OUR PLACE
Curb replacements and installations have been happening around Lake Geneva.
There is one curb addition that has some residents upset. The Oak Terrace residents are concerned that the addition of a curb at the entrance of the property will cause accidents and or damage to the undercarriage of vehicles. Oak Terrace has a shared driveway with the Lake Geneva YMCA. This shared driveway is just off Wells Street and for well over thirty years the residents have not had a curb, and it has been smooth sailing. The city engineer shared the reasoning behind the curb work. The existing condition it is a double shared driveway and curb cut, the ordinance requires only 24 feet for residential and 35 feet for commercial, and the new widening is more than the residential but less than the commercial they have tried maximizing this by giving both ample space.
This entrance functions much like an intersection as Cass Street is directly across from it. Traffic is usually directed to flow at 90 degrees so even though this is a change for the residents at Oak Terrace the city engineers believe the widening and curb addition is typical and a positive change for vehicles and pedestrians using the sidewalk. This area on Wells Street can get very busy at times the curb has made it difficult to get in and out of Oak Terrace for all types of vehicles. The residents were surprised to see a curb being installed and most had no idea it was even a planned addition until it was being installed. They would now like it removed.
This is not going to happen as of right now. Public works and the city engineer believe the residents of Oak Terrace and patrons of the YMCA will find the curb is not as much of an inconvenience as initially thought and residents will get used to it. The traffic since installation work has been moving smoothly with no complaints called in. Garbage pick-up has also been accomplished with no complaints. The residents who spoke at the meeting were also reassured the area would be watched and any complaints would be thoughtfully reviewed.
The 70th anniversary of the wonderful Pierce couple has arrived as the Labor Day activity at Pierce’s Farmstand takes place this year. Those two remarkable people have provided such a benefit to the entire Geneva Lake area that it’s hard to describe. A great grand thank you goes out from the Geneva Shore Report to these two wondrous human beings and that thanks is very likely shared by all of the paper’s readers.
