OUR PLACE
The Geneva Lake Level Corporation sent out a notice to all municipalities that share the lake.
The dam, located in Lake Geneva’s Flat Iron Park, is long overdue for repairs and is finally getting done. To start the long overdue dam repairs the lake level needed to drop substantially. The lake leveling began right after the Labor Day holiday on September 3rd. The water level was dropped 4 to 5 inches below the spillway which will be noticeable in pier posts. Once the water is low enough and the spillway is empty of any lake water the repairs to the dam and coatings on the concrete will start. As of right now the work is in progress and is expected to take approximately six weeks, four of which will be for the actual repairs and two for curing of the concrete. Of course, if Mother Nature messes with the process it could take longer.
While the dam is being worked on Lake Geneva’s Piers, Harbor, and Lakefront Committee are trying to make decisions regarding the future of the lagoon. The sea wall repairs that were stopped right after starting need much more extensive repairs than originally thought. The re-do options are for either a rip rap seawall which is roughly $150,000 and would include boulders and mortar or a concrete sea wall which is roughly twice that amount. The rip rap would automatically get rid of 4-5 boat slips as it takes up space. The committee is still unsure if the lagoon will have boat slips or not and if so, the style is undecided. Once the seawall decision is made and the work is done the dredging needs to happen.
At that time the piers, if approved, can finally be installed. Of course, all the decisions need to go through the process of approvals and financial approvals. If the city pulls it together and makes a decision quickly and has all its ducks in a row the lagoon could be sitting pretty for the 2025 summer season. However, it is unlikely everything will fall into place that smoothly. The current boat slip renters of the lagoon are still in the dark if they will get their slips back or not and if so when. If the slips are not replaced in the lagoon the idea of adding another pier somewhere to accommodate the lost lagoon slips. With so many costly decisions to be made the slip renters are afraid rental costs will increase substantially and are not feeling optimistic.
Who cares about price gouging?
Well, it must not be the residents and visitors in and around the city of Lake Geneva. All the stations in Lake Geneva, as of the writing of this article, are charging $3,05 or more. The stations in Elkhorn, Delavan, and Williams Bay are, one and all, at $2.77. Only 28 cents a gallon one might consider, until you are purchasing twenty or thirty gallons.
Why are these stations getting away with this? Because Lake Geneva won’t do anything about it and the stations know that. The drive is Williams Bay is about ten miles round trip. That’s less than half a gallon for most cars. It’s worth the trip now to get away from the gougers. You may not save all that much, but you’ll sure feel better.
Place of the Week
Pattie’s Too at 217 S 7th St, Delavan has great sandwiches and wraps. They even have an ice cream bar for dessert.
