OUR PLACE

The Lake Geneva Piers, Harbor, and Lakefront Committee held a special meeting last week to cover the lagoon issues.
The dam is still under construction for the repairs that need to be done. The project should be concluded as soon as the concrete cures. There is still a list of work that needs to be decided and done in the lagoon. The deteriorating sea wall repairs were started earlier in the summer but had to be stopped due to the damage being much more severe than originally thought. The piers, harbor, and lakefront committee discussed the issue and weighed the options. A rip rap wall, much like the one already on the shore of Geneva Lake in Library Park and along Wriggly Drive, was the first one of the three to be discussed. The rip rap option is the least expensive (approximately $150,000.00) but requires a lot of maintenance.

The other two options are about twice as costly (both costing around $300.000.00) as the rip rap but last longer and require a lot less maintenance. These two options are either brick clicks and mortar or a solid smooth concrete wall. These are the two the committee agreed on and are having them sent out for bids. Dredging is the next on the lagoon’s ‘things-to-do list’. The estimated cost of the dredging is close to if not a little more than $3000,000.00. and the committee will also send that out for bids.

The last issue of the lagoon is probably the most controversial as it will determine what will or will not go in the lagoon. The boat slip finger piers that resided in the lagoon for many decades offered some of the smaller boat owners in Lake Geneva a less expensive boat slip than the other city slips. With the removal of those slips, the slip renters lost a season of boating and have been anxiously waiting to find out if or when they will get them back. The GLEA and other lake advocates believe the cluttering of the lagoon affects the health and longevity of the entire lake.

The committee has discussed the options. There are a few different options for a new pier design, however the number of piers will change. The lagoon’s old slip design offered approximately twenty slips and any of the new designs will be approximately a handful less. The financial aspect of whether or not to have a pier system installed is being heavily weighed as the lagoon slips did not make the city money much less breakeven but was a nice thing to offer the residents. With the certainty of fewer slips and the money being spent to bring the lagoon up to the standards it needs and future maintenance of the lagoon to be the city will not make that up any time soon if ever.

The chair of the committee brought up a different option for getting the slip renters back in the water. The idea is the building of an open water pier with forty to fifty slips. This of course would not be in the lagoon but possibly near the west end pier or maybe along Wriggly Drive across from Flat Iron Park. This of course would be a very expensive project estimated to be around 2 million. This option would accommodate the lagoon slip renters and more. Currently, the waiting list for a slip in Lake Geneva is over a hundred people and the wait is estimated to be just over a hundred years. The wait list is closed as most on it will never get a slip.

There will be another piers, harbor, and lakefront meeting on October 8th and the committee is hoping to have more details to review and discuss regarding the lagoon’s future and the possible addition of an open water