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Marina Committee Weighs Costs of Harbor Repairs

Sometimes it’s OK to settle – unless you’re talking about retaining walls and harbor piers.

The Baileys Harbor Marina Committee has begun prioritizing needed repairs. During committee members’ visits with Harbormaster Mark Jonas, the altered states of one harbor wall and two concrete piers grabbed their attention.

Committee Chair Tim Tishler said the town needs to immediately correct an issue near the boat launch.

“The first launching pier, the finger pier has settled about a foot,” Tishler said. “It needs to be addressed before the season opens because it’s a tripping hazard.”

Tishler said the committee will explore the cost of having concrete forced in below the finger pier to raise it, as well as the cost of adding concrete on top. 

Another issue is that the wall between the water’s edge and the parking lot on the west side of the harbor is tipping toward the lake. The committee members and harbormaster believe some cribbing or wood timbers are deteriorating beneath and along the base of the wall. This year’s town budget does not have room for the wall repair, likely to include pile-driven steel. Tishler said that correction could cost around $180,000.

Gas pumps tilting slightly at the fuel dock also raised concern for the committee members. Tishler said the town might need to address the finger pier, fuel dock and harbor wall as separate projects.

Other maintenance items the committee members noted included intermittent runoff-water infiltration issues through the masonry of the marina office’s back wall. The office west of the harbor was built partially underground, below an observation deck.

Harbor Leader Wanted

After crafting a job description, the town recently advertised for a future harbormaster who will train under Jonas during the 2021 boating season.

No Shelter at the Green Site 

Setback rules have spoiled an idea for the Highway 57 landscape-waste recycling site in Baileys Harbor on the way to Sister Bay.

The supervisor who monitors the Green Site stayed warm during many of the recycling days in the late fall by sitting in his car and then later by sitting in a town truck. Town board members discussed placing a garden shed with a portable heater on the site, and they had an opportunity to acquire a used ticket booth as a shelter for the supervisor. 

However, Department of Natural Resources setback rules for the nearby Mud Lake State Wildlife Area made it difficult to find a spot to place a shelter. Unless snowfall pressed the town truck into service, the site monitor continued to use a town truck as shelter. 

The site has been open to town residents only on Wednesdays and Saturdays following some trash-dumping incidents last year.

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