LIVING HERE
A new type of competition is coming to the Walworth County Fair in 2022.
The Birdhouse Build-Off is a competition being held to draw more young people to the fairgrounds that aren’t involved in farms. The fair board is looking for more ways to include the youth who might not show animals, bake, or other projects.
The competition consists of young people, ages 9 to 17 years old, building their vision of a birdhouse, and an adult may assist in helping with the build. Registration is free and due August 12th which can be done online; walworthcountyfair.com. Birdhouses will need to be dropped off at the Home Economics Building, Saturday, August 27th, between 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., or Sunday, August 28th, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The competition will be judged on Saturday, September 3rd, at noon. Youth participants will receive free admission to the fair and the grand prize is a check for $5000 to be spent anyway. This is a great way to get young people involved and everyone should be thrilled to await the finished products that are sure to be presented.
Residents of South Street in Lake Geneva came to speak at Lake Geneva’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
The agenda item that had residents fired up was the South Street Trail Project. This is not a new agenda item, as it has been in discussion since 2017 when the city became aware of the TAP grant which could possibly fund such a project. The tap grant could potentially help fund the city bicycle and pedestrian wish list and improve the limited path availability and make the city more maneuverable for pedestrians and non-motorized modes of transportation. The City Administrator, David Nord, gave a brief timeline on the TAP grant which began in 2017 and included an online survey, open house, public hearings, several city meetings, and unanimous approval by May of 2021.
Strand Engineering Project Manager, Zach Simpson, gave a high-level overview of the tentative design plan for the South Street Trail Project. Simpson wanted to make the public aware that Strand did not become involved in the project until after the grant application was conducted. In terms of design the project is still in the planning phase and the potential location on South Street is a tight corridor, which makes this project a bit tricky. There are many factors that need to be considered, including curbs and gutters, drainage, and the width of the path which must be ten feet wide (possibly eight feet in small sections) to comply with grant guidelines. South Street has many homes along the area under consideration and concerns are becoming more apparent as the project planning goes on.
The homeowners are concerned about the width of the path, which, in some cases. would take up large chunks of their front yards. The path would be about a mile and a half long on South Street, so many homes would be affected, and many driveways would be crossed by the path. This brings up a lot of safety concerns, with vehicles backing in and out of driveways. Residents are also very upset at the number of trees and foliage that will need to be removed to build the path. At least thirty mature trees and shrubbery areas are marked with yellow tape for potential removal if the path gets final approval. The Tap grant only covers the cost of the path itself, not the curb and other incidental costs the project would also have, nor does it cover maintenance and upkeep of the path once it’s done. Citizens want to know how the city is going to pay for those parts. After several public comments, most in opposition and only two in favor of the project, those opposed seemed, but far, too far outnumber those in favor. The city wants to utilize the Tap grant for funding pedestrian path projects, but is South Street the right choice?
