City, Friends reach tentative waterfront settlement

Liz Welter
Green Bay Press-Gazette
A hotel complex is proposed on the Sturgeon Bay west waterfront next to the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay. One of the dirt piles is at the forefront of the photo.

STURGEON BAY - A tentative settlement has been reached to determine the ordinary high water mark along the contested waterfront land that the city is seeking to develop.

The settlement is pending the approval of the Sturgeon Bay City Council and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said Mary Beth Peranteau, a lawyer for the Friends of the Sturgeon Bay Public Waterfront.

A map or drawing of the proposed line also is pending the approval of the line by the City Council, Peranteau said.

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Delegations from the city and the Friends met two times last week with a facilitator and collaborated to determine the location of the ordinary high water mark along the property known as parcel 92, according to a news release from the Friends issued Wednesday afternoon.

The water mark "is parallel to and 60 feet waterward of the original meander line," the release said. The meander line was established in a federal government survey in 1835 and is an approximation of the Lake Michigan shoreline. 

The Friends had sued the city to prevent the sale of land, including parcel 92, which they claimed was created from lakebed that was artificially filled and is protected by the state's Public Trust Doctrine. Based on the doctrine, the government holds in trust for public use all submerged land under navigable waters. 

The judge in the case ruled the ordinary high water mark, the dividing line between public and private ownership along lake waterfronts, needs to be established on parcel 92 before the land can be sold for development. 

The negotiating teams used the high water mark evidence presented at the trial as they developed the location.

"The parties and DNR recognize that uncertainties remain despite the historical evidence," the release said. "In recognition of these uncertainties, the proposed OHWM grants the City, as riparian owner, the benefit of the doubt of the range of error inherent in the surveyed meander line."

The teams also developed additional agreements that are pending City Council approval, Peranteau said.

The agreements include that the city resolves the pending litigation and appeal of the lawsuit, and commits to "an inclusive public process to redevelop the west waterfront site, to strive to maintain a scenic view and public use on 100 East Maple," which is adjacent to parcel 92, the release said.  

If approved by the City Council, the city also would withdraw its request to seek a legislative designation of the high water mark on parcel 92.

City officials are deferring comment about the settlement pending its approval by the city's Waterfront Redevelopment Authority and City Council, said City Administrator Josh VanLieshout.

Liz Welter: 920-741-7950, or lwelter@doorcountyadvocate.com; on Twitter @welter_liz.