Blue Spring Lake Management District

BLUE SPRING LAKE MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Board of Commissioners May 29, 2010 INFORMATIONAL MEETING MINUTES

ROLL CALL (Quorum 4): Jim Hochman, Darren Wagner, Bill von Rohr, and Chris Hodges

Village Board Members who were present: Village President: Tim Gorsegner; Josh Gajewski: Superintendent of Palmyra Public Works Department; and Joe DeYoung: Village Engineer, MSA Consulting

There were 3 members from the Village of Palmyra present. There were approximately 140 residents from the Blue Spring Lake Management District present.

Mr. DeYoung stated the following: a) The Village was applying for two grants; one for the acquisition of the Hahn property and the second for the development of the planned park. Both grants are a 50% match by the Village. b) The Hahn property was selected for purchase since it would have a very high rating for grant approval for acquisition of wetlands. c) There was a May 1st submission to the DNR for grant eligibility approval and the maps that were displayed were developed for the May 1st submission. d) Actual vote for both grants by the DNR is at the end of June. e) Both applications can be modified prior to the June vote. f) The grant system is based upon points and the Districts support of the grants will help the Village in the grant competition. g) The Village plans to sell the 5 acre parcel that includes the home and outbuildings at some point in the future. h) The first grant for the purchase of the 50 acres should get DNR approval since a DNR representative walked the land and was very impressed. i) The development grant is more on the edge of approval.

The meeting was opened up to questions and comments from the audience.

Phil Cianciola, Lot 67A Very concerned about the parking area for 40 boat trailers and the added traffic on the lake.

Sandy Kapela , Lot 49B Concerned about the bike trails proposal with the hills and blind corners on South Shore Drive.

Steve Marcus, Lot 97A The DNR has an advisory for boat parking that places a limit at 5-8 parking spaces for a 130 acre lake, which is the size of Blue Spring Lake. DeYoung: They could reduce the number of parking spaces on the final submission.

Don McCurry, Lot 43A Made the statement that grant dollars are not free dollars, they are still taxpayer dollars. Questioned why the Village was borrowing money.

Kyle L, Lot 102A Wanted confirmation that if the District residents are against the plan, that no points are lost in the grant competition. DeYoung: That is correct. Jean Larson, Lot 14A Asked what the kiosk would be used for. DeYoung: No specific plans at this time, but probably for posting notices and showing the hiking and bicycle path trails.

Jean Shuler, Lot 13A Why was the Village unable to talk to the District about these park plans in the past? DeYoung: Because the Village was in discussions with Hahn about buying his property and the land was not yet under contract.

Jim Hochman, Lot 77A Can the purchase agreement/contract be made public? DeYoung: The Open Records law should permit someone to request a copy. The accepted offer was for $410,000. The closing date is in July. Gorsegner: They would need to contact their legal counsel concerning making the offer to purchase public at this time.

Chris Hodges, Lot 94A Would the Village consider an equal partnership with purchasing and developing the property? DeYoung: Such options could certainly be considered by the Village Board.

Greg Twelmeyer, Lot 93A Will the 5 acres be annexed into the Village? DeYoung: Yes, the Village will annex the 5 acres. Can the BSLMD have active members on a joint board that would be involved in developing the park? DeYoung: That could be considered.

Kyle L, Lot 102A Could the two parcels that were marked as red and all the wetlands be restricted from any future development since Village Boards come and go? Jim Hochman: The Village could place deed restrictions on the 50 acres. Gorsegner: The Village is aligned with Jefferson County zoning restrictions. The residence and 5 acre parcel could remain as residential and not be subdivided. The upper parcel by County H could also have some restriction placed on it by the Village Board.

Phil Cianciola, Lot 67A Why does the Village want this property? DeYoung: To provide open space for people to enjoy, including Village and Town residents and visitors to the area.

Petter Sommerhauser, Lot 62A Will the Village annex the Hahn property and eventual the entire BSLMD? DeYoung: Yes, the Village will annex the 50 acres they purchase. As to the BSLMD, the Village cannot go out an annex this community without approval of the voters. This is really a Village Board question. He cannot answer it.

Bart Bartel, Lot 150A Mr. Bartel proposed the following to the Village Board: a) The parcel by County H, never zone that parcel commercial. b) Move the hiking paths to the northeast away from the back of the B lots, 31B to 35B. c) Eliminate the overlook behind Lots 34B and 35B and eliminate the picnic area. d) Eliminate the bike trail around Blue Spring Lake due to safety issues. e) Reduce the number of parking spaces to align with the DNR guidelines, 8-10 spaces only. f) The Village Board should agree to never annex BLSMD. Sandra Ryan, Lot 80A Who is paying for this? DeYoung: 50% of the purchase price of the Hahn property will be covered by the grant. The balance will come from the Village. How much control does the State of Wisconsin have on the park plans and how much will development cost? DeYoung: The construction and improvements will be $320,000 of which the grant will cover half. The balance would come from the Village.

Eileen Oelke, Lot 101A Why do you want to do this? Why not pursue this park plan with Lower Spring Lake? DeYoung: The Hahn property has the highest potential to win a grant and the Blue Spring Lake and Kettle Moraine area is more attractive for more people to enjoy.

Jean Larson, Lot 14A Are the Village residents aware of this purchase and park planning? DeYoung: I do not know. Would the Village consider funding to stock Blue Spring Lake with fish? DeYoung: Possibility

Art Luettgen, Lot 38A Could the District Board take an informal survey at the meeting right now to judge the interest of these plans by the people present? Jim Hochman: Asked that this vote be pended until later in the meeting.

Frank Schuler, Lot 13A Is the Village aware that in purchasing this property that all bonding responsibility moves from the Town to the Village? Is the Village aware that upon making this 50 acres a park, the Village loses tax revenues for this property? Dr. Shuler has make repeated requests to meet with the Village Sewer Commission to talk about the future of the sewer agreement, but the Village has never agreed to meet with him. Josh Gajewski: He took over as superintendent of the public works department in 2008 and he has never received one phone call from anyone at the BSLMD to pursue discussions about the sewer agreement. It is not the responsibility of the Village to pursue such a meeting.

Jim Hochman, Lot 77A Isn’t establishing deed restrictions on the 5 acres and the parcel by County H the best approach? Gorsegner: He would need to take this back to his Board. DeYoung: It is important to note that any changes to the grant applications should be focused on changes to the development grant. The parcel by County H was excluded from the grant and cannot be added back into the park planning.

Peter Grzechowiak, Lot 9A How can the Village come up with the money to buy this property? DeYoung: The Village Board has made the decision that they will find the funds to purchase this property, their 50% match. Has the Village considered the longer term maintenance costs that this park will require? DeYoung: The property acquisition is a done deal.

Dick Natrop, Lot 144A Can the Village make the commitment that they will never annex BSLMD? DeYoung: That is a Village Board decision.

Jane Bartel, Lot 150A Mrs. Bartel presented an estimate of her property taxes under Village annexation and her taxes would increase from $6,000 to $8,000.

Steve Kudlik, Lot 25B Is the offer to purchase the Hahn property contingent on getting the grants? DeYoung: No.

?, Lot 132A Is there a reason you are not pursuing development of Lower Spring Lake for increased park and recreation? DeYoung: Lower Spring Lake does not score as high for grant competition compared to the Hahn property.

Jim Roland, Lot 51B Believes the bike path planned is very dangerous. Extending hiking trails to behind B lots will simply introduce more visitors into areas like the private trust behind his lot who should not be there. Why aren’t you pursuing increased play areas for children within the Village? How are you going to fund ongoing maintenance when you had to cut funds for the library already?

Kathy O”Malley, Village Resident She stated that attending this meeting was an opportunity to learn about the property purchase and park planning, seeing the maps, something that had not yet been done by the Village Board in their public forum.

Cindy Kudlik, Lot 25B What is the timeframe to implement the park construction? DeYoung: The grant mandates that the money be spent within 2 years of grant approval by the DNR. It is expected that the two year clock would begin this fall assuming the development grant is approved.

Kim Kraemer, Lot 133A? Expressed concern that increasing boat traffic would impact the small lake. We do not need to promote Blue Spring Lake more.

Darren Wagner, Lot 33A What about policing the parking area and park? Gorsegner: The property that the Village would purchase would be added to the Village police department’s normal patrol area.

Summary comments by Hochman and others supported the recommendations made by Mr. Bartel at the meeting: a) The parcel by County H, never zone that parcel commercial. b) Move the hiking paths to the northeast away from the back of the B lots, 31B to 35B. c) Eliminate the overlook behind Lots 34B and 35B and eliminate the picnic area. d) Eliminate the bike trail around Blue Spring Lake due to safety issues. e) Reduce the number of parking spaces to align with the DNR guidelines, 8-10 spaces only. f) The Village Board should agree to never annex BLSMD.

DeYoung: Subject to Village Board approval, he offered to make approved changes and redistribute the revised park development plan for the second grant to the BSLMD community. He asked that people who would be interested in receiving the revised plan leave their email address with him.

The meeting ended at approximately 10:45 AM.