Delafield residents urge council to fund Saint John’s Pier; concerns raised about habitat and maintenance

Delafield — Residents urged the Delafield Common Council on Nov. 3 to include funding for a Saint John’s Bay public pier in the city’s proposed 2026 budget, while also pressing the council for clarity on maintenance costs and potential impacts to shoreline vegetation.

Mary Daniel, a Delafield resident, called attention to the capital improvements section of the budget and said the pier design in the packet appears to have changed from an original 13-slip concept to a six-slip proposal. She said she observed a privately signed pier with a chain and a large pontoon at the site and asked, “Who owns the private pier sign, and where will the pontoon that’s parked there now park if this is a public slip dock pier?” Daniel also warned that cleaning native shore cover to make way for the public slip could “destroy the cover for birds that use the area.”

Several other lakefront residents spoke in favor of the pier. Larry Firm said he surveyed about 70 lakefront homeowners and that roughly 73 families signed a petition supporting a pier in Saint John’s Bay; he said he received a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) report indicating coordination between the city and DNR on the project and asked whether the additional funds being requested are supplemental to previously approved amounts. Deb Ellsworth and Tracy Buckland told the council that the public boat launch and parking are heavily used and said a pier would allow boaters to visit downtown businesses.

“Three years ago, Mayor Atwell asked me to do a survey on the East Side of Lake Nagawicka,” Firm said. “The entire rest of the 75 — 73 people — families signed that they were in favor of a pier in Saint John’s Bay.”

Jim Ellsworth, who said the matter had been reviewed by an administrative judge in Waukesha County, urged the council to act after years of delay and invoked the state’s public-trust principles to argue for public access to the water. Tommy (surname pronounced/spelled in the record as ‘Yoss’) summarized the DNR endangered-resources review, saying the DNR determined the floating pier would have “either no impact or low impact on endangered resources” if installed outside fish-spawning periods; he added a local concern that dense weed growth in the channel could complicate boat traffic.

The Veterans Memorial Riverwalk also drew comment: Mary Daniel cited an item in the packet she recalled as about $85,000 and said the council should consider whether the expense is the best use of capital funds given existing lighting and municipal parking that contribute to downtown ambiance.

Mayor Iger closed the public hearing after the series of comments and said the council will take citizen feedback into account as staff and councilors review the capital and operating budgets before formal action at the next council meeting.

The packet referenced DNR correspondence and resident petitions; the council did not take a final vote on the 2026 budget or any pier funding at the Nov. 3 meeting. The council asked staff to make budget details available and scheduled the formal operating and capital budget review for the next meeting.