OUR PLACE
The lagoon is at a standstill.
Last week’s Piers, Harbor, and Lakefront Committee met and discussed the next step for the lagoon dredging. The dredging is no small task and is quite costly. The city has tried to get other municipalities and the towers involved in cost sharing with no success. The lake municipalities have shared in the cost in the past, and most were very surprised and confused as to why this did not happen this time. The lagoon has not been dredged in about a decade and is well overdue for a little TLC. Lake Geneva felt the job needed to be done if the city decided to replace the boat slips in the lagoon with or without help from the other lake municipalities.
The lagoon is a critical piece of the lake and affects all of it. The dam is also necessary for the lake. The lake municipalities do have a contract regarding the dam and its maintenance. The Lake Level Association is the organization in charge of the inspections of the dam and has a written agreement with the lake municipalities, which went into effect about 25 years ago to share in the cost of the dam maintenance as the dam is crucial to the entire lake. The municipalities that share the lake have a stake in the dam and what the inspections bring to light. The lagoon work started with the need for repairs to the dam, which motivated the city to make improvements in the lagoon.
The seawall deterioration was made visible when the dam work started, and the slips were removed. When the lagoon work started, the city was more focused on the navigation of the lagoon, replacing the boat slips, and making the area more visually and aromatically pleasing. The dredging was all part of the process, and now, with the written agreement between the municipalities being brought to light, the city would like to reconsider the dredging cost, as it is vital to the inspections and maintenance of the dam.
This would save the city a considerable amount of money, but would push any decision on the potential boat slip installation into the future, most likely into the 2026 boating season. The piers, harbor, and lakefront have continued the dredging issue and have put the bids for pier slips in the lagoon on hold with the amendment to only review floating piers if the decision is made to replace them at all. The lagoon boat slip renters are still waiting and wondering if they will ever get their boat slips back. That the decision to dredge, what with the costs involved, makes good sense to put off into the future. Don’t put in new piers, and don’t pay out hard-earned cash from the citizens to spend any money right now while the nation remains in financial turmoil. Use any excuse necessary, as the citizenry has to be saved at any expense. The future is not predictable just now, so trust your local leadership to know and understand that
