GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Plans are in motion to re-open Bay Beach Amusement Park this summer, but we don’t know if the park’s beach project will be moving forward as planned.
Two years ago, the city council signed off on a $7 million plan to bring a beach back to the park, but high water levels and a lack of money are changing things.
With the bay of Green Bay at record height, city council members are questioning whether a beach at Bay Beach Amusement Park is still possible. The city’s parks director, Dan Ditscheit, tells FOX 11 it is.
“I will tell you our consultant engineered the beach to accommodate the fluctuation in water coming up and down in normal events. In storm events, yes we will have times when the sand is pulled out of the area….but when the storm events go away our consultant is telling us the sand will come back and will deposit back on the beach.”
The city has said the sand beach would be between 100 and 150 feet wide when water levels are normal and about 50 feet wide when the water levels are elevated.
The project also includes a new boardwalk, pier, bathhouse with a concession stand, parking lot, and groundwater management system.
The city of Green Bay has already bonded $5 million dollars for the project. An extra $2 million is supposed to come from fundraising and grants. The city says the project is about $825,000 short.
No taxpayer money is expected to be included in the project. Park revenue would pay the bond payments.
“So the pier is the highest cost of the entire project and what we’re proposing to do is not to eliminate the pier, but to temporarily put it on hold,” said Ditscheit.
Ditscheit says construction of the pier would likely be delayed a few years.
“We have a number of issues concerning the beach and the bathhouse and we would request that this be delayed indefinitely,” said David Charles of the Friends of Bay Beach.
The fundraising group Friends of Bay Beach is responsible for most of the park’s expansion in recent years.
Charles tells FOX 11 the group’s concerns are money and high water.
“We just don’t think it’s a good investment of funds right now to provide services to the community for 3 or 4 months out of the year that may not survive the first year.”
The city’s parks committee decided it wants more individual cost estimates before deciding what parts of the project should proceed.
If the city proceeds moves ahead with the plan Ditscheit outlined, construction on everything but the pier could start this fall and be ready next spring or summer. However, some council members have expressed interest in building the pier, and holding off on the beach.
A final decision will likely be made in the next couple of weeks.
