Wisconsin
Development on historic fill sites and licensed landfills
The Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) Program and the Waste and Materials Management Program of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wrote a joint process and guidance for building on landfills. It covers two kinds of site. DNR uses historic fill site for a landfill built before 1970 that DNR did not license; the other category is licensed landfills. DNR says the requirements that used to apply to historic fill sites could be confusing and inconsistent, and that its staff have since made the process simpler.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name development approvals among its standard record sources. They matter where a property sits on old fill or a landfill. For such a property, ask DNR whether an exemption was applied for, and whether its file holds the investigation that went with it.
What DNR reviews
DNR's forms are for a person who wants to build on a historic fill site, or on a landfill that has no license number, or to put a new water supply well near a landfill:
- Form 4400-226 (Exemption Application), with Form 4400-226a (Expedited Exemption Application) submitted alongside it for the expedited route;
- Form 3300-209 (Application for Landfill Variance), for a water supply well to be built less than 1,200 feet from a landfill.
DNR's environmental professionals page labels Form 4400-226 for development at a historic fill site or a licensed landfill, so the two pages differ on what the form covers.
Where the application goes, and its fee, depend on the site. For a historic fill site it goes to the RR Program with a $700 review fee under ch. NR 749, Wis. Adm. Code. For a licensed landfill it goes to the Waste and Materials Management Program: the fee is $700 under ch. NR 749 if the landfill has no approved closure or plan of operation, and $1,650 under ch. NR 520 if it has one.
DNR's three fact sheets on the process are titled What You Need to Know (RR-683), Guidance for Investigation (RR-684) and Considerations and Potential Problems (RR-685). DNR says its guidance documents and forms for this process are being revised. This handbook did not open the fact sheets.
Where to look a site up
- For where old landfills are, DNR points to the Historic Registry of Waste Disposal Sites spreadsheet.
- The RR Sites Map shows landfill and historical waste site points and areas and a 1,200-foot landfill buffer; see RR Sites Map.
- Licensed landfills are on Licensed solid waste landfills.
Getting the file
DNR sends questions about building on historic waste sites to the regional staff of the RR Program, on its RR Program staff contacts page, and questions about building on closed licensed landfills to the regional landfill engineer of the Waste and Materials Management Program, found through its staff directory. The pages read give no separate route for an exemption file. DNR prefers records requests by email, to DNRRecordsResponse@wisconsin.gov, and accepts them in any format; see Public Records Request.
Sources
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: