For More Information Contact:
Dana Brueck 608/266-1221
MADISON — Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has announced that Susanne and Michael Michels, who own property on Upper Nashotah Lake in Delafield, Waukesha County, have been ordered to pay $99,000 in forfeitures, assessments, and costs, plus $5,000 in additional restoration, for violations of Wisconsin’s water protection laws.
The violations are related to construction on Upper Nashotah Lake, a navigable water and an area of special natural resource interest and home to several endangered or threatened fish, birds and flora.
Wisconsin law prohibits the placement of any structure or material on the bed of a navigable water without a permit, and prohibits the grading or removal of topsoil from more than 10,000 square feet on the bank of a navigable water without a permit.
According to the complaint, Susanne and Michael Michels, in and after August 2009, placed stone walls and boat rails and disturbed more than 10,000 square feet along the bed and bank of Upper Nashotah Lake, and in August and September 2009 placed 70 cubic yards of sand on the bed of Upper Nashotah Lake, without any water regulation or grading permits and with no or inadequate erosion control measures, in violation of state water protection statutes. Susanne and Michael Michels have since completed extensive restoration and related corrective action required by the Department of Natural Resources.
The order requires that $99,999 in forfeitures, assessments and costs be paid, plus an additional $5,000 for planting and maintaining native perennials, trees, shrubs and bushes at the site.
Assistant Attorney General JoAnne F. Kloppenburg prosecuted the case for the state.
Copies of the Judgment and the Stipulation and Order for Judgment are available at the following links:
http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/stipulation-order-michels-michael-susanne-20111012.pdf
http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/judgment-michels-michael-susanne-20111012.pdf
