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Second Landing shallow; county seeks state permit and explores funding options after $300,000+ estimate
Summary
Committee discussed sedimentation and very shallow water at Second Landing on Lake Superior, steps to obtain state permitting and an Army Corps review, and an initial contractor estimate exceeding $300,000 with no county funding identified.
County staff informed the committee that Second Landing’s basin and entrance are heavily sedimented and that water outside the break wall is shallow for several hundred yards in places. Staff said the county is pursuing a state permit and coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study dredging options, and that the permit process is slow and requires state water-regulation approval before Corps authorization.
Staff reported an initial contractor quote of more than $300,000 for dredging and said no county funds were currently identified to cover the cost. The county has posted caution signs at the landing to warn recreational users that the landing is very shallow.
Staff said some design solutions (for example, extending a break wall farther into the bay) might address long-term sediment influx but would likely be a multimillion-dollar project requiring grant funding. Committee members asked whether county or township funds could be used; staff said existing community-recreation-development funds would revert to the general fund if unspent, and that using such funds as seed money could be possible but would not close the full funding gap.
Mary (identified as the county’s new Lake Superior representative on the Wisconsin Waterways Commission) offered to help investigate Great Lakes-specific dredging grants and said the Corps’ permit process already being initiated would be important to any grant application.
Staff also said the county plans to place a donation box at the landing to accept public contributions but noted that donations would likely build funds only slowly relative to the scale of cost estimates.
