Category: Municipal News
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Survey for Advocates of Bike-Friendly Community
Sturgeon Bay – The City of Sturgeon Bay has submitted an application to maintain its Bike-Friendly Community status. As part of that process, a brief survey is available to provide valuable feedback and help the League of American Bicyclists’ review team with its decision-making. Take the survey at surveymonkey.com/r/app_BFC_Fall21 through Monday, Oct. 11, and find out […]
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Sister Bay’s First Capital Improvement Plan Reveals Big Picture
“Going without a CIP is planning to fail by failing to plan.” Those were the words of Nate Bell, a Village of Sister Bay trustee, regarding the importance of the village’s first formal Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), covering 2022-26. “The village has always incorporated some CIP planning into its budget process, but this plan is […]
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What You Can Learn from the Door County Budget Project
In October 2020, I was five months into my position with the Peninsula Pulse when municipalities began crafting their 2021 budgets. As something of a local-government geek, I don’t find budget discussions akin to watching paint dry. Still, and even with the convenience of virtual meetings at a pandemic high last fall, we couldn’t Zoom […]
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Who Spends What on Public Safety?
More From the Door County Budget Project>> Budgets for the smallest to largest municipalities have some form of public-safety expenditures relating to law enforcement, fire protection, ambulance service, first responders, inspections and emergency government activities. But not all municipalities are equal in this regard. The City of Sturgeon Bay, for example, has a professional fire […]
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Property-Tax Revenue Collections versus Net New Construction
More From the Door County Budget Project>> Since 2005, Wisconsin has used net new construction within a municipality to cap property levy tax increases. Advocates say the strategy helps keep a lid on property taxes. Opponents say low-growth municipalities are unfairly penalized. The cap may also cause some municipalities to take on more long-term debt […]
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Debt as a Percentage of Total Expenses
More from the Door County Budget Project>> The Door County Budget Project calculates debt payments for all municipalities – also known as debt service – in relation to a municipality’s largest fund, the general fund. We took it a step further by using the raw data to calculate how much each municipality spends annually on […]
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Kwik Trip Development Heading to Plan Commission
First public look at plan happens Oct. 20 It was late June when Sturgeon Bay Mayor David Ward spoke enthusiastically about Kwik Trip’s possible entry into the City of Sturgeon Bay, though nothing had been firmed up at that time. “I want this to happen,” Ward told the Peninsula Pulse back then. “Their average investment […]
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Baileys Harbor Seeks New Town Board Supervisor
Baileys Harbor – Town officials are looking to their neighbors to step up soon after accepting the resignation Tuesday evening of town board Supervisor Jake Erickson, who had served in the position for about a year and a half. Erickson said some unexpected things had come up that demanded his time, so he could not […]
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In August, the U.S. Census Bureau released the data necessary for state and local governments to redraw the political-district maps that will be in place for the next 10 years. While state lawmakers wrangle new district lines into place for the state’s 99 Assembly seats, 33 Senate seats and eight congressional districts, counties map out […]
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Medical Center Unveils Plans for Sister Bay Clinic
The Sister Bay Plan Commission liked what it saw of the proposed Door County Medical Center (DCMC) Sister Bay Clinic and granted preliminary approval of the plans Tuesday evening. “Preliminary approval means we like what we see,” said Denise Bhirdo, chair of the village’s plan commission. Budgeted at $14.5 million, the two-story, 30,000-square-foot project at […]
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Quick Action with Fire Extinguishers Prevents Possible Disasters
Fish Creek – Two fires in Fish Creek during the past month were doused by people making split-second decisions with fire extinguishers. On Sept. 10 around midnight, a passerby noticed flames coming from a Main Street space that serves as a small laundry. A dryer there had caught fire. The passerby ran into the laundry, […]
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After 4 Hours, Shipwrecked Decision Tabled
Plan commission will meet again Oct. 12 After four hours of lengthy and often contentious deliberation, the Egg Harbor Plan Commission tabled discussion of an expansion proposal from the owners of Shipwrecked Brew Pub. The commission will take up the issue again during an Oct. 12 meeting. The owners of Shipwrecked have proposed adding a […]
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Shipwrecked, One Barrel Proposals on Tap in Egg Harbor Tuesday
The Egg Harbor Plan Commission has a big night in the works Tuesday. Among the items on the agenda is the latest plan from Shipwrecked to expand into an outdoor beer garden, and a plan from One Barrel Brewing Co. to add parking and a storage building at its taproom downtown. The meeting starts at […]
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Supervisors Accept Grant to Improve Groundwater Quality
Brussels dairy farmer Dan Vandertie milks 40 cows with his wife and has a young son who’s coming back to the family farm business. He asked the Door County Board of Supervisors during its Tuesday meeting to reject a $286,272 Notice of Discharge (NOD) grant that was awarded to the Door County Soil and Water […]
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Fincantieri Sprucing Up Streetscape by Summer 2022
By next summer, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding’s yard along 3rd Avenue, from Jefferson to Iowa streets, will be enhanced with greenery, canopy trees, fencing and an interpretive area for maritime history. On Sept. 15, the shipbuilder presented its conceptual beautification plan to the Sturgeon Bay Plan Commission, which accepted it unanimously. Improving the property’s aesthetics was […]
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NEW SUPERVISOR SELECTED FOR DISTRICT 9
Door County – The Door County Board of Supervisors has filled its District 9 seat. Rodney Beardsley is an electrical engineer who moved from his home near Denver about six years ago to take a job with Hatco. He lives in Sturgeon Bay with his wife and two school-aged children and has never held office. […]
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From Summer Resort to Summer Housing
Anschutz Steps Up to Preserve Cabins, Provide Housing Paula Anschutz wasn’t looking to save a building when she drove past Pebble Beach to the old Little Sister Resort property in May. She was just hoping to find some gems to salvage from the deconstruction of the historical resort. Four months later, Anschutz, the general manager […]
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Virtual Meeting Presents County’s Hazard-Mitigation Plan
Door County – The Door County Emergency Management and Land Use Services departments are updating a multi-jurisdictional hazard-mitigation plan in compliance with Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) requirements. Having a FEMA-certified hazard-mitigation plan enables municipalities to apply for both pre- and post-disaster hazard-mitigation funding. A virtual open house to present the plan and gather input […]
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More Broadband for Rural Kewaunee County
Luxemburg – A new Bug Tussel Wireless tower has gone live to deliver wireless internet service to areas west of Kewaunee and south of Luxemburg. Kewaunee County and Bug Tussel Wireless officials celebrated the first steps of the project’s success with a Sept. 24 ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Ryan’s Corner Tower, N4559 Cty AB in […]
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Kewaunee County Demonstrates Ability to Handle Nuclear Incident
Luxemburg – Kewaunee County passed its portion of the biennial Plume Pathway Emergency Response Exercise by meeting evaluated criteria of how to handle a potential incident at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant (PBNP) in Two Rivers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) evaluated Kewaunee County, Manitowoc County and the state of Wisconsin during a full-scale […]