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

05 bars anyone from constructing, building, erecting, or maintaining a pier, boat hoist, or boat storage facility into Lakes Mendota, Monona, or Wingra where the structure extends from the shoreline of a City-owned park or other public area, or from land where the City holds riparian rights granted by the State of Wisconsin, unless the Park Commission has first granted specific authority for that structure. Structures erected without that authorization are subject to removal on 10 days' written notice from the Park Commission, delivered to the person who erected, operates, maintains, or claims ownership of the structure, or, if that person cannot be found, by attaching the notice directly to the pier, boat hoist, or storage facility.

04, governs piers along the banks of the Yahara River between Lakes Mendota and Monona: no one may build a pier there without first securing permission from the Board of Park Commissioners, and any authorized pier must be built adjacent and parallel to the riverbank, may extend no more than 3 feet from the bank into the stream, and cannot exceed 12 feet in length. These two sections are the City's local permitting mechanism for shoreline pier and dock structures; docks built entirely on private, non-City-owned waterfront lots fall instead under the Wisconsin DNR's waterway permitting authority (Wis. ch. 30), which is separate from these Madison ordinances.