ATCP 48.20(1)(c)2. 2. The estimated water surface elevations in the ditch at base flow. The county drainage board shall use a method described in ch. ATCP 48 Appendix A, or another method approved by the department, to estimate water surface elevations at base flow.

ATCP 48.20(1)(c)3. 3. The peak water surface elevations in the ditch in the event of a 10-year 24-hour storm event. The county drainage board shall use the method described in ch. ATCP 48 Appendix A, or another method approved by the department, to estimate peak water surface elevations in the event of a 10-year 24 hour storm event.

ATCP 48.20 Note Note: The formally established “grade profile” effectively determines drainage access and the depth of drainage provided to landowners. When a county drainage board documents the “grade profile” of a district drain, the county drainage board may also wish to determine the elevations of known points at which private drains empty into that district drain.

ATCP 48.20(2) (2) Notice to landowners; opportunity to object. Before a county drainage board applies to the department for approval of proposed drainage district specifications required under sub. (1), the county drainage board shall do all of the following:

ATCP 48.20(2)(a) (a) Mail or deliver, to every known landowner in the drainage district, written notice of the proposed specifications. The notice shall include the proposed specifications or shall explain how the landowner may obtain them. The notice shall also include an announcement of the meeting required under par. (c), including the date, time and place of the meeting.

ATCP 48.20(2)(b) (b) Publish a class 2 notice, under ch. 985, Stats., of the meeting under par. (c). The notice shall explain the purpose of the meeting, and shall include the meeting date, time and place.

ATCP 48.20(2)(c) (c) Hold a public meeting to explain and discuss the proposed specifications. The county drainage board shall make the proposed specifications available for public inspection at the meeting.

ATCP 48.20(2)(d) (d) Give landowners at least 30 days after the public meeting to file, with the county drainage board, written objections to the proposed specifications.

ATCP 48.20(3) (3) Department approval.

ATCP 48.20(3)(a) (a) To obtain the department’s approval under sub. (1), a county drainage board shall file all of the following with the department:

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)1. 1. The drainage district specifications for which the county drainage board seeks approval.

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)2. 2. A description of how the county drainage board established the specifications.

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)3. 3. Documentation showing that the county drainage board has complied with sub. (2).

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)4. 4. Notice of every landowner objection filed under sub. (2) (d).

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)5. 5. The county drainage board’s position on every unresolved objection under sub. (2) (d).

ATCP 48.20(3)(a)6. 6. Other relevant information required by the department.

ATCP 48.20(3)(b) (b) Within 90 days after a county drainage board files a complete application under par. (a), the department shall approve or disapprove the specifications proposed by the county drainage board. The department may, for good cause, extend the approval deadline to a date specified by the department.

ATCP 48.20 Note Note: The department will consult with the department of natural resources before approving drainage district specifications proposed by the county drainage board. Among other things, the department will ask the department of natural resources to identify which, if any, drains in the district have a navigable stream history.

ATCP 48.20(4) (4) Filing approved specifications. Within 30 days after the county drainage board adopts drainage district specifications under this section, the county drainage board shall file the specifications with the department, the county zoning administrator and the county register of deeds. Specifications are not formally established until they are approved, adopted and filed.

ATCP 48.20 Note Note: A landowner may challenge formally established drain specifications that violate this chapter or ch. 88, Stats., even if the department has approved those specifications. (In some cases, the department may not be aware of a violation when it approves the specifications.)

ATCP 48.20(5) (5) Designating district drains. A county drainage board may not, over the objection of any landowner who owns or holds an easement to the land on which a drain is located, designate that drain as a district drain under sub. (1) (a) 2. unless the drainage board does at least one of the following:

ATCP 48.20(5)(a) (a) Documents that a circuit court has, by order, designated that drain as a district drain.

ATCP 48.20(5)(b) (b) Documents that the drain has, historically, been operated and maintained as a district drain.

ATCP 48.20(5)(c) (c) Complies with s. ATCP 48.21 (2).

ATCP 48.20 Note Note: A drain is not necessarily a “district drain” merely because it is located on land within a drainage district, or merely because it provides drainage for more than one landowner. In some cases, lands within a drainage district are drained by private drains that empty into district drains. Private drains are not operated or maintained by the county drainage board; nor is there any district corridor surrounding a private drain.

ATCP 48.20(6) (6) Drain cross-section, grade profile and alignment.

ATCP 48.20(6)(a) (a) Except as provided in par. (b) or (c), the county drainage board shall adopt under sub. (1) the cross-sections, grade profiles and alignments last confirmed by the circuit court. If a county drainage board is unable to locate court specifications for a drain cross-section, grade profile or alignment, the drainage board may reconstruct those specifications based on physical evidence of historical conditions in the drainage district.

ATCP 48.20 Note Note: For example, a county drainage board may be able to document a historical grade profile by physical evidence including soil conditions and invert elevations of historical structures along the alignment of the district drain.

ATCP 48.20(6)(b) (b) A cross-section, grade profile or alignment adopted under sub. (1) shall incorporate changes which the county drainage board, acting within its statutory authority, approved prior to September 1, 1999, except that a grade profile adopted under sub. (1) may not incorporate a change which the drainage board purported to approve prior to September 1, 1999, over the unresolved objection of a landowner whose access to drainage was affected by that change. A grade profile change is deemed to affect a landowner’s access to drainage if it impedes gravity flow of water from his or her land, through a real or assumed drain, to any real or assumed outlet at the formally established cross-section and grade profile of the district drain.