2021 in Review: Jan. – April

Restoration work continued on Plum Island Lifesaving Station this year due to the efforts of the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands organization, and a $50,000 grant from an anonymous foundation and a contribution of nearly $38,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore and fabricate 42 windows.

Numerous development projects from Sturgeon Bay to Sister Bay dominated coverage during this first quarter. One of those, Dollar General, was outright rejected by the Town of Egg Harbor following an intense citizen campaign that lobbied to stop the retail discount chain from establishing a store in northern Door County. There were also two ice rescues, several vacancies were filled, Starlink entered the county, and we continued to track the progression, treatment and consequences of COVID-19.

v27i01 Jan. 8-15

Gun Store, Shooting Range Plans Introduced

Virlee Gunworks opened this year in the former Save A Buck building on Egg Harbor Road in Sturgeon Bay, and it all began this month when the investors presented their plans to the city for the new gun store and shooting range. 

Local Vaccine Rollout Got Underway

“At this time, every employee at DCMC who wants the vaccine has had the opportunity to receive it,” said Dr. Jim Heise, chief medical officer of Door County Medical Center (DCMC). “For those that haven’t as yet, we continue to have vaccine clinics where they can get it.” At that time, no vaccines were available to the public.

Door County YMCA Named New CEO

Heidi Erickson began her new position as the fifth CEO of the Door County YMCA on Jan. 4, replacing Tom Beerntsen, who retired after a long, distinguished YMCA career.

v27i02 Jan. 15-22

Special Assessments First Revealed in Fish Creek

As part of a planned Highway 42 reconstruction, the Town of Gibraltar intended to assess property owners for streetlights and sidewalks, yet it never told the property owners. The assessment was expected to cost dozens of property owners $5,000 to $25,000, and some in excess of $100,000. In 2018, the town estimated the sidewalks would cost $146,111, but the final cost came to $554,123.06.

Ryan Heise Left Village of Egg Harbor for Position in Michigan

Ryan Heise, administrator for the Village of Egg Harbor for the past five years, announced he was leaving for a similar position in Saugatuck, Michigan.

v27i03 Jan. 22-29

Mental-Health Focus Group Launched Lighthouse Campaign

In response to an increase in suicides and suicidal ideation in 2020, the Door County Mental Health Focus Group initiated the Lighthouse Campaign to turn this tide. Twelve five-foot lighthouses were designed and placed around the community to serve as beacons of hope and increase awareness of suicide prevention.

Sturgeon Bay Began Tech-Equipment Funding Campaign

More than 60% of the equipment that Sturgeon Bay School District tech-ed teachers and students use is 40-plus years old, so the district launched a campaign to raise $100,000 to purchase new equipment. 

Door County Land Trust Added Protected Land

The Door County Land Trust added two new, forested properties within the Gibraltar-Ephraim Swamp to its protected lands. With these additions, the organization now protects 383 acres within the swamp.

Rusnak Installed to Fill Vacancy on Door County Board

Door County Board Chair David Lienau selected Morgan Rusnak to complete the District 7 term, which Erin Tauscher vacated. Rusnak will serve District 7 until the end of the term in April 2022.

Starlink Launched Beta Testing in Door County

Door County became a public beta testing site for SpaceX’s emerging satellite internet service, Starlink. The new service claims it will offer access to high-speed broadband internet in places where connections have been unreliable, expensive or completely unavailable.

v27i04 Jan. 29-Feb. 5

Southern Door Superintendent Patti Vickman Announced Retirement

After 45 years in education and nine years serving as superintendent, Patti Vickman announced her retirement effective June 30, 2021. An alumna of the Class of 1972, she returned to Southern Door in 2012 and was named Wisconsin Rural Superintendent of the Year in 2015.

Midterm Resignation Surprised Gibraltar School District

After teacher Craig Carriere resigned midterm, the Gibraltar School Board decided to investigate its own practices and the district’s overall responsiveness to educators’ needs. 

West Side School to Be Converted to Apartments

Northpointe Development was given the green light to turn the old Sturgeon Bay West Side School into a 15-unit apartment building. This was Northpointe’s second attempt to convert the structure into housing, the first one having been foiled when low-income tax credits weren’t granted to help finance the construction.

v27i05 Feb. 5-12

Surprising Sales-Tax Results in 2020

In 2020, Door County generated more sales-tax revenue than in any year prior. The county collected $151,185.43 more sales tax in 2020 than it did in 2019 – a 3.5% increase. Thus, last year’s sales (the amount spent that was subject to sales tax) were $30,237,086 more than in 2019.

Shortage of Vaccines Caused Cancellations

The Department of Public Health was forced to cancel more than 300 appointments due to receiving only 30% of its requested amount of vaccine.

County Prepared to Create Housing for Sex Offenders 

Two single-wide homes for sex offenders on land at the Door County Justice Center would be well underway by year’s end, but the move to make it happen began in December 2020, with more discussion taking place in February. The county will be responsible in the near future for placing up to six individuals. 

v27i06 Feb. 12-19

Salvation Army Announced Results for 2020 Red Kettle Campaign

The amount raised was a little more than $105,000 – the highest total ever. Door County was also the state’s top-ranked county among Salvation Army service-extension units, meaning that the organization does not have a building or paid staff members in the county but still provides services.

Ridges Named New Executive Director, but That Would Change by Year’s End

Mike Reed was named the new executive director, replacing Steve Leonard. Reed has more than 30 years’ experience with the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay and served as its director, 2011-19.

Ice Rescue Ended Safely for 66 Stranded Anglers

It was around 9 am on Feb. 4 when the ice broke along a crack that forms where the earlier freezes of the various inlets and bays bump up against the later ice of the open Green Bay water. The area broke into three separate ice floes, with a total of 66 people spread across all three. The four-hour rescue preceded a heavy winter storm.

Municipalities Considered Short-Term Rental Regulation

The towns of Liberty Grove and Sevastopol started down the road of regulating short-term rental properties. Both would do so by the end of the year, with Sevastopol incorporating the strictest guidelines.

v27i07 Feb. 19-26

Egg Harbor Firefighters Association Resuscitated

Unbeknownst to members of the Egg Harbor Firefighters Association, Inc. – the charitable arm of the Egg Harbor Fire Department – the group was dissolved in May 2017. It wasn’t until January 2021 that the members found out. After appointing a new board president, the five-member committee filed the correct paperwork, and the group was successfully reinstated.

v27i08 Feb. 26-March 5

Volunteer Center of Door County Closed

After many years of helping to coordinate volunteer opportunities in Door County, the center’s board of directors made the decision to close permanently. 

Conditions Placed on Little Sister Condo Project

The Village of Sister Bay Plan Commission voted unanimously to place a long list of conditions on the condominium project proposed for the former site of Little Sister Resort and Fred & Fuzzy’s restaurant. 

Potawatomi Tower Achieved National Historic Status

The Potawatomi State Park Observation Tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the secretary of the interior and listed on the State Register of Historic Places by the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office.

Nicolet Bank Employees Supported Special Olympics

Jamie Alberts, Paula Englebert and Paula Wiese from Nicolet Bank’s 4th Avenue branch braved the cold weather for a special ice-bucket challenge to raise funds for Special Olympics Wisconsin. 

v27i09 March 5-12

Beach Expansion Approved for Otumba Park

The Sturgeon Bay Common Council approved an upgrade to expand the beach to more than double its current depth. In addition, the plan included slight improvements to the kayak and canoe launch area and making the space ADA accessible.

Shipwrecked Proposal Denied for Now

The Village of Egg Harbor Plan Commission voted to deny a conditional use permit and Special Development Zone relief for the expansion of Shipwrecked Brew Pub. The decision meant Shipwrecked would have to go back to the drawing board and resubmit new plans to the commission.

Peninsula Pulse Honored in Newspaper Awards

The Peninsula Pulse earned five awards in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper Contest for 2020 – the first year when the Pulse was eligible to enter. 

v27i10 March 12-19

St. John Bosco’s Lisa Mueller Named a Kohl Fellow

Lisa Mueller, the first-grade teacher at Sturgeon Bay’s St. John Bosco Catholic School, was one of 101 educators statewide to be selected as a 2021 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellow. 

First-Dose Vaccination Rate at 25%

By this date, more than a quarter of all Door County residents had received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. First doses had been given to 61.6% of those older than age 65.

Gibraltar Tabled Assessment Discussion

The Town of Gibraltar tabled a discussion of how it would handle special assessments for the sidewalk and street-lighting improvements completed the prior summer. The board decided to continue the discussion after it had hired a town administrator.

v27i11 March 19-26

Climate Change Coalition Started The Big Plant

A new initiative called The Big Plant started on Earth Day and extended through the end of May, when businesses, organizations and individuals planted thousands of trees throughout the county. Coupled with The Nature Conservancy and Crossroads plantings, The Big Plant added more than 10,000 trees to the landscape.

Egg Harbor Rejected Dollar General Store

The Egg Harbor Board of Supervisors unanimously denied a developer’s application to build a Dollar General next to Egg Harbor Fun Park. The developer had first proposed a Dollar General in the Village of Sister Bay, but when issues arose in the plan, he looked to Egg Harbor instead. Before the end of 2021, the developer would shift to a Brussels location, successfully secure a building permit and begin construction on a store in that community. 

Horseshoe Bay Farms Laid Out Master Plan

The five-phase plan was developed through a series of stakeholder interviews and listening sessions. The plans identified several areas of activation to focus on: outdoor engagement, community celebration, cultural history, and production and innovation.

Ice Anglers Rescued from Ice

A mile-long ice floe broke free from the Nasewaupee shoreline and drifted out into the waters of Green Bay with 13 ice anglers aboard. The Southern Door Fire Department executed the rescue from Cliff Top Road in Nasewaupee. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued six people, the Sturgeon Bay Fire Department another four.

Sound Research at Crossroads at Big Creek

UW-Milwaukee field-station scientist Gary S. Casper and fellow scientists set up electronic equipment at Crossroads to capture signs and sounds of the wildlife in the preserve. Crossroads staff will remove cards occasionally from the sound-detecting equipment to upload data for Casper and his crew to interpret.

Adaptive Reuse for Historic Granary Unveiled

A first good look at the plans for the historic granary were released. The design reuses the space as a new community venue and tourist destination while also serving as a reminder of the county’s rich agrarian history. Architect LA DALLMAN won a Progressive Architectural Award for its design.

County Supervisors Declared Racism a Public-Health Crisis

After six months of discussion, debate and some training, the Door County Board of Supervisors resolved that racism is a public-health crisis that affects our entire society. The diversity, equity and inclusion resolution that passed 10-9, with two absent, uses definitions from the American Public Health Association to define individual and systemic racism as a system that structures opportunity and assigns value based on how a person looks.

v27i13 April 2-9 (RePulse Issue)

Vote on Nelson Hardware Store Purchase Took Place in April

Baileys Harbor prepared for the April 20 town meeting when residents would decide whether they wanted the town to purchase the former Nelson’s True Value Hardware and motel building, as well as the garage immediately to the south, for $1.95 million. The answer would be yes at that meeting, and before year’s end, almost all the money needed to purchase the property would have been raised through donations. 

Southern Door Selected New District Administrator

Christopher Peterson was hired as the new administrator of the Southern Door School District effective July 1. The district would finalize his contract details April 19.

v27i14 April 9-16

Talking about Climate Change

The Peninsula Pulse interviewed Katharine Hayhoe, a leading climate scientist and climate-change communicator who gave a TED Talk in 2018 that drew nearly 3.9 million viewers. Hayhoe opened the Climate Change Coalition’s Speaker Series on April 21.

Worker Shortage Endured for Manufacturing Sector

N.E.W. Industries, one of the 62 manufacturers in Door County that collectively employ 2,300 people, shared its story about the demographic and societal changes that are making it difficult for manufacturers to remain fully staffed. 

Referendums Passed, New Faces Joined Local Government

Voters installed some new people on village, town and school boards, and they approved all four referendums that were on ballots for the April 5 spring election: Ephraim passed a Premiere Resort Area Tax of 0.5%; the Village of Egg Harbor was given permission to exceed its levy limit to provide operating funds for the Kress Pavilion; Gardner voters wanted the town to pursue zoning regulations; and the Washington Island School District was authorized to exceed its revenue limits for the 2022 and 2023 school years. 

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Baileys Harbor Opened the House on the New Fire Station 

The new fire station was completed this year, and residents were able to tour the $3.6 million facility built on the site of the previous station.

Pandemic Altered Prom Dances and Homecoming 

Local school districts changed their proms and Homecoming celebrations to give students the experience of these high school rites of passage while keeping safety protocols in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

v27i15 April 16-23

Door County Libraries Kept It Creative

In one of the ways the pandemic caused innovative success, Door County libraries kept their programming creative – and saw library use soar, with a whopping 62% increase in programming with 215 events. 

Explainer: The Differences between Towns, Villages and Cities

In one of many public-service pieces we published this year, we offered a primer for those who’ve always wondered what separates towns from villages from cities. 

2021’s Fearsome Four

This year, the Door County Invasive Species Team targeted four invasive species: nonnative teasel, phragmites, wild parsnip and Japanese knotweed. We reported on how they were doing it, as well as their progress.

Vaccination Rate at 55%

Of all Door County residents, 55% had been vaccinated by this time in 2021.

v27i16 April 23-30

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The Peninsula Pulse Sustainability Issue

In our annual Sustainability Issue we focused on the Power of Trees.