Register May 2020 No. 773
Chapter ATCP 51
LIVESTOCK FACILITY SITING
Subchapter I — Definitions and General Provisions
ATCP 51.02 Scope of this chapter.
ATCP 51.06 Local approval of existing livestock facilities.
ATCP 51.08 Duration of local approval.
Subchapter II — Livestock Facility Siting Standards
ATCP 51.10 Livestock facility siting standards; general.
ATCP 51.12 Livestock structures; location on property.
ATCP 51.14 Odor and air emissions.
ATCP 51.16 Nutrient management.
ATCP 51.18 Waste storage facilities.
ATCP 51.20 Runoff management.
Subchapter III — Application and Approval
ATCP 51.32 Timely action on application.
ATCP 51.34 Granting or denying an application.
ATCP 51.36 Record of decision-making.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
Note: This chapter is adopted under authority of ss.
93.07 (1) and
93.90 (2),
Stats. This chapter interprets Wisconsin's livestock facility siting law, s.
93.90, Stats. According to the livestock facility siting law, a county, town, city or village (“political subdivision") may not prohibit or disapprove a new or expanded livestock facility of any size unless one of the following applies:
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The site is located in a zoning district that is not an agricultural zoning district.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The site is located in an agricultural zoning district where the livestock facility is prohibited. A prohibition, if any, must be clearly justified on the basis of public health or safety. The livestock facility siting law limits exclusionary zoning based solely on livestock facility size.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The proposed livestock facility violates a valid local ordinance adopted under certain state laws related to shoreland zoning, floodplain zoning, construction site erosion control or stormwater management.
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The proposed livestock facility violates a local building, electrical or plumbing code that is consistent with the state building, electrical or plumbing code for that type of facility.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The proposed livestock facility will have 500 or more “animal units" (or will exceed a lower permit threshold incorporated in a local zoning ordinance prior to July 19, 2003), and the proposed facility violates one of the following:
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• A state livestock facility siting standard adopted by the department under this chapter.
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• A more stringent local ordinance standard enacted prior to the siting application. The more stringent local standard must be based on reasonable and scientifically defensible findings of fact, adopted by the local jurisdiction, which clearly show that the standard is necessary to protect public health or safety.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
Some, but not all, political subdivisions require local approval of new or expanded livestock facilities. The livestock facility siting law does not require local approval. But if local approval is required, the political subdivision must grant or deny approval based on this chapter. A political subdivision may not consider other siting criteria, or apply standards that differ from this chapter, except as provided in the livestock facility siting law or this chapter.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The department must review the livestock facility siting standards under this chapter at least once every 4 years (
see s.
93.90 (2) (c), Stats.). The department will review the standards at least annually during the first 4 years of rule implementation. The department will track local siting applications and decisions (
see s.
ATCP 51.34 (5)), and will review that information at least monthly during the first year of rule implementation.
Ch. ATCP 51 Note
The livestock facility siting law includes the following statements of legislative intent:
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“This [law] is an enactment of statewide concern for the purpose of providing uniform regulation of livestock facilities."
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“…[T]he department shall consider whether
[livestock facility siting standards] are all of the following:
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• Protective of public health or safety.
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• Practical and workable.
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• Cost-effective.
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• Objective.
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• Based on available scientific evidence that has been subjected to peer review.
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• Designed to promote the growth and viability of animal agriculture in this state.
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• Designed to balance the economic viability of farm operations with protecting natural resources and other community interests.
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• Usable by officials of political subdivisions."
ATCP 51.01
ATCP 51.01 Definitions. In this chapter:
ATCP 51.01(1)
(1) “Adjacent" means located on land parcels that touch each other, or on land parcels that are separated only by a river, stream, or transportation or utility right–of–way.
ATCP 51.01(2)
(2) “Affected neighbor" means, for purposes of the odor score calculation under
s. ATCP 51.14, a residence or high-use building located within 2,500 feet of any livestock structure at a proposed livestock facility. “Affected neighbor" does not include a residence or high-use building owned by any of the following:
ATCP 51.01(2)(b)
(b) A person who affirmatively agrees to have the residence or high-use building excluded from the odor score calculation under
s. ATCP 51.14.
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: The odor score calculation under s.
ATCP 51.14 is based, in part, on the proximity and density of “affected neighbors."
See Appendix A, worksheet 2.
ATCP 51.01(3)
(3) “Animal lot" means a feedlot, barnyard or other outdoor facility where livestock are concentrated for feeding or other purposes. “Animal lot" does not include a pasture or winter grazing area. Two or more animal lots at the same livestock facility constitute a single animal lot, for purposes of this chapter, if runoff from the animal lots drains to the same treatment area under
s. ATCP 51.20 (2) or if runoff from the animal lot treatment areas converges or reaches the same surface water within 200 feet of any of those treatment areas.
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: See s.
93.90 (1m) (a), Stats., and s.
ATCP 51.04. “Animal unit" equivalents, for different species and types of livestock, are shown in
Appendix A, worksheet 1 (animal units). The “animal unit" equivalents are based on s.
NR 243.03 (3) as it existed on April 27, 2004 (the date on which the livestock facility siting law,
2003 Wis. Act 235, was published).
ATCP 51.01(5)
(5) “
BARNY model" means the NRCS “Evaluation System to Rate Feedlot Pollution Potential," ARM-NC-17 (April 1982 version with modifications as of August 2005).
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: The BARNY model is a commonly used computer model that predicts nutrient runoff from animal lots. Copies of the BARNY model are on file with the department, the secretary of state and the legislative reference bureau. An Excel computer spreadsheet version is available at
www.datcp.state.wi.us.
ATCP 51.01(6)
(6) “Bedrock" means the top of the shallowest layer of a soil profile that consists of consolidated rock material or weathered-in-place material, more than 50% of the volume of which will be retained on a 2 mm soil sieve.
ATCP 51.01(7)
(7) “Certified agricultural engineering practitioner" means an agricultural engineering practitioner who is certified under
s. ATCP 50.46 with a rating under
s. ATCP 50.46 (5) that authorizes the practitioner to certify every matter that the practitioner certifies under this chapter.
ATCP 51.01(8)
(8) “Cluster" means any group of one or more livestock structures within a livestock facility.
ATCP 51.01(10)
(10) “Department" means the Wisconsin department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection.
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: Under s.
NR 151.015 (7), “direct runoff" means a discharge of a significant amount of pollutants to waters of the state resulting from any of the following practices:
ATCP 51.01 Note
(a) Runoff from a manure storage facility.
ATCP 51.01 Note
(b) Runoff from an animal lot that can be predicted to reach surface waters of the state through a defined or channelized flow path or man-made conveyance.
ATCP 51.01 Note
(c) Discharge of leachate from a manure pile.
ATCP 51.01 Note
(d) Seepage from a manure storage facility.
ATCP 51.01 Note
(e) Construction of a manure storage facility in permeable soils, or over fractured bedrock, without a liner designed according to s.
NR 154.04 (3).
ATCP 51.01(12)
(12) “DNR" means the Wisconsin department of natural resources.
ATCP 51.01(13)
(13) “Expanded livestock facility" means the entire livestock facility that is created by the expansion, after May 1, 2006, of an existing livestock facility. “Expanded livestock facility" includes all livestock structures in the expanded facility, regardless of whether those structures are new, existing or altered.
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: This chapter applies to local approvals of
new or expanded livestock facilities that will have 500 or more animal units (or will exceed a lower permit threshold incorporated in a local
zoning ordinance prior to July 19, 2003).
See s.
ATCP 51.02. Although this chapter covers all livestock structures in an “expanded livestock facility," existing structures are subject to less rigorous standards than new or expanded structures, and are completely exempt from certain requirements.
ATCP 51.01(14)
(14) “Expansion" means an increase in the largest number of animal units kept at a livestock facility on at least 90 days in any 12-month period. The acquisition of an existing livestock facility, by the operator of an adjacent livestock facility, does not constitute an “expansion" unless that operator increases the largest number of animal units kept at the combined livestock facilities on at least 90 days in any 12-month period.
ATCP 51.01(15)
(15) “Fine soil particles" means soil particles that pass through a # 200 soil sieve.
ATCP 51.01(16)
(16) “High-use building" means any of the following buildings:
ATCP 51.01(16)(a)
(a) A residential building that has at least 6 distinct dwelling units.
ATCP 51.01(16)(b)
(b) A restaurant, hotel, motel or tourist rooming house that holds a permit under s.
97.605, Stats.
ATCP 51.01(16)(e)
(e) A non-farm business or workplace that is normally occupied, during at least 40 hours of each week of the year, by customers or employed workers.
ATCP 51.01(17)
(17) “Karst feature" means an area or superficial geologic feature subject to bedrock dissolution so that it is likely to provide a conduit to groundwater. “Karst feature" may include caves, enlarged fractures, mine features, exposed bedrock surfaces, sinkholes, springs, seeps or swallets.
ATCP 51.01(18)
(18) “Livestock" means domestic animals traditionally used in this state in the production of food, fiber or other animal products. “Livestock" includes cattle, swine, poultry, sheep and goats. “Livestock" does not include equine animals, bison, farm-raised deer, fish, captive game birds, ratites, camelids or mink.
ATCP 51.01(19)
(19) “Livestock facility" means a feedlot, dairy farm or other operation where livestock are or will be fed, confined, maintained or stabled for a total of 45 days or more in any 12–month period. A “livestock facility" includes all of the tax parcels of land on which the facility is located, but does not include a pasture or winter grazing area. Related livestock facilities are collectively treated as a single “livestock facility" for purposes of this chapter, except that an operator may elect to treat a separate species facility as a separate “livestock facility."
ATCP 51.01 Note
Note: See definition of “related livestock facilities" in sub. (36) and “separate species facility" in sub. (38).
ATCP 51.01(20)
(20) “Livestock structure" means a building or other structure used to house or feed livestock, to confine livestock for milking, to confine livestock for feeding other than grazing, to store livestock feed, or to collect or store waste generated at a livestock facility. “Livestock structure" includes a barn, milking parlor, feed storage facility, feeding facility, animal lot or waste storage facility. “Livestock structure" does not include a pasture or winter grazing area, a fence surrounding a pasture or winter grazing area, a livestock watering or feeding facility in a pasture or winter grazing area, or a machine shed or like facility that is not used for livestock.
ATCP 51.01(21)
(21) “Local approval" means an approval, required by local ordinance, of a new or expanded livestock facility. “Local approval" includes a license, permit, special exception, conditional use permit or other form of local authorization. “Local approval" does not include any of the following:
