What to do With Baileys Harbor’s Brann Field
- Share
- Tweet
- Pin
- Share
How to use and access Brann Field in Baileys Harbor was a topic of conversation last month during the Baileys Harbor Town Board meeting, and it’s expected to be taken up again during the town board’s Sept. 12 meeting.
Located directly behind Lakeshore Rental Properties and kitty-corner to the Baileys Harbor Cornerstone Pub and Door County Brewing Co. Music Hall & Taproom, Brann Field is a grassy lot owned by the town. According to the town’s parking ordinance, disconnected trailers and overnight parking are prohibited. Visitors, customers and employees currently use Brann Field for overflow parking.
“The question is, what and how should we continue to use Brann Field?” said town board chair Don Sitte, kicking off the conversation during the Aug. 8 meeting.
The other question, said town board supervisor Sue Tishler, is access to the lot.
Vehicles can enter either from School Lane or through an opening in a row of hedges in Lakeshore Rental Properties’ parking lot. Sitte said that meant a private business – Lakeshore Rental Properties – had access to a public lot without an easement in place.
“In my opinion, there should not be access to a public parking lot from a private business,” Tishler said.
To remedy this, the town could block the Lakeshore Rental Properties’ access to Brann Field, Sitte said.
No board member argued in favor of keeping the entrance open, but some community members did, including Todd Haleen, owner of Lakeshore Rental Properties, who wrote a letter to the town that Sitte read during the Aug. 8 meeting.
Blocking off the entrance could slow traffic and make it harder for people to find parking, which is already a problem in Baileys Harbor, Haleen said. It would also force vehicles to use the School Lane access, which is surrounded by greenery and too narrow to fit more than one vehicle at a time. That could cause problems if it were the only access, Haleen said.
Haleen noted that, in his opinion, the current use of Brann Field isn’t causing problems, but blocking it off would “make things harder for everybody.” He said he thought that possibility was being discussed only because some people are upset with his building.
Cornerstone Pub owner Paul Salm, who also wrote a letter to the town that Sitte read, believed the field’s current use is problematic, resulting in disrepair and inefficient use. Because the lot is an open field with no lines to direct parking, many vehicles just pull in and park immediately, disregarding the depth of the field, which leads to inefficient use of the space, Salm said in his letter.
One idea suggested during the Aug. 8 meeting was to blacktop the lot to maximize the space and minimize damage. As it stands, the lot is muddy or dusty in the summer, thanks to cars wearing down the field’s grass, Salm said.
Another way to minimize wear and tear would be to reserve the lot for boat-trailer parking only, using Brann Field as an overflow lot for vehicles with boat trailers that are using the Baileys Harbor Town Marina. According to Salm, Brann Field was once used as an overflow lot for festivals, with a gate controlled by the town that has since disappeared.
Haleen said in his letter that parking boat trailers in the lot would be an inefficient use of the space because boat trailers are used only during the warm months, making the lot vacant for the rest of the year. He suggested instead to designate Parking Lot A, next to the fire station, as a trailer parking lot, and Brann Field as an overflow lot if necessary.
Another possible solution, Sitte said, would be to wait until after the former Nelson property has been converted to a public park. The plans shaping up for the park could add about 14 extra parking spaces in the marina, and another 22 in a new parking lot that would be created on Highway 57 just north of the Baileys Harbor Town Hall where a vacant house is now located. To avoid creating an unnecessary amount of parking, the town could defer a decision on Brann Field until after the park is created, Sitte said.
The board made no decisions during the August meeting except to continue the conversation during its Sept. 12 meeting.
