Egg Harbor Highway Project Delayed to 2023-24

Parking will be added on both sides of the street on north of Orchard Road in Egg Harbor’s highway reconstruction that has been delayed a year. The highway entrance to the village administration building (right) will be removed.

Egg Harbor’s highway reconstruction will start in the fall of 2023 – not in the fall of this year, as originally planned – after the board of trustees voted in May to delay the project. The project scope includes Highway 42 between Egg Harbor and Fish Creek.

The board knew a delay was likely for several months because the state Department of Transportation must research the ramifications for the habitat of the dwarf lake iris, which is on the federal list of threatened species. The board expects an update on that research during its July 6 meeting, but it voted to delay anyway in hopes of landing more grant funding for the project.

The village has applied for two grants through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes $110 billion in funding for roads, bridges and safe streets. Village Administrator Megan Sawyer said applications are in for a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant and a Transportation Alternatives Grant. 

“The potential for more funding was a huge piece of the board’s decision,” she said.

Church Street Nears Completion

Work on the reconstruction of Church Street has slowed, but Sawyer anticipates the project will be completed by mid-July, if not sooner. Sidewalks are installed, but workers still have light posts to install, another layer of asphalt to put down and pavement markings to finish. 

Shipwrecked Lawsuit Decision Could Come in July 

Judge Todd Ehlers could issue a ruling in July on a lawsuit brought against the village by Shipwrecked Brew Pub. 

The owners of the pub, under the name Sojenhomer LLC, asked the court to review the village plan commission’s decision in October 2021 to deny a conditional-use permit application sought for expanding Shipwrecked Brew Pub. The complaint alleges that the permit was denied based on personal preference and speculation, and substantial evidence was lacking to deny the permit. It also asks the court to reverse the plan commission’s decision. 

Sticker Shock for Beach Parking 

The village is pursuing alternatives to a first draft of parking reconfigurations at the public beach. 

The village purchased additional shoreline from the Alpine Resort to expand the beach, add parking and relocate a lift station for the wastewater-treatment plant. To do that, the village will need to disrupt the existing parking lot to dig a trench, requiring the reconstruction of that lot, plus building new parking spaces on the new property adjacent to the beach. 

The initial estimate to redo the existing lot is $384,000, and the estimate to add 44 parking spaces on the new property came to $800,000, or $18,181 per parking space.