Growth on the Lakeshore

 

By Lee Marie Reinsch, Marketplace Magazine

French navigator Samuel de Champlain called it Grand Lac.

Before 1800, Lake Michigan bore tags such as “lake of the stinking water,” Lac des Illinois (after the native Illiniweks who used it) and Lac St. Joseph.

But whatever you call it, Lake Michigan is the only of the five Great Lakes whose boundaries fall within the U.S. – and Wisconsin claims a good share of its Western coastline.

“Up and down Wisconsin’s east coast, people are protective of the coastline,” says Jon Jaroah, director of communications and public relations for the Door County Visitor Bureau.

Development, like beauty, is in the eye of they beholder.  What some say is too much development isn’t enough to another.  Wisconsin’s east coast has been seeing a movement toward a more natural look – development of existing natural resources and projects not necessary using concrete and steel.

In Door County, several municipalities, including Egg Harbor and Sister Bay, bought private lakefront property and made it into community park space.

Gordon Lodge, a banquet facility and restaurant north of Baileys Harbor, and Bjofklunden Vid Sjon, Lawrence University’s northern campus south of Bailey Harbor, are two examples of developments that are adding to the value of the area by attracting people to the water, Jarosh says.  Bjorklunden completed a 20,000 square foot addition in 2007.

“Part of the allure is our natural scenery; we don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg,” says Jarosh.

A Place to Drive Through

In the early 1900s, Sturgeon Bay was a just a place people drove through en route to the Door Peninsula.  Before its waterfront renovation, the harbor was dotted with dilapidated fish shanties, an abandoned lumber yard and substandard structures.

“It generally wasn’t attractive, it wasn’t helping the tax base or attracting any income for the city,” said Bill Chaudoir, executive director for the Door County Economic Development Corporation. “It was basically a wasted resource.”

But the City was able to attract some developers, and among the first handful of projects help launch the reinvention of Sturgeon Bays’ waterfront was the Door County Maritime Museum facility.

“They were in a small facility; now they are in the heart of the waterfront,” says Chaudoir. “Waterfront redevelopment has been front and center in Sturgeon Bay in the last decade or so.  They’ve done tremendous things putting in appropriate uses to key pieces of property in our community, which has increased the tax base, added jobs; and brought in out-of-county groups for conference and group meetings. It’s been a tremendous boost to our economy.”

Two bridges – the city’s relatively0new Maple/Oregon Street Bridge and renovated 75-year-old steel truss Michigan Street Bride over the 1870s shipping canal – have helped the flow of the city as well, Chaudoir says.

About 30,000 people live in Door County year-round.

Unfettered Lake Access

A similar story is unfolding several miles south in Two Rivers, population 12,360, where much of its Lakeshore has been reserved for public use.

Fifteen years ago, anyone driving through Two Rivers would have seen some rundown infrastructure, Buckley says.  “Anyone driving through our community today sees the result of a lot of public and private and investment; now it’s an appealing waterfront community.”

The Mariners Trail, which extends from Two Rivers to Manitowoc along the lakeshore, is one public improvement that has refocused attention on the lake front, says Two Rivers City Manager Buckley.

“The unfettered access to the lake has been a phenomenal attraction,” says Buckley.

Nashotah Beach, Two Rivers’ public beach area on Lake Michigan has received heightened attention in recent years with Kites Over Lake Michigan, a two-day kite festival that drew 30,000 people last year.

“We have viewed and continue to view water as an asset to our quality of life,” says Buckley.

Two Rivers’ master plan addressed the downtown, including extensive street scaping of its main drag along Wisconsin 42.

Two Rivers built a new high school in 2001, leaving behind a 16-acre riverfront site on the end of Washington Street.  With the help of a Tax Incremental Financing District, Washington Highlands senior living development came to fruition, consisting of 12 condos and eight senior living buildings overlooking the East Twin River.

“We see river corridors as redevelopment opportunities,” says Buckley.

Other development has sprung up on the East Twin River in Two Rivers including a condo development with recreation boating facility in the former site of the Eggers Industries, which relocated to a $23 million facility on 42.  Buckley called the condo development “consistent with how waterfront should be used.”

A FIT was also used to redevelop the former Two Rivers Hospital into the Aurora complex on Memorial Drive along Lake Michigan.  Buckley say s Two Rivers is wrapping up its smart growth plan and will continue its “evolution away from waterfront industrial uses.

“Hopefully, we are planning it well and including enough public access so people can enjoy the enhanced access.  We recognized that it is a tough economy right now but the appeal of being on Lake Michigan is not going to go away.”

Cleaning Up Beaches

“Manitowoc was settled because of its harbor; it was a quick route from Chicago,” says Ken Stubbe, executive director of the Economic Development Corporation of Manitowoc County. “People that settled here expanded out from the harbor.”

“We are still very good at making things,” says Stubbe. “We have been long-established in wood-fiber, metal casting and food processing.”

Stubbe cites Burget Boat, Busch Agricultural Resources and the public utitilites as among the industries that use the harbor.  With its proximity to two nuclear plants Manitowoc has also become an emerging energy cluster.  Orion Energy Systems, manufacture of energy efficient lighting systems, and wind turbine maker TowerTech add to that cluster.

Manitowoc doesn’t have much available lakefront property on which to develop, so it’s focusing its efforts on making the lakefront as appealing as possible, says Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels.

“One thing I did was increase funding for beach cleanup,” says Nickels.  “We haven’t cleaned up beaches in years and we are going to do that weekly” starting with the beaches visitors see most and where the Lake Michigan Car Ferry, the S.S. Badger, alights.

“My focus is on aesthetics and making most of our greatest asset so more businesses want to be on the lakefront,” he says. “Right now what visitors see is a bunch of logs and an ugly beach.  It’s not very welcoming.”

Mariners Trails, which spans from Two Rivers to Manitowoc, travels along Lake Michigan, as does Manitowoc’s main drive.  Memorial Drive abuts the Lakeshore, so any commercial entities are on the street’s west side.

“Ideally, I want to build up the lakefront [but right now] we have more land available on the river,” says Nickels.  “Water is what brings people to Manitowoc.”

 

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