Site Plan Review

Role of Staff is to ensure that development meets the applicable codes and regulations of the State, Federal Government and City of Lake Mills. The City of Lake Mills has one of the easiest site plan review systems in the State. The plans are submitted to one office and reviewed by a planner and an engineer who prepare memos noting the site plans failure to meet the codes and regulations. These memos are returned to the developer who can then improve the site plan as required by code. The developer can also request a meeting to discuss code and regulation interpretation and site issues. Once the site plan review is complete – the building Inspector is notified that he is allowed to issue a permit under his conditions.

This system has turned out site plan reviews in two weeks and two years. The major problem is developer’s expectations. Developers that have worked with Madison or Waukesha usually have substantially complete plans at the first review and are complete by the second. People use to dealing with Ixonia or Milford can’t figure out why a drawing on a napkin doesn’t meet code requirements. There are also some internal problems that can cause delays in the process, first is conflicting regulation. I’m hoping the new code will resolve this issue – I can always hope. The second is failure to follow through, emails get lost – plans get sent to the wrong locations and vacations result in all sorts of disjointedness. The problems are part of a small office and third party review.

Developers who require multiple reviews use to cost the city thousands of dollars. Now, after the first review, they have to pay the cost of each additional review. There are still other issues that have to be resolved, but development has slowed, the third parties are working hard to reduce costs and planner changes affect the ability to make changes. Having to learn a whole new code will also cause problems.