-1-302(A) allows these uses only subject to Wisconsin Statutes chapters 30 and 31, so a property owner who skips the Village's shoreland-wetland permit for a new dock still needs to satisfy the Wisconsin DNR's waterway permitting requirements under those chapters before building over or into the water.

Boathouses built alongside a dock are handled under a separate provision, Section 23-2-109(B): a boathouse may sit within the normal 50-foot shoreline setback, but only if it stays entirely above the ordinary high-water mark, faces the water, and is used strictly to store boats and water-recreation gear, since plumbing, heating, cooking facilities and human habitation inside a boathouse are all prohibited.