The Ridges Sanctuary Plans Wider, Accessible Boardwalk

The leadership of The Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor wants to improve a boardwalk so people of all abilities can make their way over wild lands and marshy ridges between the historical Upper Range Light to the Lower Range Light.

The organization needs permission to replace that aging stretch of boardwalk with one that’s wider than those allowed in the county’s zoning ordinance, and the Baileys Harbor Town Board is not standing in the way. 

Plan Commission Chair Tim Tishler said The Ridges wants to create a boardwalk that’s 72 inches wide — 12 inches wider than the dimensions in the county’s ordinance, and more than wide enough for two wheelchair users to meet and pass one another. In addition, Tishler said The Ridges plans to install a wooden toe rail along the edges of the boardwalk for safety.

The Baileys Harbor town board said Feb. 10 that it’s in favor of the variance and confident that The Ridges, which specializes in protecting the environment, can avoid negative impacts. 

Andy Gill, executive director of The Ridges, said his organization needed the board’s permission to satisfy county regulations.

“We applied for the variance through the county,” Gill said. “At that point, I made a presentation to the county Parks and Facilities Committee, and they endorsed the project. Finally, it ends with the County Board of Adjustment on March 22.”

Gill said that ideally, he wants to start the project as soon as the weather breaks but doesn’t know how much it will cost, given the dramatic increases in lumber prices during the past year. 

The labor costs are set, however, because volunteers will do the work – just as they installed the 72-inch-wide boardwalk that leads northeast from the education center. Volunteers also know how to build a boardwalk and its supports with minimal disturbance of the soil.

“We’re doing what they call ‘punch-ins,’” Gill said. “We sink big pieces of lumber that serve as the foundation for the posts that come up. Then we’ll just replace that four-foot [Range Light] boardwalk with a six-foot boardwalk that will be similar to the Hidden Brook Boardwalk,” which is eight feet wide. The sixth-foot width of the new boardwalk will meet all Americans with Disabilities Act specifications for elevated boardwalks, he said.

“Currently, there are bump-outs on the boardwalk, but that is not necessarily the most advantageous way to allow wheelchairs to pass,” Gill said.

Also during the Feb. 10 Baileys Harbor meeting, a Ridges supporter, Maureen McGrath, urged the town board to create a crosswalk from the boardwalk where people can cross Ridges Road near the beach. But Town Chair Don Sitte said that would also require permits to widen the road for pedestrians, and previous efforts to create pedestrian lanes have failed. He said plans to widen the shoulder there have been shot down over concerns of impacts on “foliage.”

Ridges Road resident Dave Greco spoke at the meeting and said the road really needs room for pedestrians, and “foliage will grow back.”