Winnebago County presents $2.25 million plan to expand Butte More boat landing; grant application planned

Kyle Virgin, Winnebago County parks and expo grounds manager, presented a capital improvement plan May 6 to expand the Butte More boat landing on Leonard Point Road in the Town of Omro, asking the county board to approve applying for a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) grant that would cover 50% of construction costs.

Virgin said the existing landing has limited parking and staging — 36 truck-and-trailer spaces and roughly five regular vehicle stalls — and that users often park on lawns or on Leonard Point Road when the site is full. The design presented would increase capacity to about 86 parking spaces, add two aisles of drive-through parking, repave the drive, create concrete walkways to the launch and a new bathroom building, install additional lighting and security cameras, and remove three small open-air shelters in favor of one polygon shelter by the dock area. Virgin said dredging is planned to deepen the access channels to roughly 4–5…