Marina Committee

Minutes of the April 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee – Approved 1 MARINA COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 2 Wednesday April 16th, 2025 3 (Approved) 4 5 Agenda Item No. 1. The April 16th, 2025 meeting of the Marina Committee was called to order 6 by Howson at 4:01 P.M. 7 8 Present: Louise Howson, Pat Duffy, and Kevin Grant 9 10 Staff: Marina Manager - Dave Lienau, Assistant Manager - Sam Jordan, Village Administrator - 11 Julie Schmelzer 12 13 Others: Terry Wolf, John Lijewski, Nicholas Dokolas, Marley Inksetter, Thor Johnson, Merih 14 Bayirli, Steve Bacsi, Laurie Zelnio 15 16 Agenda Item No. 2. Approval of the Agenda 17 18 A motion was made by Duffy, seconded by Grant that the Agenda for the April 16th, 2025 meeting of the 19 Marina Committee be approved as presented. Motion carried – All ayes. 20 21 Agenda Item No. 3. Approval of the Minutes 22 23 A motion was made by Duffy seconded by Grant that the minutes of the March 20th, 2025 meeting of the 24 Marina Committee be amended and approved by the committee. Motion carried – All ayes. 25 26 Agenda Item No. 4. Comments, correspondence, and concerns from the public 27 28 No correspondence was received for this meeting. Howson asked if anyone would like to make 29 a public comment, and no one responded. 30 31 Agenda Item No. 5. Discussion/Action Items 32 33 a) Boathouse Project 34 35 John Blossom requested the marina committee provide approval for Shadow Preservation 36 Group from the Sister Bay Historical Society to proceed with their proposed development plans 37 for both the first and second stories of the Boathouse. Blossom noted that once the marina 38 committee approves these plans, the group can move on to begin working with the Plan 39 Commission and the Village Board. Howson responded that the committee’s remaining 40 questions are primarily financial. Blossom confirmed that the group intends to spend nearly 41 $300,000 on renovations, however, the project has not yet gone out to bid. Blossom added that 42 the group has about $190,000 in cash, with pledges of amounts beyond that sum up to an 43 additional $100,000. Blossom feels confident that the group is financially prepared for the 44 project and hopes to start construction as soon as possible. Howson and Blossom agreed that 45 constructions would not likely start until 2026 at the earliest. Schmelzer seconded that the 46 project wouldn’t likely break ground until 2026 and then explained the next steps required for 47 the group to begin construction which includes approval from plan commission, approval from  Minutes of the April 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 the board, the creation of a signed development contract and then going out to bid for a 2 contractor. Howson inquired as to what the committee will do with the building during the 3 upcoming summer season before any development begins. Blossom explained how the building 4 is not realistically rentable in its current status. Thor Johnson inquired about the need for 5 parking for individuals using the second story of the boathouse facility once the project is 6 complete. Blossom noted that the group has no need for any additional parking based on what 7 is publicly available. Howson noted that it will be important to fully understand the intended 8 use of the second story to determine how the project would affect the demand for parking in the 9 area. Schmelzer noted that the village has not expected parking requirements for other village 10 attractions such as marina park or tour boat operations. Blossom specified that the second story 11 would be an extension of the first story museum and not a lounge for the marina club. This 12 would be made available to small groups of individuals involved with the marina and village, 13 similar to how the village hall is managed. Grant inquired as to how the entire space will be 14 accessed by the public and regulated by staff. Blossom responded that they hope to employ 15 enthusiastic marina club members and security cameras to monitor the space during general 16 hours like those of waterfront park and at least seven days a week during the primary season. 17 Howson and Lienau clarified that the second story would not be available to rent this summer. 18 Duffy voiced assent to the current proposal and asked if the boathouse group will be charged 19 rent to the marina for continuous use of the property. Blossom responded that the group feels 20 their $300,000 investment into rebuilding the boathouse should allow the marina to forgo 21 charging any rent. Duffy noted that this project benefits the village more than the marina as a 22 for-profit enterprise fund. Duffy added that monthly rent ensures that marina users are offered 23 some benefit when they are losing a marina-owned asset. Blossom assured the committee that 24 the organization could afford to pay $12,000 a year, as an example, if the committee required 25 that. Schmezler provided some examples where the village leases properties to non-village 26 entities and made note that the village usually asks little to no rent given that the tenant is also 27 maintaining and investing into the property. Schmelzer added that with the boathouse project 28 happening, the marina can save the $45,000 that it budgeted to rehabilitate the boathouse. 29 Schmelzer clarified that the specifications of the lease can be determined after the plan 30 commission has approved the intended use of the space. 31 32 A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Duffy to refer the proposed Boathouse Project from the Sister 33 Bay Historical Society’s Shadow Preservation Group to the village Plan Commission for consideration. 34 Motion carried – all ayes. 35 36 b) Water Level & Dredging 37 38 Lienau summarized pages 11, 12 and 13 of the meeting packet, highlighting that the water level 39 of Lake Michigan is projected to only increase about 3 inches between today and May 4th. 40 Lienau added that 2025 is the first year since 2014 that the year’s average water level is below 41 the long-term average water level. Lake Michigan undergoes a cycle of high and low water 42 levels from about 11 to 15 years long and is currently in a downward trend. Lienau listed some 43 risk areas of the marina where the water level is low enough to prevent vessels from traveling 44 safely. These areas are included in the dredging permit from the DNR. However, due to fish 45 spawning times, the DNR does not allow dredging to happen in the bay of Green Bay from 46 November 1st to June 21st. Mike Kahr worked with the marina to submit an appeal for an 47 exception from the DNR to allow dredging to happen during the fish spawning period and  Minutes of the April 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 before boats begin entering their slips. The appeal has officially been granted by the DNR and 2 the marina is now permitted to dredge until April 27th at the latest. The current maintenance 3 dredging permit does not expire until May 26th, 2026 which will allow the marina to dredge 4 again in the fall, prior to the November 1st deadline. Lienau noted that if the water level 5 continues to decrease, the marina will likely need to dredge again immediately after it closes on 6 October 14th. Lienau added that the $20,000 the committee reallocated for dredging should be 7 enough money to finance both spring and fall dredging projects. 8 9 c) Construction Projects 10 11 Lienau summarized current construction projects underway in the marina, including the 12 refacing of C-Dock main pier, refacing of D-Dock main floating pier, repairing and reinstalling 13 of ten B-Dock finger-piers, refacing of three A-Dock finger-piers and the complete de- 14 winterization and reassembly of the marina. Lienau noted that the contractor completing these 15 projects has assured the marina that they will have them all complete by April 30th. Lienau 16 added that he has consulted alternative contractors to potentially assist if these deadlines and 17 projects are not fulfilled as promised. Lienau has also consulted alternative contractors to assist 18 in lowering various piers throughout the marina to accommodate the extremely low water 19 level. These contractors will also repair a large commercial pier on D-Dock that was damaged 20 over winter due to the impact from floating icebergs. Lienau estimated that this repair project 21 will require anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 unbudgeted dollars. Lienau concluded that all 22 these projects can only be completed after dredging is complete, which puts the marina at risk 23 of not having all of its projects and repairs finished by opening day. 24 25 d) Parking Space Stenciling 26 27 Lienau summarized the changes that have occurred in the short-term marina parking lot since 28 the long-term lot is no longer available for public use. These changes include swapping 50 29 unmarked public-use spaces to permit-required, marina only parking spaces. These spots will 30 be stenciled with “Permit Required” signage by the end of the first week of May. Fifteen of 31 these additional permit-required spots will be made specifically available to the commercial 32 entities within the marina to use at their discretion. 33 34 e) Internet Camera Connection – Parking Lot 35 36 Lienau outlined the marina’s intention to work with their internet and camera providers to 37 establish an internet connection & mount a camera in the short-term marina parking lot to help 38 monitor parking. 39 40 f) Review of Financials 41 42 Lienau noted that the YTD actuals for revenue in the packet are still slightly incorrect and as of 43 today, the marina is at $672,000 YTD total revenue which is greater than the $644,000 the marina 44 had reached by the same YTD in 2024. Lienau also pointed out that the bottom line for the 45 marina’s 2025 Budget is showing a loss of about $460,000, which is reported incorrectly. 46 47  Minutes of the April 16th, 2025 Meeting of the Marina Committee - Approved 1 Agenda Item No. 7. Matters to be placed on a future agenda or referred to a committee, 2 official, or employee 3 4 It was the consensus of the committee that that following items be included on a future marina committee 5 meeting agenda: 6 - The Boathouse Project – Lease 7 8 The next meeting of the Marina Committee is scheduled for May 14th, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. via virtual zoom 9 meeting. 10 11 Adjournment: A motion was made by Grant, seconded by Duffy to adjourn the April 16th, 2025 12 meeting of the Marina Committee at 5:12 P.M. Motion carried – All ayes. 13 14 Respectfully submitted, 15 16 Samuel Jordan 17 Assistant Marina Manager