Brown County, Wisconsin septic permits and requirements

Permitting authority

Brown County Planning and Land Services — Zoning Division

Brown County Planning and Land Services, Northern Building Room 320, 305 E. Walnut Street, Green Bay, WI 54301; Zoning Division administers sanitary permits and POWTS inspections.

Wisconsin POWTS framework

Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services identifies counties as having the primary responsibility to inspect Private Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems, except for state-owned projects. DSPS also provides the statewide sanitary permit application, soil/site evaluation forms, inspection forms, and POWTS plan-review resources used with local county administration.

Use current county and state approvals together

County sanitary permits are part of Wisconsin's POWTS regulatory system. Depending on system type and project scope, state plan approval or other review may be required in addition to the county permit. The county page below identifies the local filing path and should be checked before construction or alteration.

County sanitary permitting authority

Brown County states that its Zoning Division is authorized to issue sanitary permits and that sanitary permits control private onsite wastewater treatment systems. The division also performs POWTS inspections and administers the county sanitary procedure.

Unsewered development is subject to POWTS rules

Brown County says its sanitary regulations apply to development that is not connected to a municipal sewer system, including residential development and commercial or industrial development with employees.

Sanitary permit application for new systems

The county identifies Wisconsin sanitary permit form SBD-6398 as the application that must be submitted to Brown County for every new POWTS. Applicants should use the current county instructions together with applicable Wisconsin POWTS code and any required plan approvals.

County ordinance and current fees

Brown County identifies Chapter 11 of its ordinance as the county procedure for administering Wisconsin POWTS requirements and publishes a sanitary-permit fee schedule covering multiple system types and plan-review categories. Because fee schedules can change, SepticScope links to the live county schedule instead of hard-coding a permit price.

Official sources

SepticScope summarizes public-agency information for planning purposes. The permitting agency's current instructions control if they differ from this guide.