Small towns burn a litte slower

Stout Street Dock as it currenty looks

At this past month's city council meeting a little history was made: Chetek's common council voted 4-0 to expand the present Stout Street Dock from a 1-slip to a 4-slip dock and create an additional 4-slip dock at the city's property at the corner of Knapp and Mound Street. While some may be a little surprised at this sudden turn of events, others are of the opinion that this is an idea whose time has finally come.

Allow me to give a little context:

Early on in 2018, I announced at a city council meeting that we would be discussing the possibility of initiating a room tax as a way to generate another revenue stream. Members of the Chetek Resort Owners Association (CROA) pushed back hard against that idea and after several conversations with various resort owners the council agreed that if the surrounding townships wouldn't follow suit the tax would end up hurting the three resorts that are within the city limits (Outers, Grand View and Shoreview). So we walked away from that idea but not before having a sit-down with some members of the CROA to discuss, among other things, just what we would do if we were ever to realize such a new source of income. Out of that discussion came the idea of sponsoring an amenities survey asking both residents and guests of the City of Lakes what they would like to see added to our community. The survey became reality in the fall of 2018 but was not finally tabulated and published until the following fall in October 2019.

The results were a combination of both the scintillating (a municipal pool and/or splash pad), the interesting (tennis/pickle ball courts) and the eye-raising (“I would like to see St. Boniface offer a 8 a.m. mass” or “I would like a strip joint in town”). Bar none, the pool idea sits atop of the list. But certainly toward the top was the idea of expanding the Stout Street dock so that more boaters could come in off the lake and frequent the eateries, taverns and shops in the downtown area. While the thought of a future municipal pool is tantalizing how to get there from here is pretty uncertain. After paying $750 for conducting the survey, we wanted to get something out of that investment so we settled on pursuing the dock expansion as easier to get to than a potential future pool/splash pad.

The approach to Stout Street dock
(rain garden on right)

In subsequent council meetings we heard from the neighbors on either side of the dock their concerns about this idea at the corner of Stout and First: more noise, more trash, more traffic and more safety concerns about potential boat traffic in front of their lake frontage. Not as outspoken, however, were business owners in town who would frequently post comments on social media or send emails of their support for such an expansion. At the May 2020 council meeting, Ward 1 alderman Scott Bachowski presented the plans of an 8-12 slip dock at Stout Street with offering to build privacy fences on both sides of the city's property as well as extending the dock further out into the water as concessions to the neighbor's concerns. The down-side was that it significantly raised the cost of the project and raised other safety concerns at the same time. If you tuned in and watched those proceedings on Facebook LIVE you know how that went (it was definitely not our best night as a council.)

Following that snafu, the plan went to Parks & Rec where perhaps it should have begun (to be fair, Parks & Rec had not met as a committee during the “shutdown” that began in March prior to the May council meeting.) At that meeting, the original 8-12 slip plan situated much closer to shore and minus the privacy fences was approved unanimously. At the same time, financial commitments of donors were firmed up. During June's council meeting, however, the plan was tweaked yet again by offering to increase Stout Street by only 4 slips and creating another 4-slip dock at the end of Knapp Street. One will be ADA accessible. The other will have stairs. One is three blocks away from the downtown area, the other two. And while the neighbors may still not be keen to the idea of an expanded dock hopefully they recognize that we sympathize with their fear of waking up living next to a marina.

Hopeful future dock at the end of Knapp Street

So, do the math: from October 2018 when the survey was commissioned to June 2020, 20 months have slipped by. While it wasn't on the agenda of every monthly council meeting during that time, it was on many of them as a matter of “old business.” Again, if you've just tuned in this is news to you but for those of us who have been at it for awhile it seems like a real long walk around the block to finally get here.

Small Towns Burn a Little Slower was the name of an indie band out of the Twin Cities that played together from 2002-2008. I couldn't tell you any of their songs. I was just acquainted with their bass player. In any case, I love the name of their band because to me it's a perfect metaphor for how we roll here in Chetek. I've just begun my fifth year serving as mayor and from my perspective is that this is how city business gets done: talk, talk, talk, mull, mull, mull, talk, talk, talk and then...the glacier moves 1 inch. Okay, maybe that's an unfair exaggeration but for sure we don't burn here. We smolder. It takes a long time for an idea to ripen – if it ripens at all.

At next month's council meeting, we will hear the official results from the Phase 2 report from Cedar Corp about the soil samples they recently took on the 39 acres the city purchased back in 2018. At that time we were told by Dave Armstrong, Barron County Economic Development Director, that we had a housing shortage. “You want people to move here but they have no place to move to.” Carmen reached out to Jenny O's if they had any plans for the property and if not, we were interested in buying it if the price was right. They offered it to us for $150K. 39 acres and a house at that price was a steal. I don't recall the sequence of events but in 2019 we sponsored a housing survey to be taken county-wide which only confirmed what Dave had been telling us. If we want to see our population (and our tax-base) grow, then we have to do more than “hoping for the best.”

We sold the house and had it moved. We conducted a Phase 1 for the property (essentially a history of the use of the place) and for good measure we conducted a Phase 2 (even though the engineer had informed us it really wasn't necessary). Providing the soil sampling does not provide any unsettling results, the real question that the council has to answer is what should we do next? Hire an engineer to, with the Plan Commission's help, map out a future subdivision or sell it outright to a potential developer? Clearly, there are a lot of details yet to work through.

Small towns burn a little slower indeed. It just takes time. Everyone wants the same thing – what's best for the city both now and in its future. And I haven't even mentioned the future of our Waste Water Treatment Plant. There's another smoldering issue out there that has to be worked through. Add it to the list.

And what about the expansion of the docks? When will it happen?Yes the council gave the green light to the project but now a very thorough and cumbersome permitting process with the DNR begins. Wouldn't it be great that we would see both docks on the water by season's end? It would be but don't hold your breath. Like everything else we do, these things take time.