Well, good evening, everyone, the hour of 545 having arrived and the finance and personnel
committee having adjourned.
I will now call to order the City of Racine Executive Committee.
The first order of business is the approval of minutes for the June 18th meeting.
Is there a motion from executive committee members to approve said meeting?
So there's a motion and a second to approve the minutes of June 18th, 2026.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Opposed?
That motion carries.
Okay, so we have a number of people here to talk on.
We have two items on the agenda tonight, one regarding an amendment to ordinance regarding nuisance properties that attorney Matt PERS will have a discussion of as we go through that item.
And then I'm guessing most people are here to discuss the second item, which is item 0609-26.
If you want to speak to that item, again, we'll be taking public input.
It is up to three minutes that you can speak on an item.
There is a clock that will count down your time.
When your time is up, the microphones are turned off.
That is not a reflection on the merit or lack thereof of what you're saying, but rather an effort to treat everybody equally and give everyone equal time.
So if you have a desire to sign or to speak to the item and have not signed in, we do need people signed in on the clipboard, and so we want to be able to do that.
So the first item is item 0307-26.
This is a communication sponsored by Mayor Mason, presenting proposed ordinance 0001-26.
Nuisance properties amendments, if Mr. PERS could come to the DS and describe the amended change to the nuisance property.
Good afternoon, and thank you.
What you have before you are some proposed changes to Chapter 66, Article 30, dealing with nuisance properties.
Primarily, these ordinance amendments deal with the chronic nuisance premises ordinance.
Currently, we have an ordinance which allows a code enforcement officer, which could be the Chief of Police, public health director, building director, building inspector, I apologize.
And others to essentially move to declare a property a chronic nuisance if they have three responses or inspections within a certain time period.
Currently, that's a three police calls within 60 days or three public health building inspection responses within 180 days.
But the ordinances as before you is attempt to essentially consolidate efforts and clarify the process so this can go smoother.
Primarily, there are five or six main changes.
The big one is that there's an attempt to consolidate essentially what we count as a nuisance in terms of we have right now two different tracks.
One deals with police calls, one deals with kind of just general code enforcement calls when we're talking about building inspection violations or public health inspection violations.
What we're trying to do is combine this so that we don't have two tracks.
We would be looking at three calls, whether they be police calls, whether they be building inspection calls or health calls.
If there are three within a consolidated period of time, which is now going to be 90 days,
that could trigger the assessment for chronic nuisance.
Additionally, this would, this amended ordinance would permit code enforcement officers to work together and can solidate essentially their requests for abatement plans.
The current ordinance allows, once there is a chronic nuisance designated for the property owner to submit an abatement plan,
which details how they're going to fix the problem.
This, because we have two different tracks, causes some problems and could result in, for example, one abatement plan going to the police department,
one abatement plan going to the health department, and we have these two different abatement plans with two different code enforcement officers that are assessing essentially whether that's been satisfied or not.
This proposed ordinance consolidates that so that the code enforcement officers could designate one individual to essentially oversee that abatement plan.
Additionally, this ordinance adds the authority for the city attorney's office to pursue other abatement, I'm sorry, other nuisance measures in circuit court.
There are attempts to declare essentially a property, a nuisance and state court that we can do.
We don't have to just do it through our administrative process.
Additionally, we can seek receivership of certain properties in state court.
If there is an issue where it just is not being resolved and we need to get someone in there to try to address that matter,
get somebody who's responsible and responsive to get into that property and to deal with it,
there is a mechanism in state court that we could potentially pursue.
Fourth, this process, this proposed ordinance would fine tune the appeal process.
The current appeal process is there, it's fine, but it's not really clear in terms of what is being appealed and when.
The language in this ordinance, depending on where one is in the stages of the abatement process or through the chronic nuisance designation,
clarifies when something can be appealed and what will be discussed at that appeal to give further direction to the due process board.
There is also clarification in terms of what stages people can appeal at.
There is furthermore some latitude that's given to the due process board if they cannot meet within a certain time period,
so they can make sure they can have a quorum to hear that matter without the matter being dismissed.
And finally, there are deadlines that are essentially amended for the code enforcement officer to again give them some flexibility in responding throughout this process to the abatement plan
and the actions that the property owner wants to take, it empowers the code enforcement officers to make some additional,
have some flexibility in coming to resolutions on these matters.
If you have any additional questions, I'm here to try to answer any question.
Any questions for attorney birds?
Seeing none at this time, I would entertain a motion to approve item 0307-26 and up to amend ordinance under item 0001-26.
Alders, Wilkinson.
Yeah, so I think this is one of the areas that I probably get the most emails and phone calls and text messages about of chronic nuisance properties.
So the idea that we'll combine two processes to make it so that things don't fall out and that it's easier to keep it on track to make sure that nuisance properties are being handled correctly,
I would move to approve.
There's a motion to approve this item second by alder land.
Any further discussion on this item?
Seeing none, all those in favor please say aye.
Opposed?
Motion carries and we'll be referred to the next city council meeting.
Moving on now is item 0609-26.
There is a video that I believe we wanted to pull out for the beginning of this conversation.
If I could ask representatives of the Leopold Johnson Gulf Group to approach the DS for this presentation,
that would be appropriate at this time.
And do you want us to play the video first?
Please.
If I could ask IT to play the video.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Appreciate that very much.
Council members, thank you for having me this evening.
A few words I'd like to share with you.
I'll be open for any questions that you may have, anything that I can then talk about.
Our lease has been negotiated with the city and are we happy with it?
Yes.
Was it moments of pain?
Yes.
But I think that we have a lease that is a win-win for all parties.
So I thought with your permission, I would back up just a little bit because I know we have a number of new council members
that may not have heard the last time I was here, which was, you know, six, nine months ago to talk about the vision that Kaiser and Helen and I have on this property.
As many of you may know, Helen and I have lived in the city for, well, me 40 years, Helen forever.
I'm glad she's not here and didn't hear me say that.
But we drive by shoe park every day, every single day, usually twice a day on the way to work and on the way home.
And it is the most iconic, beautiful, spectacular piece of golf course that I have ever seen.
But it needs, it needs work.
And the more we would drive by there, and over a particular of the last 20 years,
there are so many things that we would love to do to enhance this both for the city of Racine
and the city of Windpoint, and we would love to do that.
So about a year and a half ago, I went and met with the mayor and shared with him our vision that we would like to do this,
thinking that no one's ever approached the city with this kind of idea.
And little behold did he say that he's had another group come in a couple of months ago and was interested.
And as I shared with people, I immediately thought, oh boy, he's negotiating right away for the best deal possible
that I'm already going to be negotiating against another group.
Well, as it turns out, there was another group, and it was a group called the Kaiser Group,
and they are a well-known, and as soon as he told me it was the Kaiser Group,
there is no better golf developer or protector of the environment than the Kaiser Group.
They have golf courses all over the United States, and they are a Wisconsin Midwestern,
headquartered family company with the same kind of vision and culture and belief in
the environment and the birds and the trees and that we do.
And I have a representative of the Kaiser Group here today, and his name is Craig Haltem. Craig is right here.
Craig is the person who designed and the architect for the five courses that are up at Sand Valley.
In fact, we spent the day up at Sand Valley today on the hottest day of the year driving around the golf courses
and taking a look at what Sand Valley looks like and everything, not just about the golf course,
but also about the clubhouse and the cafe and because they are so large with so many courses,
they have a lot of different of these buildings.
And so we took a lot of pictures, designed a lot of things, and we came away with, you know,
even being more excited about this project than we ever have been.
So what I'd like to do is share with you, I guess, some of the thoughts that we have in our development of this course,
and I'd be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.
So after being introduced to the Kaiser Group, we got together and said, let's just join forces.
They have the vision for this incredible acreage on Lake Michigan.
We had the, for lack of a better word, frankly, the financial situation that we wanted to do this.
And so we had a win-win.
And the Kaiser, their role in this will be to be completely working on the project itself,
moving the land, bringing in Sand, also helping with bringing in all the rocks that we'll have for the revetment of the shoreline.
They're going to be, and they have been already designing the holes of how they see this going.
At one time, you may have heard that it was a 12-hole golf course.
And frankly, I was one of the few people that was really kind of excited about the 12-hole golf course.
So about five months ago, we were, we, Mike Kaiser of the Kaiser Group, was in town,
and we, we walked the entire golf course, all 12 holes at the time.
And we got done with the 12-hole, and he said, okay, here's my thoughts.
He said, it is even better than I ever thought it would be.
This is an unbelievable piece of property with a spectacular view of Lake Michigan.
We can make this into one of the greatest nine-hole golf courses in the world.
And he can say that with some credibility, because he's got one of the nine-hole golf courses of the top ten that he has already on the list.
And he says, you won't be, you'll probably, the best you'll be is number four, we're number three.
The best you can be is number four.
And he said, let me tell you, there are no best 12-hole golf courses in the world.
So if you want to be the best 12-hole golf course, you'll be by yourself, likely, or a few people, but I really recommend making this a nine-hole course.
And everyone in the United States, everyone will recognize this as a go-to golf course.
Our dream is, and it's his dream as well, Mike Kaiser, is that we fall under their umbrella of dream courses.
And the Kaiser group, if you're in there, they're all, they're only, they're golf courses.
And as an example, we were up at Sand Valley.
They have five unbelievably great golf courses.
If you want to get a tee time, you have to, for next year, you have to call now.
And because there are no more tee times left for the rest of the year, that's how many people are using that.
A thousand people a day, they had, like, last week, their biggest day ever, a thousand golfers in a day.
Now, that's not our vision, but it only shows what can happen if something really special.
And those people are going to be driving through the City of Racine, and hopefully staying at hotels in the City of Racine.
They're likely coming up from Chicago. They're on their way to Kohler, or they're on their way to Sand Valley.
This is that halfway point. They can come in here, play golf in the morning, sleep at a hotel, come and play golf in the afternoon,
and then go to Kohler or Sand Valley to complete their weekend of golf.
So that's kind of the vision that we have.
And we are so ready to go.
This project has been a very complex project, because we first had to go to Windpoint, because we wanted, if you've been,
I'm sure you have, if you've been out to Shoe Park, the golf course takes some beautiful property on the lake is the parking lot.
We wanted to move the parking lot off the lake so that we could use that as part of the golf course.
And the only place we could put that would be over in the Windpoint property where the lighthouse, north of the lighthouse.
So that's why we had to go to Windpoint first.
And when we first started talking to Windpoint, they have seven members.
If I were to guess at that first meeting, if we had a vote, it would have been two, four and five against.
But as we went through the process to explain what we were doing, and their interest, although their vote was really about the parking lot,
they were only interested in the golf course.
They wanted, every question was about the golf course.
And the last vote that we had, the one that mattered, the only real vote we ever took, it was 7-0, so it was unanimous.
And we walked away going, oh my God, who would have thought it was going to be 7-0?
We walked into that meeting room, honestly not knowing which way it would go.
So we were very, very excited about getting that approved.
We are working with the DNR and the Corps of Engineers, because one of the major projects that we are going to have is the shoreline revetment.
And this is a very costly part of what we are going to provide to this space.
But it's just a matter of time before the shoreline falls in, even though the lake is down right now,
which is wonderful, we are actually getting beaches back, which is great.
But it's the cycle, and I live on the lake, so I know.
And I had to buy a ton of, like many, many tons of rock stones to put in.
And we will do the same thing for the shoreline.
So the golf course, including the greens, the tea boxes and the sand traps, the irrigation system,
the water drainage system that will drain the water that when you drive by and after a rain,
the course can barely be open.
It takes two days for the rain to drain and usually drain out to the lake.
We will fix the water system so it drains to the lake.
We will do substantial improvements to the clubhouse.
We're going to tear the clubhouse down that is there right now.
We're going to move it over by the lighthouse, where the parking lot will be north of the lighthouse.
And then people will, so it would be on the very northeast corner of the property of Shoe Park is going to be where the clubhouse will be.
The clubhouse architecture and the painting of the clubhouse, the design is going to match what's going on with the property there right now,
which is all white with the red roof.
And what I say red, whatever the color is, it's close to red, and that's what we're going to do.
So we're really, really excited about doing that.
We know that the city has higher priorities than to invest money into Shoe Park.
And it's just a matter of time before the building falls down.
I mean, if you've seen the parking lot, it needs fixing.
We will fix all of that before it opens up as the new golf course.
There's been a lot of conjecture about what we're going to do.
We are not going to cut down all the trees, particularly after today, going to Sand Valley.
There are a lot of trees in Sand Valley.
It is a dune-style course, but there are a lot of trees.
We will, and my wife, we had two dogs had a big fight last night.
So one of them had to go to the doctor, and so she's not here today tonight.
But I was going to say, my wife is the alpha dog of our house.
And she is a very much a bird watcher and an environmentalist, as am I, but people know them a lot better than they know me.
And she is, she just wants you to know that she will protect the birds and the trees.
And at the same time, have a wonderful spectacular golf course.
This will be 100% financed with private financing.
So we, as we have stated, and it's in our lease, we plan to spend at least $10 million
and completely redoing this golf course and everything about the golf course.
So we're not asking for any public money.
It will be a 50-year lease.
And we're excited about that.
We can plan ahead.
We can invest that kind of money knowing that we'll be there for 50 years.
Every 10 years, there'll be a check-in to make sure that we're doing everything as we were supposed to be doing.
And so it's not like we have it for 50 years and the city will come back in and talk to us after 50 years.
It will not be that way.
So the clubhouse will have a cafe and, you know, light food, burgers, brats, hot dogs, things like that.
Likely open breakfast and lunch.
It will have a substantial deck that will look out to Lake Michigan.
It's open to everybody.
It's open to people who want to go to the lighthouse and just see what's going on.
We will have a very large public putting green that will be open to anybody who wants to come and just have fun.
And, you know, if your kids are two and a half years old and you want them to see what puttings like, bring them on out.
We'll have ice cream and, you know, these putting greens and they've got them at Sand Valley right now are, they're huge.
They're huge.
And the whole thing is they get kids out there and have fun and enjoy it.
So, you know, we're going to do that.
That will be right on the lake and, you know, it will be more than just a golf course for people who are dying to play golf.
So, we are confident that by doing this, we are going to generate a lot of guests, a lot of visitors to our city.
And, you know, we think it's a win-win for all the communities around Racine, including Racine, for the golfers and for the non-golfers.
So, that's what I've got.
I just wanted to share what our vision was.
If you have any questions for me or the architect, Craig Halton.
I've got two Craig's here.
And I can answer any question that you may have on either the lease or any other questions you might have.
All of their Allen does have her name in the queue.
Did you have questions for.
Okay, go ahead.
Yes.
Before I begin, thank you so much.
One moment.
The questions I have, reflect our last meeting.
Am I able to ask those questions because I do need those answers now.
Yeah, I guess take to clarify all their Allen if you have we'll get into general discussion
And if there's a point at which you want to direct questions to city staff or the city attorney
We could do that at a later point
But if you want to address questions to mr. Leopold now it's directly about his proposal. Yeah, then go right ahead. All right
Thank you, so thank you so much for
Giving us that overview. I can see that you're very excited about it and we are always
Excited to hear about people who want to come into Racine and and invest in our community
I we sit in a unique space here in Racine as the common council because we recognize
That for Racine to continue in a sustainable manner
We do need to introduce revenue
Into our city in order to continue to be a thriving
municipality that being said
Also, I I for one enjoy the golf circuit and
And can recognize, you know people who enjoy that same space. Mm-hmm. However
shoe park being what it is to the city every scene when you when you give your proposal
I believe that language matters and your enthusiasm for
The golf course comes across
However, I don't feel that the city as itself can see themselves in your proposal
It is a public park and in your description, you're talking about a nine-hole
Massive redo of it you're moving our parking lot. I myself having walked through there just recently
I'm trying to envision a comfortable way that a person who is not interested. I heard you at the very last moment
Introduce what someone who might want to do bring your kids to
The open putting green, but we have people that come there for other reasons, right?
And so if the entire space of 52 acres is
Used for the golf course, I don't know how
The lone person who wants to walk through there and enjoy just the views or something
I'm paramedic, you know, I'm just would be able to do that comfortably the other thing it in your proposal you lead with
The green fees for people who are going to
Participate as a you know golfer you say $24 for two years
I believe that is not serving our community. Well, I believe that since it's going to be in
Racing it should be in
Perpetuity
I have a number of other concerns about our involvement
Over the ten years and that you have this moment at the ten year mark where you can
Opt to not continue that that could be a financial liability to the city of Racine and in the next ten years
We really do have to be looking at how we secure our
Our our revenue base at that time not at the possibility of taking on, you know, additional financial liability
And then the other thing that is near and dear because I do have 13 of these points is
any relationship with
Job opportunities employment opportunities for the people who live here in Racine that includes our our students
I mentioned this at the meeting. I didn't see anything about it
And I'm not talking about something that happens after the fact five years in and I'm speaking as a marketing professional
And as a business professional right and and for those of you who are in the audience listening
I am a member of the citizens climate lobby and I'm a very much an environmentalist. I'm also from California
so I'm a complete nerd and
So what I'm saying is that I don't hear much that speaks to the city's core values
I don't see anything supporting the Racine Advisory School District or others
I don't see employment path for people including our children. I don't see the ability of
The city every scene in our parks department to be able to utilize any of that space for our own booking
There's a lot of open blank spaces that I'm looking to see filled
Mr. Leopold did you thank you no, thank you very much that
Let me see if I can address a couple of those
one of them which a question that comes up a lot is is the green fees and
That was probably the one item that that we have
the most
Discomfort with and the most negotiations with the city
a nine what what we're going to build
will be a
Iconic golf course a difference maker
so as you as you
Thinking about more employment and
Greater taxes and more people coming into receipt
You know if if it's the same old shoe park that doesn't generate anything
The revenue of shoe park completely for one year was a hundred thousand dollars. That's what it was for last year
so
It doesn't it just doesn't generate any of the things that you were just talking about
What what we do believe is that when you have a
successful
business of any kind that brings in people into that business
it's going to be a win win for a
lot of other people who are touched by all the people who are coming in and
I
Think that certainly came loud and clear through this the little city that we were in today
We're sand valleys now located were ten years. There was no golf course today. How many people do you employ up there?
Largest employer in the county a thousand people I think is what I heard so
you know with that kind of of
With the kind of vision that we have we're not going to say we're employee a thousand count at the thousand people
But we're going to have a lot more people
being employed at better jobs
Then are being employed right now
I have somebody else in the queue all dirt and we can come back to you for a second time
and
other drugs
Thank you. I just had a couple questions, but if we can go one at a time
I think the biggest one is
I've heard from a lot of folks and seen from a lot of folks that they they feel this is privatizing this course
I'm wondering if you could kind of detail in your mind how this is different from what would just be a privatized course
Really how it maintains the public park atmosphere
With a partnership to it. Yeah, good good question, and there's I think there's a really
a
good
Comp that I can use which is a received country club. It's a private club now
It was bought by a gentleman who used to be a member. His name is mr. Balder. He owns the course
We are going to be leasing the course from the city
We have restrictions on us that we are going to need to abide by
There are things that we're going to need to do in order to to to meet the goals that the city has
We're also paying a
You know a lease to the city
So, you know that would be
Really almost amounting to a hundred thousand dollars a year, which which is a lease payment versus what's going on now
Which is the full revenue? It's the only revenue of the
Of the golf course
We don't have we don't have the ability to make it a private course can't do that we wouldn't want to do it
Anyway
And we don't have the ability frankly to after this is done. We can't make and do a 12-hole golf course
We can't make it in you know, we can't put a driving range in
So there are you know, there are restrictions that we that the city has negotiated into this contract that we
Will abide to and and we don't have a problem with any of the restrictions, so we're not going to try to get around anything
Thank you, and the other question I had to is I know one when you talked about the
public places and public spaces in it
I talked about the clubhouse and the cafe and the putting green
But in the video and I think in our past conversation too
There was a lot of discussion around what would be the new beach area and the trail
I'm wondering if you can kind of detail what your vision is for yeah for those items. Yeah, thank you
That's again. It's there's there's so many things that I could talk about
And and that is a that is an important part of this course and a lot of questions
came up with the mayor and
What we have committed to is that we are going to keep the the we will maintain and keep open the beach area
So that people can walk their dogs walk their kids like you saw in the picture walk down and walk as far as they
Can get until the water stops them
But right now
Right now, it's the trees that have stopped them
It's the fallen trees that are on the beaches. They don't ever get to the part of the water
It's the trees we have made a commitment that we will clean that up and we will keep it clean
So that they can walk from one side of the north side of the property to the south side
With open paths unless the water has gone up to the rocks
Thank you, and then there was a part about a walking trail in there as well, too
I think along the light house drive is what it said
Yeah, we will have up on the on the on the east the west side of
Lighthouse drive a walking trail
It won't be a concrete or asphalt, but it will be a path that you that people can walk their dogs or just go for a walk
And and we will have that there
So they can go from the north to the south and then maybe loop down and come up from the shoreline
I mean those are things that they cannot do now. It's it's not possible
Right because the yeah, like you said that with all the down trees the beach really hasn't been accessible
So all of that would be a new yes public beach then. Yes. Thank you. Those are the two questions ahead for now
all their Mac
Thank you. This truly is a unique public private partnership and uh
a significant investment one I'm assuming is going to
take some time to
Repay itself. Do you have an estimate on how long that investment might
Another great question. It will never pay itself
Okay, period. This is not
It's not why we're doing it. We will never get that 10 million dollars back. It's a it's an investment in our community
That's the only way. I mean you can look at me. I like going as that guy crazy
The fact is
There there is not I've got financial people up on the front. There's just no way that we've ever
Tied to depreciate the 10 million dollars. We'll never get it back
And I I've never got the impression that you were coming in here and this somehow was going to be a cash cow
Uh for you your family your your partnership there
um
Yet we've seen a lot of
Criticism out there on social media about out-of-town investors and your wife so eloquently pointed out that you live in the community
She works or she runs a company downtown resine and that uh clearly not out-of-town
investors
I know firsthand your
Your wife's family has a long history with environmental activism from your father-in-law
Getting rid of chlorofluoro carbons out of aerosol cans before it was mandated
Your brother-in-law's passion about reducing plastics in the waterway
um
I used to
Work for the county and I'd go up and see them ban the paragon falcons and your mother-in-law was sitting up there in the front row
like a little kid as a
brought those falcon chicks out and so
To see or hear the comments about
the environment the destruction of the environment there
and I
Park staff
Staff said we really need to look at this as two separate projects the
The protection of the shoreline in the golf courts itself
Um, I have a couple questions one has to do with the hundreds of trees that are going to come down
I drive by there often and I see this
Stand of weed trees in the middle of the the course and it doesn't look attractive
It looks over overgrown
Do you have an estimate of
How many trees might actually come on it might be at another the other craig question and
What you're looking at to to replant there? Yeah, I those are those are good question. I'll let the other craig
um
Comment on that as well, but let me say we have we have
Hired gens Jensen who is well known in the rasein community and his grandfather
I think was you know very an environmentalist and and a
Tree person for lack of a better work
Um, and he has a lot of thoughts he
Is his main comment that the trees are that are all along the shoreline are trees that do no good
They are not the type of trees that should be there. They fall into the lake
They don't have the right kind of roots and there there's so much that can be done on the shoreline
um
Craig do you want to make any have you do you have any uh
Thoughts of how many trees
If you could come up to the microphone, please
Um, the shoreline trees are also
One of the complications of doing the revetment is that we will have to disturb a larger area
Um, then just the the where the stones are placed
So part of the trees will be removed as part of that process and then as craig has said
um
We are beginning to develop plans on what the right trees would be to plant in all these areas
on the point of saving trees
Um, the golf course will not be treeless and the priority that we would put is that we want to keep trees that
Protect the roadway. So there's a safety aspect to making sure the trees stay in in areas that would be important to safety
Um, there's also several specimen trees on site
That we would be looking and already have tried to accommodate in the in the various ways that we've done reroutings of the golf course
And there will be a tree planting plan that goes along with
um
The the plans for the golf course that makes the existing woodland across the road
Uh, much healthier a much stronger. Um, I think you said, you know, you look at that those trees now
They might they aren't particularly attractive and they're not full of the types of trees that we think
Um, we can have thrive there
So one good way to think about the golf course and in the way it's going through
um, these types of
Environments that i'm describing is kind of a journey through
a um
A native shoreline habitat, which is largely treeless. There might be occasional specimen trees that we are keeping in certain parts of the
shoreline, but that's the native
Habitat as it was
And then you move across the road and that's where we would focus on preserving as many specimen trees as we can
and developing healthier forest
And uh, all of the trees along the property line also stay
So, um
While we keep those trees we can maintain clear views to the water, which is also a priority for us
So if you're looking at the chute park
Today versus what we are proposing
It would still be recognizably a golf course that has plenty of trees
um, but the native
Habitat at the shoreline would be restored to a treeless
Links type golf courses we've described
So it it I don't know the number of trees that would go out, but by percentage
It's different in these different environments
Okay, and in here again, the staff has told us that
the shoreline should be considered separately from
the golf course project because
those trees like you
reiterated they have to come down because of the
rivet and
Shoring up
Last time you were here, it was pointed out the type of
Plantings and grass will actually
Use less water and less fertilizers that's still the plan
Then what is currently used today
Yes, the I would say that they're using a minimum right now
So the golf course is maintained very responsibly right now
And what we're proposing even though as Craig said will be a world-class golf experience and very different to what you have now
It will be maintained in the same spirit of doing the absolute minimum amount of fertilizer application chemical application
You might be doing those things for budget purposes right now, but it also serves the the dual purpose of making a much
Environmentally friendly golf course. So a key part of that is we are converting the grasses to a type of grass that can be maintained to very high standard
It's a fescue grass
Blended possibly with some blue grasses, but a very hardy drought tolerant grass
And the type of golf that you see in those images that we've put up
Is is characterized by dry firm conditions, which means we want to irrigate the absolute minimum
And we'd like to keep
All inputs of all kinds to the to the absolute minimum. That's what helps the golf
be great
So
Okay, thank you, and then the I guess I don't know if it's a comment or if it's a question, but there's a lot of talk about the
public access to the course and
People that have sent emails and social media have talked about how they
Currently picnic there and they walk it and they do all this and I find it hard to believe that you can walk a golf course without getting hit by a
Flying golf ball and I'm not sure where the picnic areas are
At chute part me. It's been a while since I've golfed there
But I don't recall seeing a lot of general public coming out and enjoying the audience of those 52 acres there
No, they're the only picnic area would be by the lighthouse area
And if anything we will enhance that and and we will have picnic tables outside our
Our cafe area that would be accessible again for golfers and non golfers
No one will ever be asked if they walk in the cafe. Are you playing golf today?
Everybody is everybody is welcome. All right. Thank you
other Herman
Thank you mayor
I
Over the years it seems like
more and more of the park real estate has been
Carved out for golfing and there really doesn't seem to be
an equitable property
Division for what the park piece of it originally was supposed to be
um
the intent of
Chute park was for there to be a park and I do under I hear you when you say that there are
Walking trails that there will be
beach
Access where you can walk
but walking trails and
Having access to the beach is what we've always had we live on the lakefront
Racine is on the lakefront
We we can do the beach
The park piece of chute park is what was originally
meant for
Everyone so that's non golfers. That's golfers. That's people who want to
um
Sit down and put a blanket out
Um whether they want to go to the cafe or not go to the cafe
Um, and it seems like more of the park piece of it is being lost and
I don't think that that is what um doctor chute intended
And to be frankly honest because I used to work at sc johnson
I don't think that that's what sam johnson wanted because he created that this we believe
and the philosophy behind this we believe is that
Residents have access and we leave a footprint
um
We don't leave a footprint that takes away from our environment
and so
a lot of
emails and calls that I am getting from residents
um feel like
The desires of
The residents when it comes to just wanting to have a place that is unique
Chute chute park is unique. Um, the park piece of it is unique
Not just the walking trails and the sand and the beaches piece of it
So I do understand that you will make the picnic
piece a little bit better
um, but that doesn't seem to
really
Pull into
The free park that was originally intended for the people so um, I'm not I'm just trying to
Be the advocate for the voice of the individuals that really feel like
Non-golfing residents would like to have an equitable division of it
Not that we don't want the golf course to, um
be
Awesome
And not that we don't want johnson's help on securing the shoreline
But there just seems like there should be an equitable
Consideration when it comes to the residents who were promised or the original philosophy of it
Was for it to forever be a park
a free park
No cost park
um
I don't so I don't know if you can speak on you you have spoke on it, but I think I I think I can and
um
actually if you if you read the
The deed that dr. Shoop gave the property to the city
He gave it to the city to be an old man's home
That's in the deed and
um
Which another way to put it is a retirement home for
for
uh, the elderly men
But he it is it is referred to
And the reason we we joke about it the old an old man's home is what he wanted to be
And I think there might have been something in there. I um, you know if that doesn't occur then
Then then be made as a park or something like that. So I I I I apologize
I don't remember how that was but his his direct hope was that it would be an old man's home
um
We all know it's been a golf course for 50 to 70 years
um
so a long time and
um
I mean right now there are no picnic tables. No probably have there ever been except there is a table
over
over by the
The clubhouse that people could sit out grab a beer and then sit outside and have a beer
But it's I don't see families, you know doing picnics there
So I I understand I understand what you're saying
um
And you know our proposal obviously is that
this will be a
more
Family friendly environment than it is right now that I can absolutely assure you
Uh, but but it I mean I can't I can't run from the fact that it's it's a golf course
I'll do allen for the second time
Thank you. Yep. Okay. I hate to be a dead horse, but I am really looking for an answer about
the fees. Yes. No, I'm yeah, and and our USD connection
I love the fact that it is going to be a premium course
what I'm what I see is an opportunity for us to
Introduce our youth our talented youth into
That activity that profession that walkway as an as one of our academies for instance
I'm also looking again for that employment value
But I'm looking for that piece about the fees. Okay, you know and those were not
answered and for for me if you're at this stage of
Of your planning
Then that conversation because I didn't mention this at the meeting earlier in the year
And the response was
You know somewhere in the future. We could do that. So I'm really not looking for somewhere in the future. I'm actually looking for that to be
Mentioned as a concrete plan that working out because that's a conversation that
Would take place now and then the opportunity to unfold that would happen in the future. Okay. So I I was I was in no way trying to
Run from your question. I would have come back to it because I know that that is a very
Important question that has that has risen. So we started with the $24. So it will be $24 for the first two years
After that the the fees will be tied to
Johnson Park fees
So the highest
The the highest Johnson Park
Nine whole
Fee
We would tie our fee into
So if their nine whole fee is $35, which it is right now. That is their highest nine whole fee
Then ours will be $35
and um, I will tell you that that is that will that 10 years from now that will be a steal
and um
It does worry us it worries us a lot
That we are we are being tied into
the
the the Johnson Park fee
Which is not a
Course that will not be comparable to ours. I mean, that's how that's how we believe although JP is a really great public course
So at some point
Um, we want to have the ability right now
Johnson Park
Who is the who who's the deal? Who's the contract with
True. So the contract is with true and true has the ability to raise Johnson Park
Green fees
5% every year
If they decide if they decide not to raise the Johnson Park green fees
We don't want them to be able to dictate what our green fees are
So we will want to be able to use the 5% inflator in our green fees
If they decide not to use it and and I mean it could very well be that that they're
That that something at Johnson Park the course is is you know is not doing well
They're they're not watering at the irrigation systems not working the equipment's not being replaced
But we on the other hand continue to invest in our course
We don't want to be tied into a greens fee
That true is going to have at johnson park and we can't operate our course at that
Can you hit your
By projecting to us that your marketing vision
includes
You know all the people coming into racene and taking advantage of this course and in the hospitality every scene
Right
In my i'm just going to be devil's advocate make your money off of them
you know
Or you mean the other people
Right
I don't know who's who's doing your marketing or whatnot
But for the people that live here in racene, you know that 24 dollars and I get it five years from now
That's going to look like like change, but I also know my community
So 24 dollars now will be this you know that will be a win for them in the future
But you know you settled in it two years. We have a 10 year separation possibility
There's a huge gap. I haven't heard, you know why the 10 years. I'm not really excited about that
I think that should be extended and I think
Any allowances that are given to the city should extend at least to that 10 year port
You know that's not stop and then I'll touch on those trees saw forestry gave us a really excellent report about why we need to
Uh look at what's going on with our trees
I do understand as a as a person who studied it that you know if we do not address those those uh ill trees
They will continue to poison our shoreline and even the healthy trees
And so those some people think holding on to those
Sentimentally will help our ecosystem there that is completely not true
The opposite, but for those other things that I'm speaking of I really I really do want to see
You know kind of like a buy-in to that and more of a relationship
With the city we sign on that dotted line and say go for it
And then we step back and we don't readdress anything or come back to you for 10 years
And anything could happen and we also don't have a say in how any of that happens
You just mentioned you don't want your green fees tied to someone else's
Uh golf course. I'm not really comfortable with you know as much as I love the $10 million input
I just you know going okay. We'll go on it and then we find out that you've you're making a decision to
To separate and then here we are 10 years looking at some financial liabilities that we can't afford you
You won't have any
If we walk away in 10 years, you keep the $10 million investment that we put in the golf course
We're not going to walk away from that. I mean that's number one
Number
The other issue that you brought up is
Make your money off the other people coming in and we will we'll make it
We're going to raise those as high as we can
But another question that was at the mayor was concerned about and I think other I know other people have been concerned about
Are you going to have certain times?
That Racine residents can come
So we only let them come between one and two in the afternoon or something like that
The answer is no they can come anytime. So as we're budgeting we you know is
You know, are we going to be filled with city of Racine people?
Fantastic and but it could be you know
Five 10 years that could be
$35 $40 where the people from Chicago would pay 150
But we aren't going to restrict the times that city of Racine golfers can come and joy
The golf course so they can come anytime
And so that's how I would address that it's it's hard to budget
You know, how how large will our revenue be? Well, it depends how many receipt golfers come and how many non-recine
golfers come
Thank you, mr. Leopold we are
We do have two other presentations then from
somebody staff
Unless there's anything else you wanted to add before we close we're going to go to mr. Kepnick and mr. Rooney
just to talk about the no the forestry component and the
The short line component so thank you very much for being here. Thank you. Thank you very much
Thank you. I could ask director Kepnick to from the parks for creation cultural services to approach the ds
Some of you may have seen this presentation before some of you were not on the council when he gave this presentation before but there's been much discussion
Of the trees and the birds on the site and we asked mr. Kepnick who's our parks director now
But prior to that was our forestry division manager from for many years. So mr. Kepnick if you could
Have a
Revisit of the report that you gave to us previously
For the benefit particularly of the newer members on council but for the members of the public who are here as well
Thank you very much
So my goal tonight is to walk you through how I evaluated this proposal
The factors I considered and the framework I used to assess it
And I'd like to note that this is not an ecological assessment or an environmental review
But simply the approach that I took to better understand this project
First and foremost I would like to note that windpoint and shoe park is a recognized birding area amongst birding enthusiasts
regional birding records and e-bird observations online indicate that more than 270 bird species have been documented in the area
These species can be broken down into the type of habitats that they prefer
Generally using four different major habitat groupings
There is open water and lake habitat
Shoreline and beach habitat open land and meadow habitat
And trees and woodland habitat
Just over 60 percent of the 270 species are
Known in the area do not use the tree and the woodland habitat which seems to be you know something that has come up multiple times
The high number of species observed at windpoint is best understood because of the habitat diversity
As well as the shoreline geography which projects out into the lake
Trees and shrubs are one part of that habitat picture, but they are not the only factor that drives bird diversity at this location
So when I as a older mac alluded to when I think of this project I break it down into two major separate projects really
The first is the shoreline stabilization and the bluff resiliency
And second would be the golf course redevelopment itself
These are related to the same property of course, but they're different project components with different environmental considerations and different purposes
The shoreline and bluff work is a resiliency and an infrastructure issue
The east edge of the property includes a bluff along lake michigan that has experienced significant erosion
During the january 2020 high water and storm events major bluff failure occurred and trees and soil were lost into the lake
The existing bluff edge in its current condition is unstable
And vegetation along that edge can contribute to continued instability through root leverage wind loading and associated soil movement
In order to stabilize the bluff and install shoreline protection measures
Vegetation along the bluff edge would need to be removed to allow access and construction
Uh
And to reduce ongoing stabilization
This is not simply a vegetation removal issue. It is part of shoreline protection and resiliency
Responding to documented erosion and infrastructure concerns
Regarding the tree canopy on the course itself
We do have a full assessment the forestry division of all public trees in the city consisting of about 40 000 gis points
um prior to
Putting this initial assessment together. I did a query and of all the species on the course
And it shows that a large share of the existing canopy is dominated by a relatively small group of tree species including
silver maple green ash white ash norway maple and honey locust
40 of the trees on the course which consists of 74 individual trees are made up of these five species
And in addition 55 of the 184 trees on the course are under 10 inches in diameter
And due to their small size currently provide very limited or relatively limited cat canopy habitat
Benefit
It's also important to note that several of those species have management or ecological limitations
Norway maple one of those five species is non-native and it provides relatively limited wildlife value compared to
higher valued native species
Our remapel is also recognized by the dnr as a species with invasive tendencies and the ability to spread into natural areas
I mentioned white ash and green ash
And ash in general have provided canopy value historically dating back to the 60s after Dutch elm disease. They were largely planted as a replacement species
But today these trees are highly vulnerable due to emerald ash borer and invasive insect from china
That has been present in the racene area for approximately 15 years
And these trees require ongoing treatment to remain viable
And as such they do not represent durable long-term habitat
Silver maple supports more insect life than many of the other common species on the site
But is also relatively short-lived and more prone to decay and storm damage which limits its long-term reliability
And the last species honey locust is a native tree
But again when compared with higher value species it supports relatively low insect diversity
That covers everything I want to mention so i'm happy to answer any questions
Any questions for director kepnick pretty late for the three new altars, but for any of the members or any questions for mr. kepnick
I'll do your answer
I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more. I think in the past you've maybe shared a story of you went to go do a
Tree assessment
Out there and you watched one of the trees you went there to go assess being carried out to the lake
Could you could you talk more about like what the impact is of having the wrong tree in the wrong place?
Sure. Well that specific situation was after the january 2020 storm
For those of you not familiar the lake was at record high levels at least 24 to 30 inches above where it is today
We also had a warmer winter so we did not have any shore ice and so when this large storm came in
We had direct wave action onto this bluff
Again, which and the lake was at a very high level. So I went out to assess the damage probably a week after the storm
And while I did not see trees actually actively falling there were
Large trees laying in the lake itself. They had you know the root systems had given out
They tipped over they were still attached at the shoreline, but laying in the lake and then at a later date
Those trees were completely gone during later site visits
And these were not small trees. These were probably 12 to 16 inch diameter trees
At least 30 or 40 feet tall
And what was the second part of your question?
But the
Was that just nature was that maybe the wrong tree in the wrong place or you know the
Are they set up to be on a bluff like that?
I'd say it was directly tied to the erosion and the damage from the storm itself
You know trees do not have really deep root systems in general. They have shallow root systems
And the amount of wave action
During that storm and probably subsequent storms as well. They may have been
Not as significant, but they still had their they did their damage to the root systems and once that erosion begins
Then wind takes over
These erosion channels continue to erode from future rain events and it just is a process
Where the bluff continues to fail and then trees are caught up in the
You know in the erosion
And so because I think it's been there've been people who've called me and said well if we just put more trees and planted more trees
It would stabilize the bluff
It kind of sounds like it's going
Against maybe what you've been describing of the trees are a component to it
But if there's major erosion going on that another tree
Yeah in its current state
It's it's too far gone to in my opinion to do anything with vegetation
there needs to be
actual construction
reshaping of the land and
bringing in of resilient
Infrastructures rocks whatever it may be to provide that protection
So it's eclipsed what a
You know more vegetation would be able to stabilize
Absolutely, it's current state. Yes. And so if if we didn't do it the ultimate
Ending that would be that the trees would fall into the lake much like you witnessed and the bluff would be gone
Yes, so I imagine when the lake
Level rises again because it's cyclical whether that's five years six or seven years down the road
We will most likely be experiencing the same issues just continuing forward
All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate those my questions
Thank you director kepnick seeing no further questions. We'll ask
Commissioner roomy to please approach the deus and discuss the shoreline resiliency
or lack thereof
Thank you
Thank you mayor and come council member. So i'm going to review a little bit
The presentation that I believe we've made in march last before the common council
Tam core was hired by the golf course group
To provide shoreline protection plans my office in turn hired smith group
To review the design your storm analysis prepared by tam core
And determine whether the engineering
Was sound or not a smith group is highly regarded coastal engineering firm that they did our harbor back in the 80s
They found it to be sound engineering
Final approval of those plans is will be under the purview of the Wisconsin department of natural resources
And the us army core of engineers as they are the regulatory and permitting agencies over waters of the state
Um, there's been some confusion. I think about
You know accessing the shoreline and the revetment
So i'd like to clear that up a little bit to the toe of the proposed revetment
Will be placed well above the ordinary high watermark of lake michigan
Meaning there will always be beach that will exist between the toe of the revetment and the shoreline that is defined by the current
lake level
um
And this will always be available then for the public to walk the entire 3 000 foot shoreline
So the statutory ordinary high watermark of lake michigan
Is 579.8 feet above sea level that's for regulatory purposes
Um, it's elevation represents a fixed legal point
Used for coastal management and permitting rather than like a daily average water level
The revetment toe for this shoreline protection revetment will be constructed at elevations that vary between 583
And 585 so it'll be well above that ordinary high watermark
um
Just to give you some context of where the water level was back in january of 2020
Um, it was at 582 point four feet. It was almost at all time record high
um
And that's what causes the significant coastal erosion and flooding you know when combined with the record storm event
um
The estimated costs of the shoreline protection for this project
Um, this is the revetment the slope embankment
Um and access road is estimated between 1.2 and 1.3 million dollars
And the engineering and permitting is estimated at about 150 000
Uh, the revetment is estimated to have a useful service life of anywhere from 50 to 100 years
This is obviously dependent on any wave conditions that could cause problems with that
The revetment is speaking with both the city's consultant and the designer
It should be inspected after any significant storm that produces
Significant waves when the lake level is over 581 feet above sea level
And that's something that probably should be considered when that event happens
um
And also just you probably know this already but fema provided no funding for repairs of this property after evaluations and applications
Were made by the city overseeing and smith group six years ago
Um lastly, we all saw a task of looking at the existing buildings on the property
So there are two buildings out there two properties if you will that are separated
Um both buildings the clubhouse and that service garage
They're included in the city's facilities condition assessment program
Uh both buildings have facility condition condition index scores over 30 percent
So an fci score represents a percentage of fraction of investment that needs to be made
In a building over the next 10 years divided by the replacement cost of that facility
So
Anything over 0.30 should be considered
For replacement or being raised
The clubhouse is 0.37 and the service garage is 0.42
Um
The estimated useful life of these facilities the clubhouse has about 6.7 years left and the service garage
a little over five
Um
There are several assets associated with each building that are also beyond their use of a service life
um for example the parking lot
um
The clubhouse itself along with the land of the parking lot has a net present value
Of about $975,000
The assets on that property
Um that are now beyond the useful life are nearly 300,000
And the service garage has a net present value of just over 100
And the assets associated with that are now totaling 25,000
So
In summary, you know, the value of the shoreline production is close to 1.5 million
The assets of both these buildings, um
Have a net present value of a million, but they have liabilities that are exceeding 300,000 dollars currently
So, um, this would be 1.8 million dollars that the city would not have to invest in this property to take care of the shoreline
Or take care of these assets that are deteriorating at these different locations
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them
under mac
I think you have a couple questions number one
um
In your opinion
Does the city have the money to?
Budget to
Make the upgrades to shoot park and it is a is it a priority within your
department based on all the other
Um priorities you currently have
Well, I mean all the assets in the city that under the purview public works are a priority
It's it's a question of funding and and making choices and that's you know
What you folks on the common council have to make those decisions. What do you want to prioritize?
I can tell you we have a growing list of
70 plus buildings that we have in the city
Um that we have not been able to address adequately
Roads sewer infrastructure
Lighting other facilities so at least it's it's it's a long list and uh we'd love to take care of these things
But it's not a priority
Right now. I think of common council or public works at this time because there are other things that are in the queue
And we have a fire station, which I think is approximately what 60 million dollars
It has to common council is yeah contemplating a new fire station which would commit another 50 million dollars
So um, I'm assuming that the council is going to put
Making upgrades at shoe park very very low on the list
uh, I can't speak for my my colleagues but looking at
the fiscal position that we're in today and
the need for both the police and of
Uh new fire fire station is probably going to take a higher priority. There's some concern about
Who's going to be responsible if the johnson leopold family pulls out after 10 years
I'm really not concerned about that because the way I look at it is
They're making a 10 million dollar investment
Looks like a couple million dollar investment in infrastructure clubhouse maintenance building
Um, not sure how much the irrigation
System is going to cost so
Uh, whether it's us making that investment or they're making that investment
Um, if they don't get involved in the the project and we end up having to make those
um
Make those investments we're going to be on the hook for
for it, you know in perpetuity
um
And at least for the next 10 years
I um assuming that the
agreement means that they're going to maintain and and provide the upkeep and
They've made it very clear. They want a 50 year lease. I'm thinking the 10 year lease may have been
something the city negotiated so that we can look at it after 10 years and see if there's a
opportunity
Um, if things are going
Successfully to maybe generate a little bit more income for the city. I don't know that will be a question for
Uh, the mayor and attorney let me when that time comes, but
Do you have any issues if they walk away after 10 years with?
Having these brand new buildings that uh, they've invested
Well, and I don't think neither with the buildings themselves or the shoreline protection investment
If you look at the areas that were damaged in that january 2020 storm
Uh, those are the areas that were either
Engineered poorly not engineered at all or the wrong material was used and those are the parts that failed
So the plans that were prepared by tambour that were reviewed by smith group that i'll go to the dnr
Corvage near for a very thorough review are going to be the type of materials in the engineering that sound
They usually can withstand even some of these most ferocious storms
There are still areas that exist along our lakefront that were untouched
By that january 2020 storm because they were done correctly with the correct materials
So I i'm not concerned about either one of those things if in 10 years for some reason
They decided they did
Well, we
I we don't have I don't think we have a building other than the new transfer station that's less than 20 years old
So I think the city would welcome any new building that has very little maintenance cost to it. So
Yeah
Other questions for commissioner runy
Okay, thank you very much
We're now going to go to public input again when
The clerk calls your name, please come up to the ds
You will have three minutes to say we want to say we do have more than 15 people registered to speak
So just I would encourage all of you
If you are saying something that is has already been said try to keep it
To something maybe new and novel three minutes are yours to speak on this topic and and this topic only
And if the clerk could please call the first name
Jesse
Jesse Booker 126 Sheffield Drive
I think I saw you on facebook. Yeah
Hi guys
All right, so first of all Wednesday july 15th festival park for racene's got town
Please feel free to come out by show of hands. How many people here are directly related to the chute family?
Feel free to raise your hand
Nobody I'm going to ask that you please do not invoke the name of a family that you are not directly related to first and foremost
Now i'm going to take you on a little history lesson over win point
So 1917 the land was turned over to the city
How many individuals here live in a house that was built before?
1917 and win point
None
Okay, my family owns the house that is an eyesore
online house drive
My uncle less and my aunt Phyllis the gray house just north of the prairie school is everybody familiar with that house
Yeah, just north my grandpa
Gerald wish i'll also known as p-nut tended the land in win point that used to be farmland
Right he had a fruit cart and a vegetable cart and pumpkins on his front lawn for the individuals of win point
All right at some point over the course of the last 109 years
There was a question do we want to make improvements in the land or do we want to keep it the same?
109 years that house was built in the late 1800s and i'm sure that anybody in win point
Will be glad to see that house come down in an instant because it's an eyesore built in the late 1800s
the prairie school the charm jewel of win point was built in
mid 1900s right i'm sure at some point somebody said should we build this school and a lot of people voted yes
And since then there have been many improvements to the prairie school
But at some point somebody couldn't said no keep it the same
We could either accept a 10 million dollar investment into win point or we could keep it the same
All of the land along that coast for lake michigan was tended by my grandpa and at some point somebody voted to improve that land
north of my grandpa's house was all farm land
All the land around that was tended by my grandfather
But the same people of win point who live in brand new houses are now here today trying to tell us to keep it the same
109 year old property
Why would you want to forgo a 10 million dollar investment into your property into your
Your space and just keep it the same i'm not understanding if somebody came to you and said hey i'll improve your kitchen
$50,000 you can have it would you accept that
Would you accept them investing into your home then why would you not accept them investing into your land around your house?
I just don't understand
Somebody has to help me make it make sense why we would not accept a 10 million dollar investment to improve the land
That has been developed over and over and over again in the course of the last 109 years
You don't have to answer today, but you are welcome to reach out to me jesse booker and explain to me
Why you don't see the value. Thank you guys very much for your time. Thank you guys very much for your time
I
Greg Thompson 2 2 1 13th app
Hi, greg Thompson 2 2 1 13th avenue. Um, i've been playing chute park for probably close to 30 years now
um
Often on usually a few guys
With me will come up because it's not for the quality of the golf
It's for the walk by this serene beautiful lake shore environment
We we just love it. It's it's just a
A unique place there's only one other place you can play golf on the lake in wisconsin
And we can't afford to go play there because it's whistling straights and it's over 400 dollars around
plus caddy
Now we have this opportunity for a donation of 10 million dollars to improve this property
And to make it accessible to people of all ages races and income levels
The kizer family who is behind dream golf has a 25 year record of environmental
Stewardship and providing inclusive golf
For juniors that wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity
And that'll be part of this project as I understand it
Perfect example of this is what the kizer family did in madison at the glenway golf course
Um where they rejuvenated an old course that the city cannot afford to to restore
um
Two projects that i've been fortunate enough to see are sand valley here in wisconsin and ban and dunes on the close to aragon that the kizer family did
Um, they're they're absolutely stunning and this is the type of environment. They're they're looking to bring here
Now you have the local family of craig lee uphold and helen johnson who have a as you know a long record of
Donating to the community and being doing sustainable projects
um
It's an incredible
Situation to have two of these families that have done such good work for decades
Coming together to do this project here in the city to racine. It's just stunning that that's even a possibility
Um, some of the things I think that are important to know besides the golf
Continuing the vehicle of course are the new walking paths for the public for people to walk with their family their dogs would have you
Obviously as you heard the strong and stabilization and erosion control is a huge factor
Um restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat
Not much has been spoken about that, but what they plan to do and what they've done at their other courses that I visited
greatly enhanced that
um
The opportunities for juniors to to work there in the club house and to be caddies and to play golf are huge
Um handy cap accessibility for the first time at shoe park
It would be very difficult to get around that place right now, but you'll have that with the new parking lot in club house
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I hope that city
Michael Burke 1 2 3 2 Florence have
Hi, um, I've spoken to you before so I'm sure some of you remember me
I'm the current president of hoyota bond society
And um, I have to say for the record that our official board position is that we are opposed to this course that vol was taken in april
um
However
Since then I've had we've had a couple of opportunities
Thanks to the developer's willingness to listen to us to talk to us
Including um a zoom call with craig haltom who was here and with gents jensen on may 1st
with myself and two others
Um, it was very informative and somewhat encouraging
And just three days ago just last friday
I and two of my board members were able to walk around on the course with gents jensen
So I don't I don't question their motives, but I do have to repeat that
This property is one of the very best richest
um habitats in the whole state of wisconsin for the number of bird species that have been have been identified there
um, so
I feel like they're trying to be reasonable. I'm trying to be reasonable as well. And at this point I feel like
um
What I would like to see is
A lot of people are only talking about trees or no trees
Um, but I want to point out that there are other types of habitat on the shoot course
That are really rich with birds. Um, and I'm just wondering I wish craig was sitting here still
Um, but uh, I I'm just wondering if there is some way to incorporate some of those other
Sort of mid-range habitats. I know this really
A poll of this vision is that you'll be able to stand on the east side of the course anywhere and look at the lake
I'm wondering if he would accept anything a little less than that
um
And perhaps find ways to incorporate some of these areas, uh, that are rich with bird
Habitat into the into the plans. Um,
I suppose it's not reasonable for me to hope that they could
Do the bluff work in two stages, but that would be the ideal thing because as soon as you take that he'll set that whole
Bluff down, uh, we're gonna lose birds for years and years and years. Um, so
I'm
Asking for just ways that they can find to perhaps accommodate
some of that habitat, um
You know keep in mind sand doesn't do anything for birds. So we're gonna lose a lot of birds
No matter what they'll come back maybe 10 years, maybe 15 years, maybe 20 years
Um, but it's more than just the trees. So I just want to kind of plant that idea and um
I guess that's about it. Thanks
Thomas Hess 1016 Hamilton Street
Dr. Laura Brentman Johnson 2814 Green Street
I
Hi everyone, um, my name is dr. Laura Brentman Johnson. I live in district five represented by all the retorgensen. Sorry. Um,
It's got a lot of calls for me. Um, thank you for the opportunity. Um,
I want to kind of just ask a rhetorical question because I know the answer but
Um, do you guys know who plants the flowers at chute park and who tends to them?
Um, do you know
Who power washes the clubhouse right now when the spiders get kind of out of control and it gets kind of gross?
I do
Do you know the little old guy that golfs four holes and has a beer a couple times a week?
I know him. Have you met the kids out there that are from a lot of the local high schools that golf out there?
I know a lot of them
Have you ever talked to the people that walk the shoreline along hole two that's
Undoubtedly sinking into the lake
Certainly I I've met them. Um, I don't know if any of you have but what a treat
Those are the people that I care about when we talk about all this
No one can make a reasonable argument that chute doesn't need work. I have golf chute for a very long time
Ask me about the best waterproof shoes. So you don't end up with soggy feet on holes. What?
Uh
four
nine five
Falling into a sinkhole and hole five
It needs work, right?
Shoop was we have a shoe because of like
philanthropy is not dead right
This is an incredible gift
But part of it doesn't really feel like a gift
Um, it feels like there's strings attached. I know we talk a lot about cost
Um
And we're talking about how it's going to go up 11 dollars
I know a lot of people that don't have 11 dollars
So when we talk about who this is for I love the idea of having more people come to Racine
I love the city born and raised. I'm going to stay till I die, right?
But
I want this part to be for the kids that I see out there now
I want it to be for me when I'm a thousand years old shuffling around the course
That's who I want this to be for
Again, I know
It needs work. Nobody can argue that but please just keep it in mind as we move forward with this
The people that use it are the people that matter. I appreciate
The gifts. I appreciate the excitement for the course, but I don't want
The people ever seen to be lost in all of this. So that that's my ask to you guys as you vote for this. Thank you
I
Kevin casner 2814 green street
I'm a public school teacher by profession. Shoop is my summer job
My love for Shoop comes from the fact that it is simply not a destination
But a community based golf course
We in the clubhouse are not going to deny you entry for being three minutes late. There's not a dress code
We are not a course with a week long waiting list for a tea time let alone a year
I cannot speak against the corporate dollar what I can speak from is my experience
My experience from getting to know local business owners like miss you who owns the wig shop downtown and utilizes the course daily
The group of high school kids that I get out every weekend for an extra round because they can I can see how much they care
And they don't have a school team and they're truly working on getting better. Did I hurt our bottom dollar? Absolutely
It's worth every penny
Uh the community group that threw a birthday for shoe park
The old timers that just want to do four and have a miller light the cost of that experience was eight dollars
The group that plays cards once a week the couples i've seen their relationship grow the guy I saw daily last year
Who expressed to me that this is what he does for his mental health
I haven't seen him in a while. I hope he's okay
The daily couple that comes into the clubhouse to talk about how they grew up here
That is why shoop is a destination
The prairie school and the coaches that get to use the property to figure it out
The windpoint group that does the yearly beach cleanup
I'm using my time today to speak for those who are not here shoe park needs help
Shoe park does not need to be replaced
I'm going to use what time I have left to challenge the investment group not to create a destination that in my opinion
Simply will not set itself apart from other options in the state
I challenge you to view us as an as a community course not a corporate opportunity
I challenge the group of citizens in front of me to look past the one-sided videos on social media
And honestly the silly AI driven campaigns that provide a laughably false idea of what this will look like
I challenge the city to continue the train of thought that i've already heard from you
The conversation put forward by the investment group has not been city forward
The optics are nothing but corporate driven
Investors you have the opportunity to not replace us but build up what we already have
The alternative iFIR is a historical community landmark and experience that will simply die
Jeff new bower 1145 main street
Thank
Thank you, mr. Mayor and members of the council. I'm a fourth generation resident of the city of racine
And i'm here to support this proposal
Shoop is a wonderful asset
And it is a very expensive deferred maintenance liability
For no cost of the city residents we can address this enormous deferred
Maintenance that we've heard about from mr. Rooney and an opportunity to enhance the asset with an amazing investment
Of ten million dollars. This will be done extremely well
Why can we count on that?
Because these impressive plans are not just plans on a powerpoint presentation or in a video
This is the leopold johnson family who are the investors and they always do it well
Every johnson project is done with excellence with beauty and with integrity
And with a multi-generational perspective
The johnson's have been here investing in this community for six generations of business people with other generations on the way
This is not going to solve all the city's problems
But
We do avoid 1.8 million dollars in deferred maintenance expense, which the city cannot afford to address
We greatly invest in the property to the tune of 10 million dollars
We generate new money for the city resident for the city government, which we would not otherwise have
We bring new money to the city from out of town folks
To spend in our restaurants in our hotels, which creates more jobs for our community than we would otherwise received
Now i'd like to address the issue of walking on and enjoying the property
I've been doing that for 30 years with my kids
When gretta was little girl, we would go down there with my mom and her sisters
And my mom would sit on the shore because she couldn't climb over all the trees and obstacles
So she sat there we climbed over all that stuff. We had fun now gretta has a five-week old daughter
I look forward to the day when I can go down there with my grandchildren
And when i'm not able to climb over all the trees that have been there for 30 years
And to be able to walk on those new paths and really enjoy that land and that landscape
The way it should be enjoyed. So I want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you here today
I want to thank you for your service on the council, which I know isn't always fun
But you're serving the public and i'm grateful to you
And I want to urge you to support this proposal for our community and our residents. Thank you
John McLaughlin 62 harbor view drive
Thanks very much, mr. Mayor and I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I am in support
of the
Shoe proposal. I became aware of it a number of months ago through colleagues that I do golf with it and
You know, I'm taking the mayor's comments to heart. I'm not going to try to reiterate
Some of the comments are made other than it's clear the investment
Is substantial it's needed. I don't see a property like this
Being brought to a reasonable standard without the investment
But I think the point that I'd like to make the most is I've had the fortunate opportunity to golf at sand valley
about a month and a half ago
I i'm not from racena originally. I'm from New York
So I've lived in Wisconsin for about six or seven years
And I couldn't believe it we're in the middle of central, Wisconsin
And i'm seeing these amazing sand dunes and I felt like it was on the coast
So I'm looking at sand valley
I'm looking at whistling straights and i'm saying well these communities
Were able to figure it out. They were clearly disruptions to those communities
They clearly had to go through some with the one to call it pain or whatever
But the the outcome was amazing and I do believe
Knowing some of my fellow golfers that we are drawn to destinations like this
We want to play courses like this. We want to play. We want to invest in the hotels
We want to eat at the restaurants. We want to drive revenue to these communities
It's
And I see the young kids at work at these places. It brings them employment opportunities
It's to me. It's a win win for everybody and you know again
I'll go back to my point. I saw what they did at sand valley. It is it is just absolutely spectacular
And living in downtown resine i'm i'm all for the community. I want to see resine succeed
I think this would be just a tremendous asset for the community
And I know my golfing colleagues from around the united states
We as pointed out earlier
Come to resine come to sand valley come to whistling straights amazing amazing
Opportunity for a seer and I hope you'll vote for it. Thank you
I
John baton 3430 michigan bollabar
Thank you, mr. Mayor good evening everyone. I'm glad I didn't have to follow jesse. I'm going to be not that energetic
I just
Everyone here was asking the right questions and I definitely feel the passion
Uh of the teacher. I'm sorry. I forgot your name. That's where I learned to play golf too
40 50 50 years ago or so
Um chute park is a special place
Um, but I think we have to be honest that it's not a priority for the city. We can see
What's happened over the past few decades
It hasn't gotten better probably and this is no fault to the people working there
They're working with a limited budget and you have priorities
Um, which I will say in the city of rosine
There are priorities. There's significantly more important than the chute park golf infrastructure
um
But
This is I want to say a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it is the opportunity to bring something world-class
Uh to our area something to make it unique
um, I definitely
also feel
The emotion and the concern about making it affordable for rosine residents
Particularly students young people learning to golf looking for a place for employment
So I'm sure that there would be an appetite in corporate rosine to help with some scholarships
Or something for young people to keep the cost
Affordable to those just learning the game wanting to get involved so it's not necessarily the daily rate, but I would encourage
Uh the council to reach out to see what we can do to help particularly with the young golfers
To make it affordable for them because this is a gateway to a whole nother industry and opportunity
Young kids going out there to work at a at a what this facility will be like
I've been very blessed of been able to play abandoned dunes in sand valley
They are absolutely spectacular
um
This will be too and it just
Growing up, um with the johnson's. I just have to reiterate
That their commitment to the environment and making sure that this is absolutely what they're going to say it's going to be
I think it will be I just you have to trust that this will be a truly spectacular gem
On lake michigan and again
I understand your concerns about accessibility and how this brings more opportunities that people in the city rosine
I would also look at it as again
Just the 1.8 million, but what you don't have to invest in this
Someone else is investing it. You're purely drawing revenue
You can take those costs that you did those funds that you didn't have to invest
And the ongoing revenue and apply it to things that we all know that could be you know higher priority for the residents of rosine
So thank you very much. Thank you mr. Mayor
Vinnie rotino 2312 Kinsey
I
Hello everybody. I'm bringing my daughters up
I'll be brief because they're not making it all the way here to the end, but my name is vinnie rotino
Um
I'm lucky enough to do broadcasting for the mohawkie brewers. I'm the color commentator for the mohawkie brewers
Born and raised here in racene love this community
We're never leaving my wife and I both born and raised here
Raising our three daughters and this is an opportunity to put an absolute gem here in this community
Um, it's just kind of a no-brainer. I'm just I'm not going to reiterate everything that everybody else said
I had an opportunity to play at erin hills yesterday actually coincidentally
I'm not good enough of a golfer to play at erin hills
And luckily I didn't have to pay the greens fee of 450 dollars
um
And I'll tell you that um
Up and down the driving range there was people from all over the place. Okay
You're hearing all kinds of different accents
At at the driving range and i'm talking to the cat. He was a friend of mine
And I said where are these people coming from and where are they going after this?
He said they're going to go to whistling straights. They're going to go to sand valley. They're going to go to all the other
Marquis golf courses around the state
Raising Wisconsin will be another one of those destinations for these people
Okay, and so we're talking about people from scotland ireland england all over the place
Australia people they just want to play golf
Okay, and play at the most marquee places
And so now all of a sudden we're going to get an opportunity here in raising to play at a place like that for 24 dollars or 36
Dollars whatever it's going to be. I mean no-brainer
Um, so yes in the baseball theme people will come. Okay, if you build it people will come
um
The other thing is sand valley employs 300 junior caddies. Okay, this is the kinds of group they employ 300 junior caddies
um
Oh, my daughter keeps putting this picture of the golf course on my
On my notes here and there's no there's no better stewards of this community than
Craig and Helen there there just isn't
And
You know, I have an opportunity to know connor their son also he's going to follow in their footsteps. It's just going to happen
Okay, so um
Yeah
I guess I wasn't brief that's tv talk for me three minutes
so
Uh, I hope you guys vote for it. Thank you
You
Karen johnson 5062 hunt club road
Hello, um, hello
Um
Tonight you will vote to determine the future of chute park a scrappy municipal course with million dollar views as the developer once said
It doesn't belong to the developer
In 1917 dr. Clarendon and Ida chute needed the land to the city with an explicit unshakable condition
And uh, I have the deed here that says the property shell forever be held maintained and improved by the city of rasine
For public park services. There's his deed
Up until this morning the lighthouse dunes video stated that dr. chute established a park and golf course
In 1929 to remain a golf course forever. I think they wanted to establish that this was always dr
chute's wish but they took it off today
Dr. chute died five years before golf was added so it was never his wish
Chute park was not purchased by the city via public funds or general municipal use
It was an absolute benevolent gift to the citizens of rasine
Under wisconsin property law accepting land dedicated forever creates a permanent charity charitable trust and a restrictive covenant
The city of rasine merely serves as a fiduciary trustee and the general public remains the sole legal beneficiary
Furthermore only yesterday did the developer post the pricing structure for residents
In the agenda for today's meeting chute park proposed terms. You might want to read that the developer says after two years
The reduced rate will only be available to rasine city residents
Everyone else will be subjected to the premium pricing including windpoint residents where the club will be
Will be placed and that's my unpleasant. That's everything and the developer hasn't even told you
What the price is going to be? What is that price? Is it a hundred? It should be probably a hundred and 150
Right now we pay nine to twelve dollars
So also another thing is their vision is clear cutting the entire shoreline to mimic a scottish coastline
It will completely wipe out the trees and natural habitat that over 270 bird species reliant
Chute park is also a recognized as a critical migratory stop over along lake michigan
The wisconsin dnr and other regulatory agencies are unequivocally clear about the absolute necessity of protecting our natural coastlines
Destroying this decadent
Delicate ecosystem for a manufactured fairway flies directly in the face of established environmental stewardship
as the state and state guidelines
also
The fear of the bluff collapsing is a manufactured crisis to get a scottish doing
Actually the figure from 2020 was only 80 feet that was lost
So we have recently formed a citizens for chute park
Organization and we plan to fight if you vote. Yes, we will be going to
The attorney general. Thank you
Richard pierce russon 1115 white sandling
Thank you and good evening
As a physician in internal medicine a lake michigan kayaker. I'm not a golfer. Sorry
And a resident of windpoints since 1994. I appreciate this opportunity
I have been having listened to the questions
Before you and the answers i'll pair it down
Yes, the hoy report is very important central the emphasized trees and grassland
Grassland is important for all of the habitat infrastructure, etc, etc
Please be aware of that cognizant of it and I appreciate the attention to that
I don't hear that that's enough of a of attention on this proposal
The implications of pesticides and
Fertilizers, I hear that it's going to run off into lake michigan
algal plumes are going to follow
We and I appreciate that it's going to be minimal minimized
Nevertheless, we need to have consideration of a mound perhaps of a septic system that captures and filters that before it goes out to lake michigan
Maybe you want to run off in case there's a huge flood or something
But some infrastructure that protects our shoreline, which is very delicate for habitat and for water quality
Which we are all drinking from
The loss of broad public access kayaker golfer photographer
Pensive reflection purpose
These are dog walker proposals or weddings. These are the sorts of things
I don't want to have to go to a golf club or to a clubhouse in order to launch kayak
You cannot launch from lake from the windpoint. That's a treacherous and dangerous place to launch from currently my wife and I launched
From the parking lot at shoe park
Yes, the walkway is narrowed. Yes, we still navigate that but that's the place to to learn from can you somehow figure out how to get
Access to the lake for petalsports for instance
Shoe park has mentioned was bequeathed. That isn't negotiable
We have to honor that
Original request for public lands or a veteran's home or an old man's home as I heard that it was described accurately so
finally sam johnson himself fought publicly against we energies
Against the expansion of the oak creek coal fire plant his driving principles
Where that he took the long view for the community
He took it seriously quote based on quality of life issues with our people the health of our people the health of our families and my family
And he talked to richard abato at ceo if i'm pronouncing that correctly of we energies and we really got a nope
Comprehensive answers they just went out charging with their plan and they were going to sell this plan to the community. I felt a little bit brushed off
Well, I feel a little bit brushed off too and I asked for yes refresh that golf course it needs it
Get broad community import and access to the lake for people who want it and have it now
But are going to lose it dedicated golf now
Listen to expert guidance and get a consultant to advise you. Thank you
You
Harry Schultz 539 Newman Road
Um, I have a couple issues that I feel have not been addressed
I I I guess we know there will be caddies at the golf course. So I'd like to know if the caddies will be required
And also
I'm not really sure if there's going to be golf carts
And if there are golf carts are the golf carts going to be required because these would be additional things making the
golf course less affordable for probably city-reseen residents and others
and um
And I guess this is the first time I've heard tonight that the
the fee for an unreseen residence will be
as high as possible we're told and
I guess I
Figure that was brought up was a hundred and fifty dollars
So you have to consider that
You know you have bob and joe go to case high school one lives in the city-reseen one lives in Mount Pleasant
The
Kid from Mount Pleasant will have to pay a hundred and fifty dollars to go off with his friend that pays
24 or 35 dollars or something like that. So it's kind of a
It
Will not be all that affordable for a majority of the people really
And
And you also question I also question whether it's sustainable to
Have such an expensive golf course that it's not going to make any money. It's never going to pay for itself
maybe
a less
elaborate
Less expensive version of restoring it would make more sense
Thank you
Adam mattson 5444 mile road
For my room
Good evening, my name is Adam mattson. I don't technically live in the city of raseen
But I own a lot of property here. I pay taxes here
And we're extensively in raseen and i've been deeply invested in this community
I'm here tonight simply to voice my support for the proposed part project
I think it's a great opportunity for the city and a positive investment in one of raseen's unique late front assets
I hope the community supports the proposal and moves it forward. There's plenty of time for everybody else
Remi oscarson 2614 indian trail
Good morning. It's good to see you here
I've heard a lot of talk about what's good for the young people here and well here i am
On this year. I will be a senior at the prairie school
And this year will be my 13th year at that school
Now i've grown up a lot here and spent a lot of time here and
Just in this committee. I've heard four reasons for this
This
development
The first is the crumbling infrastructure and to that I say we do not need to double the size of golf course
To fix a few aging buildings
The second the second. Sorry
Is the ecosystem
It shouldn't take you someone who just finished biology and past
To tell you that the roots of trees and plants is what clings to the soil
And absorbs the water
I do not see how this proposal will mitigate
That erosion
The third is that this will be a destination for people far and wide to come to
Now that I say through my time growing up here. I've spent a lot of time in this area
If I can speak to it for a moment
I've spent time growing up and being with my mother watching the fireworks on the shore
It's where we went for field trip in third grade to the top of white house where I chained out and went down halfway through
It's where I've walked around with my father and spent time with him
And
This place very near to my school. I've seen almost every day for 13 years straight
We do not need a corporatized Disneyland. We need a place that is near and dear to us
When I'm say 40 years old 30 years from now, I like a place for my kids that I had to
And the fourth reason is that I heard that there's ice cream in it for me
I have culvers for that and I cannot be brought by ice cream
I do not want anything the strings attached and I want this to be public land that I can enjoy for my time and for my children's time
Thank you
I concludes the public input
And it takes us to the item that is before us. This is item zero six zero nine dash two six
Communication sponsored by mayor mason requesting to authorize the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement
Relievable johnson golf group for shoreline stabilization
Habitat restoration clubhouse construction and a long-term lease for the operation and maintenance of chute park
Is there a motion to approve the item?
So a motion by alderland to approve is there a second
Second by alder pete
Discussion alderland you made the motion. Did you want to speak to your motion?
Yes, I'm very excited about this proposal and I
Thank you for your investment in your time coming here
Um when it was first brought up to us. I had a couple of
Things that I had questions about
Both of those questions have been answered to my satisfaction and I think this is wonderful
I don't think that we have the money
To take care of chute park like we should
Be able to so I think that this is just a great
investment for the city of racene and I support this wholeheartedly
Alder man
Thank you
Clearly
There's been a lot of give and take it appears between
our first meeting
And today and I'm assuming knowing the way that negotiations work
Um
Nobody got exactly what they wanted
but um
If both parties feel that it's fair
Then uh, hopefully it's considered a win-win
My first job at the age of 14. I was a
Freshman in high school
Was down the street from my home in the town of summers. It was at a golf course
Petrifying springs
That was a county golf course
It was also considered a public park
Even though they charge people to come on the golf course
And play a round of golf
That job taught me about responsibility
Showing up on time
Waking up at four in the morning so I could be there at five a.m. on saturday and sunday mornings
Um
Taught me how to interact with customers
How to manage money because the first time I had a job
and back then although the
Minimum wage I think was three dollars an hour. I was only making two dollars
The next year I got a raise of 10 cents
and at some point they
Raised it up to uh to minimum wage, but it was a good job
And I anticipate that young people in our community
May have the same opportunity I had
at uh shoe park
I've golf shoe park a few years back with some friends on a saturday or an all friday afternoon
We were the only ones out there
It rained the night before so as one of the speakers alluded to
My shoes were soaked by the time I got back to my car
I didn't anticipate that but I had never golfed it before
We joked that it was whistling straight south
Sitting on the lake the way it was
And now we have a proposal before us that will
actually upgrade the park and make it uh significant
There's a lot of
banter back and forth in social media about shoe park
That it's intended to be a public park
A golf course is a public park if it's owned by a municipality
We hear how we loved a picnic there, but there's no picnic tables
Outside of one outside the clubhouse at shoe park. So I'm not sure
Where the picnic is taking place
uh
I've never taken my family and put out a blanket on the eighth green and uh
pulled out a sandwich and some sodas and told the grandkids hey, we're gonna have a picnic here
We don't hike it. I'd be afraid of the grandkids getting hit by
random golf balls
my dad told me a cute story today and
when he was a kid
He
Went down to shoe park and he didn't know what golf was and he got all excited because he uh kept finding these golf balls
And he's loading up his pocket and turns out
People were playing golf and he was taking golf balls that were in play
um
so
While it would be nice to
Maybe put a playground in there to maybe create a forested area
I do have to remind you it was a brickyard
Back, I think the 1800s
um
So it wasn't
Park space. It wasn't green space
It wasn't dunes
It was kind of an industrial area
And when the brickyards went away it
Somebody converted it
It is a golf course
It has been a golf course for a very very long time
If
Those here on the council want it to be something else
Then we have to find the money for that
But I don't see that happening
Whether the Johnson leopold group or the city
It
Maintains it it will be a golf course for quite a while
If we maintain it
I don't anticipate it being
A well maintained course and that's just the facts and the reality
That we're dealing with
We have a family
That's investing their money
Whether or not they've created an LLC or corporate
I don't see this as a corporate takeover of a municipal park
It's a family
From what I understand mr. leopold is passionate
about golf
And he can afford to
Invest
In upgrading a beautiful park
That we have
He is
Replacing infrastructure that we don't have the dollars for
The shoreline will still need to be protected. We don't have the dollars for that
I
Used to take my grandson down there
Three years old and we'd go looking for rocks down on the beach
Right there by the parking lot
We'd go down those rickety old stairs. You weren't supposed to go down
And he'd load up his pocket and
I am not going to vote for anything that is going to take that experience away from other grandchildren or other children
In fact, the last time I went down there it was not very attractive
It wasn't maintained there were trees and things all over the place
And so
We have an investment in the shoreline
We have a parking lot that
Is
In desperate need of repair
We don't have the money to do that
We have a clubhouse that's in desperate need of repair
We don't have the money to do that
We have a maintenance shed that's in desperate need of repair
We don't have the money to do that
We have to build a fire station
We have to build a police station
We're building a community center and a health center
We don't have the money to invest in our park in the village of windpoint
And yet we have a responsibility for that
Whether or not the johnson leopold family pulls out in 10 years or 50 years
We have an investment if after 10 years they say we're walking away from that
I don't anticipate that will happen
But we never know
That's 10 years that we don't have to put money into shoe park
10 years that we don't have to put maintenance dollars into the park
Because they will be
maintaining it
They'll be cutting the grass
They'll be paying the water bills
They'll be fertilizing it
And they're the ones taking the risk on it
I think both mr. leopold and miss johnson have both indicated
They don't see this as a cash cow
This isn't something that they're going to
Make a lot of money off of
They're doing it because that family has cared for this community for five generations
Going back to sc johnson the founder
hf johnson
Senior who I think started the community foundation
Generation after generation has invested back into this community and they've called it home
Dedicated golfers
Who enjoy the game of golf who live here
Are going to realize that at $24
Or at the highest nine hole golf rate at johnson park
Playing a golf course of this caliber
Is going to be a bargain
Will a person like me who plays once every 10 years
Want to challenge myself to playing at shoot park
Probably not
I can go to johnson park or washington park or ice grove
But on the other hand, I wouldn't mind trying it just to see what it's like
What are the intangible benefits
Of having this investment in this golf course
tourism
People coming into the community
They could stay at one of win points finest hotels
Oh, wait a minute. I don't think win point has a hotel
But they could stay at the verdant
Or
The other hotels in the area
They could come downtown and take in our beautiful
Lake front eat at one of our fine restaurants
Go shop at dimples or some of the other fine stores that we have here before they head back out
And hit another golf course on their week long expedition
This
Is a win-win for the city of racine
And I would encourage each and every one of you to think long
And hard about it, but I would encourage you to support this proposal
We talk about
The deficit the structural deficit we have
We talk about the difficult budget that we're going to face
In october when we begin negotiating
This will be one item that we won't have to worry about
And
To have a world-class golf course in our backyard that we own
When it's all said and done we the city of racine will own that golf course
That's a positive thing. Thank you
Uh, thank you a shoe park is one of the first
I
Was the first golf course that I played on when I first moved to a racine
And I used to take my kid down there many years ago
And I have noticed
The your your chirration on the water
Part
I've noticed the trees of course I used to live on that side of the area of town
So I've been in a few of the windstorms over time
So I've seen what the trees have done down there and I understand what we've talked about tonight
I've heard from both sides and everyone I think has answered great questions
I think we've listened to each other and I think it's good for this
City of racine who not only in the audience because I think the audience
I explained their slides. I think our colleagues did a great job
Expressing their their comments as well as answering the key questions
I should have hit the button before all the Mac did
But I totally agree with what he said and I think again
I think everyone in the room because I think we did a great job of communication
And but if we can't communicate with each other
Accomplishing anything will be a great challenge. Thank you
I ended up turning it off because all of my notes, I think all their mac red
I just I just wanted to say that I appreciate every single person that emailed every single person that spoke
the last several meetings both sides
The willingness to hear each other
There and I agree that there just seem to be so many benefits and I know some of the things that people feel like we're losing
I don't think we're losing them when I think about the students that I serve
I want them to be able to practice on a really nice place. I want them to have that community on a really nice setting
I don't think it has to be one or the other
I I had elementary kids who watched
Buildings and grounds come in and put sod down in front of their school and they were so excited to have nice grass
All of our students should be able to go someplace really nice
And practice and enjoy the game of golf and walk on a path and be on a beautiful space on the lake
And if I'm going to trust a family to do it right
It's going to be a family that has invested in my community since I've been a little girl
Lived here my whole entire life watch them bring mental health into schools watch them hold community forums
I'm going to trust this family and I appreciate their willingness to listen to the environmental impacts to answer questions to meet with people
So I think there are so many benefits when I think of scholarships for students and the investment and I I don't think it has to be either or
I think we can still keep the community part of shoot park and the things that people love
And upgrade and and make it beautiful for everybody
I'll be joining team. Thank you
um
You know, this is uh
This was something that would be very transparent when it was first presented
Um, I was a bit apprehensive to I was very concerned
Uh with how it will remain affordable for Racine residents because it is
A park that is owned by the city of Racine
And so, um, it was something that I was following very very closely
on on how this would be able to be
uh remaining an affordable course for the the city of Racine residents
And so by tying it to another one of our municipal golf courses, I really do feel like that does
Remove a lot of my apprehension
That this would become wildly inexpensive for for city residents
Uh, I think there's been a lot of discussion on you know windpoint and windpoint residents
I don't live in windpoint. I don't represent windpoint
Um, I can only go off of what their elected representatives have done and they adopted it their portion of it unanimously
Um
So uh to be totally transparent
I was looking at it through the lens of what my job was which is to represent the fifth district and
the city of Racine residents who would elect us and myself to be here
And so
I really spent a lot of time thinking about it
It's been it was funny everyone brought up their kids and bringing their kids there. I have a daughter
She's 15 months. Her name is Bonnie
Uh, and we brought her there not too long ago
Uh, and we tried to go down by the the lake shore
But it was hard to get to you couldn't go over your fire. There were down trees
Uh, and so actually I ended up uh taking her back up to the shore while my wife and some friends that were in from out of town
stayed down there
Uh, and so we were up waiting on the shore
My daughter and I got to thinking about it of you know in in 10 years, uh, you know where
Well, how what do I want to bring her to?
Uh, do I want to say you know taking her through there and I was on the council and we had an opportunity to do this
But we chose not to and there used to be a parking lot there, but it's fallen into the lake
There used to be a clubhouse there
We had to tear it down because we couldn't afford to repair it so now there's no clubhouse
Uh, or do I want to be able to take her somewhere and say, uh, you know, this is one of the top golf courses in the country
It's very expensive to play here
Uh, but this we get to play here for a reduced rate because this is a city of Racine park
It's one of the benefits of living in Racine as you'll be able to golf there for an extremely reduced rate
And I I think that was was really one of the things that I
I think that we could be proud of that move to the city of Racine
We have a world-class golf course that you can golf for for $24 or $35 or whatever, uh, Washington park is set at
Which while I I'm not a golfer myself. So I just want to clarify that
Well, I've been told Washington park is a very nice golf course. Uh, I it's not described as one of the top in the country
Uh, and so if this has the opportunity to do so
Uh, that's a great asset. The only thing that I did kind of catch my ear
Um, it was brought up tonight of there may be some appetite from the business community to put forward something so that
Um, younger children that are just starting out would maybe be able to have some kind of fun set aside for
Um, children who live in the city of Racine to golf there, uh, and have some of that fun to cover it or all of it
Uh, there is a week still
Between final approval for this so this comes back on on tuesday of next week of when that would be coming back
Uh, I think that's a decent amount of time to maybe get something
I think it would be fantastic if when this came back in a week
There was, uh, the start of a proposal to it of in addition to all of the things that we're working on now
Um, this would be what the the business community and the city has come forward with as well in addition to it
Um
I just feel like that would be
Really kind of cementing it that
It's truly accessible for all city ever seen residents
And that it would be something that they would be able to
Effectively guarantee that you'd be able to do that whether you were just starting out
Um learning to golf, uh, there you're a resident, uh, and you've been golfing there for years
You'll continue to be able to afford to golf there or
ideally
You, uh, move to the city of Racine, uh, to enjoy one of our our world class golf course that I reduced rate among many many other benefits
Uh, I I myself chose to live in Racine, uh, and and raise my family here and settle down for many other ones
Uh, many other reasons
And so I think this is, uh, something that we could add as another feather to our cap
Uh, as one of the the amazing reasons of why to choose Racine. Thank you
Any other discussion on item zero six zero nine dash two six
Okay, so before we go to the vote just a reminder. We are an executive committee not full council
So there are, um, six members of the executive committee myself
other allen, alder harman, alder pete, alder jorgensen and alder land
Um, and then after the vote this evening it will go to the full council
Next tuesday the 21st at six o'clock. So for people, uh, watching at home or who might be here wondering when final passage
Might occur it would be on tuesday the 21st at the full council meeting
In the space that you're in today
So when the clerk calls your name, uh, for executive committee members, please vote
As you wish
alderland
Alder harman
Alder pete
alder jorgensen
alder allen
That is five eyes zero nose
Alder land
Thank you. That's five eyes zero nose
Motion passes unanimously. This does exhaust