Hi, everyone.

We're still waiting for the finance and personnel committee to finish up in room three or three.

So you may have noticed the committee tonight was noticed to start at five forty-five or upon adjournment of finance and personnel.

It's taking a little bit longer than we had imagined.

However, if you are here and would like to offer public input on this item on either of the items, I'm guessing most people are here for the second item and not the first.

But if you would like to offer public comment on either of the items on the agenda this evening, if you could please sign in on the clipboard there that's on the rail, uh, then uh we will know to call those who want to testify.

And as we're waiting, just to let people know in terms of what the rules are, everybody gets three minutes to speak when your three minutes are up.

Uh, the the microphones are turned off.

That's not a reflection of your commentary or the validity or lack thereof of anything having to say.

It's just an uh an opportunity to treat everyone who's here to comment equally.

So if you if you want to speak to the items tonight, uh again, please, there's a clipboard right there on the on the rail or the bar there.

Uh, please sign in if you'd like to comment on those items.

Uh, otherwise, uh, we will begin as soon as finance and personnel has adjourned from upstairs.

Uh, and comment then.

Thank you.

If all thers can please be seated, we will begin momentarily.

If alders could please be seated, we will begin momentarily.

Okay.

You have the sheets.

Well, good evening, everyone.

The hour of five forty-five having arrived and the finance and personnel committee having adjourned.

I will now call to order the city of Racine Executive Committee.

The first order of business is the approval of minutes for the June eighteenth meeting.

Is there a motion from executive committee members to approve said me?

So there's a motion and a second to approve the minutes of June 18th, 2026.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Opposed?

That motion carries.

Okay, so we have a number of people here to talk on.

We have two items on the agenda tonight, one regarding an amended ordinance regarding nuisance properties, uh, that attorney Matt Pearr's will uh have a discussion of uh as we go through that item.

And then I'm guessing most people are here to discuss uh the second item, which is item zero six zero nine dash two six.

If you want to speak to that item again, we'll be taking public input.

Uh it is up to three minutes that you can speak on an item.

Um there is a clock that will count down your time.

Uh, when your time is up, the microphones are turned off.

That is not a reflection on the merit or lack thereof of what you're saying, but rather an effort to treat everybody equally and give everyone uh equal time.

So uh if you have uh desire to sign uh or to speak to the item and have not signed in, we do need people signed in on the clipboard, uh so we want to be able to do that.

So um uh the first item is item zero three zero seven dash two six.

This is a communication sponsored by Mayor Mason presenting proposed ordinance zero zero zero one dash two six nuisance properties amendments.

If uh Mr.

Purrz could come to the DS and describe the uh amended change to the nuisance property.

Good afternoon.

Thank you.

Well, you have before you are some proposed changes to chapter sixty-six article thirty dealing with nuisance properties.

Primarily these ordinance amendments deal with the chronic nuisance premises ordinance.

Currently, we have an ordinance which allows a code enforcement officer, which could be the chief of police, public health director, um, building director, building inspector, I apologize.

And others to essentially move to declare a property a chronic nuisance if they have three responses or uh inspections within a certain time period.

Currently, that's a three pe three police calls within sixty days, or three public health building inspection responses within a hundred and eighty days.

Well, the ordinances as before you is attempt to essentially consolidate efforts and clarify the process so this can go smoother.

Primarily there are five or six main changes.

In terms of we have right now two different tracks.

One deals with police calls, one deals with kind of just general code enforcement calls when we're talking about building inspection violations or public health inspection violations.

We're trying to do is combine this so that we don't have two tracks.

We would be looking at three calls, whether they be police calls, whether they be building inspection calls or health calls.

If there are three within a consolidated period of time, which is now going to be 90 days, that could trigger the assessment for chronic nuisance.

Additionally, this would this amended ordinance would permit code enforcement officers to work together and consolidate essentially their requests for abatement plans.

The current ordinance allows once there is a chronic nuisance designated for the property owner to send an abatement plan, which details how they're going to fix the problem.

This, because we have two different tracks, causes some problems and could result in, for example, one abatement plan going to the police department, one abatement plan going to the health department, and we have these two different abatement plans with two different code enforcement officers that are assessing essentially whether that's been satisfied or not.

This proposed ordinance consolidates that so that the code enforcement officers could designate one individual to essentially oversee that abatement plan.

Additionally, this ordinance adds the authority for the city attorney's office to pursue other abatement, I'm sorry, other nuisance measures in circuit court.

We don't have to just do it through our administrative process.

Additionally, we can seek receivership of certain properties in state court.

If there is an issue where it just is not being resolved, and we need to get someone in there to try to address that matter, get somebody who's responsible and responsive to get into the that property and to deal with it.

There is a mechanism in state court that we could potentially pursue.

Fourth, this process, this proposed ordinance would fine-tune the appeal process.

The current appeal process is there, it's fine, but it's not really clear in terms of what is being appealed and when.

Any questions for attorney birds?

Seeing none at this time, I would entertain a motion to approve item 0307-26 and up to amend ordinance under item 0001-26.

Alder Jorgensen.

Yeah, so I think you know, this is one of the areas that I probably get the most uh emails and phone calls and text messages about of chronic noises and properties.

So the idea that we'll combine two processes to make it so that things don't fall out and that it's easier to keep it on track to make sure that nuisance properties are being handled correctly.

Uh, I would move to approve.

There's a motion to approve this item, second by Alder Land.

Any further discussion on this item?

See none, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

And motion carries, and we'll be referred to the next uh city council meeting.

Moving on now is item 0609-26.

Uh, there is a video that I believe we wanted to pull out for the beginning of this conversation.

If I could ask uh representatives of the Leopold Johnson Gulf Group to approach the Diaz for this presentation, um that would be appropriate at this time.

And do you want us to play the video first and then?

Please.

Please speak if I could ask IT to play the video.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Appreciate that very much.

Council members, thank you for uh having me this evening.

Um a few words I'd like to share with you.

I'll be open for any questions that you may have, anything that I can then talk about.

Uh our lease has uh been negotiated with the city, and uh are we happy with it?

Yes.

Was it moments of pain?

Yes.

Uh but I I think that we got have a uh a lease that is a win-win for for all parties.

So I I thought with your permission I would back up just a little bit because I know we have a a number of new council members that may not have heard the last time I was here, which was you know, six nine months ago to talk about the vision that that Kaiser and Helen and I have on this property.

Um, as many of you may know, Helen and I have lived in this city for well, me 40 years, Helen forever.

I'm glad she's not here and didn't sit here say that.

Um but we drive by Shoe Park every day, every single day, usually twice a day, on the way to work and on the way home.

And it is the most iconic, beautiful, spectacular piece of golf course that I have ever seen.

But it needs uh it needs work, and the more we would drive by there, and over particularly the last 20 years, uh, there are so many things that we would love to do to enhance this, both both for the city of Racine and the City of Wind Point.

Uh, and and we would love to do that.

So uh about a year and a half ago, I went and met with the mayor and uh shared with him our vision that we would like to do this, thinking that no one's ever approached the city with this kind of idea.

And little behold, did he say that he's had another group come in a couple months ago and was interested.

And as I share with people, I immediately thought, oh boy, he's negotiating right away for the best deal possible that I'm already going to be negotiating with against another group.

Well, as it turns out, there was another group, and it was a group called the Kaiser Group, and they are they are a well-known, and as soon as he told me it was the Kaiser Group, there is no better golf developer or protector of the environment than the Kaiser Group.

They have golf courses all over the United States, and they are a Wisconsin Midwestern uh headquartered uh family company with the same kind of vision and culture and belief in the environment and the birds and the trees and uh that we do.

And I have a representative of the Kaiser Group here today.

And his name is Craig Haltam.

Craig is right here.

Is the person who designed and the architect for the five courses that are up at Sand Valley?

In fact, we spent the day up at Sand Valley today on the hottest day of the year, driving around the golf courses and you know, taking a look at what Sand Valley looks like and everything not you know, not just about the golf course, but also about the clubhouse and the cafe, and they have because they have there are so large of so many courses, they have a lot of different of these buildings.

And so we we took a lot of pictures, designed a lot of things, and we came away with you know, even being more excited about this project than we ever have been.

So what I'd like to do is share with you, I guess, some of the thoughts that that we have in our in our development of this course, and I'm be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

So after being introduced to the Kaiser Group, we got together and said, let's just join forces.

They have the vision for this incredible acreage on Lake Michigan.

Uh we we had the for lack of a better word, frankly, the financial situation that we wanted to do this, and so we had a win-win.

And the the Kaiser, their role in this will be to be completely working on the project itself, uh, moving the the land, uh bringing in sand, also helping with the uh uh bringing in all the rocks uh that we'll have for the reventment of the shoreline.

Um they're gonna be and they have been already designing the holes of how they see this going.

At one time you may have heard that it was a 12-hole golf course.

Um, and frankly, I was one of the few people that was really kind of excited about the 12-hole golf course.

So about five months ago, we were we Mike Kaiser of the Kaiser Group was in town and we we walked the entire golf course, all 12 holes at the time, and we got done with the 12th hole.

And he said, Okay, here's my thoughts.

He said, it is even better than I ever thought it would be.

This is an unbelievable piece of property with a spectacular view of Lake Michigan.

We can make this into one of the greatest nine-hole golf courses in the world.

And he can say that with some credibility because he's got one of the nine-hole golf courses of the top 10 that he has already on the list.

And he says, you won't be you'll probably the best you'll be is number four.

We're number three.

The best you can be is number four.

And he said, Let me tell you, there are no best 12-hole golf courses in the world.

So if you want to be the best 12-hole golf course, you'll be by yourself, likely, or a few people, but I really recommend making this a nine-hole course, and everyone in the United States, everyone will recognize this as a go-to golf course.

Our our dream is and and it's his dream as well, Mike Kaiser, is that we fall under their umbrella of dream courses.

And the the Kaiser group, if you're in their only their golf courses.

And as an example, we were up at the at Sand Valley.

They have five unbelievably great golf courses.

If you want to get a tea time, you have to for next year, you have to call now.

And because there are no more tea times left for the rest of the year.

That's how many people are using that.

A thousand people a day, they had like last week, their biggest day ever, a thousand golfers in a day.

Now that's not our vision, but it only shows what can happen if something really special.

And those people are going to be driving through the city of Racine and hopefully staying at hotels in the city of Racine.

They're likely coming up from Chicago, they're on their way to Kohler, or they're on their way to Sand Valley.

thousand people a day they had like last week their biggest day ever a thousand golfers in a day now that's not our vision but it only shows what can happen if something really special and those people are going to be driving through the city of Racine and hopefully staying at hotels in the city of Racine they're likely coming up from Chicago they're on their way to Kohler or they're on their way to Sand Valley this is that halfway point they can come in here play golf in the morning sleep at a hotel come and play golf in the afternoon and then go to Kohler or Sand Valley to complete their weekend of golf so um that's kind of the vision that we have and uh we are we are we are so ready to go um the this project has has been a very complex project because we first had to go to wind point uh because we want it if if you've been I'm sure you have you've been out to shoot park the golf course takes some beautiful property on the lake is is the is the parking lot we wanted to move the parking lot off the lake so that we could use that as part of the golf course and the only place we could put that would be over in the windpoint property where the lighthouse north of the lighthouse so that's why we had to go to Wind Point first and we when we first started talking to Wind Point they have seven members if if I were to guess at that first meeting if we had a vote it would have been two for and five against but as we went through the process to explain what we were doing and and their interest although their vote was really about the parking lot they were only interested in the golf course they wanted to every question was about the golf course and the the last vote that we had the one that mattered the only real vote we ever took it was 7-0 so it was unanimous and we we walked away going oh my god who would have thought it was going to be 7-0 we walked into that meeting room honestly not knowing which way it would go so we were in very very excited about getting getting that approved we are working with the DNR and the Corps of engineers because one of the major um projects that we are going to have is the shoreline reventment and this is a very costly part of what we're gonna provide to this space but it's just a matter of time before the shoreline falls in though the lake is down right now which is wonderful we're actually getting beaches back which is great but it's you know it's the cycle and I live on the lake so I know and I had to buy a ton of work not like many many tons of rocks stones to put in and we'll do the same thing for for the shoreline.

So the golf course including the greens the tea boxes and the sand traps the irrigation system the water drainage system that will drain the water that if you when you drive by and after a rain it's you know the course can barely be open it takes two days for the rain to to um uh to to drain and and usually drain out to the to the lake uh we will we will fix the water system so it drains to the lake um the we will do substantial improvements to the clubhouse we're going to tear the clubhouse down that is there right now we're gonna move it over by the lighthouse where the parking lot will be north of the lighthouse and then people will so it would be on the very northeast corner of the property of shoe park is going to be where the clubhouse will be the clubhouse architecture and uh the painting of the clubhouse the design is going to match what's going on with the property there right now which is all white with the red roof and and what I say red whatever the color is it's close to red and that's what we're going to do so we're really really excited about doing that we know that the city has higher priorities than to invest money into shoe park and and it's it's just a matter of time before the building falls down I mean if you've seen the parking lot it's it needs fixing uh we will we will fix all of that uh before it opens up as the as the new golf course um there's there's been a lot of conjecture about what we're going to do uh we we are not going to to cut down all the trees um uh particularly after today go into sand valley um there are a lot of trees in sand valley it is a dune style course but there are a lot of trees uh we will and my wife we we had a we had two dogs had a big fight last night so one of them had to go to the doctor and so she's not here today uh tonight um but i was gonna say the wife is my wife is the alpha dog of our house and and she is a very much a uh bird watcher and an environmentalist as am I but

Uh we will, and my wife, we we had a we had two dogs had a big fight last night, so one of them had to go to the doctor, and so she's not here today uh tonight.

Um but I was gonna say the wife is my wife is the alpha dog of our house.

And she is a very much a uh bird watcher and an environmentalist, as am I, but people know them a lot better than they than they know me.

And she is she just wants you to know that she will protect the birds and the trees, and at the same time have a wonderful spectacular golf course.

Um this will be a hundred percent finance with private financing.

So we as we have stated, and it's in our it's in our lease, we we plan to spend at least 10 million dollars in completely redoing this golf course and everything about the golf course.

So we're not asking for any public money.

Uh it will be a 50-year lease.

Uh and you know, we're excited about that.

We can plan ahead, we can invest that kind of money, uh, knowing that we'll be there for 50 years.

Every 10 years, there'll be a you know, a check-in to make sure that we're doing everything as we were supposed to be doing.

And uh, so it's not like we have it for 50 years and the city will come back in and talk to us after 50 years.

It will not be that way.

So uh the clubhouse will have a uh a cafe and um you know, light food, burgers, brats, hot dogs, things like that, likely open breakfast and lunch.

Uh it will have a substantial deck that will look out to Lake Michigan.

It's open to everybody, it's open to people who want to go to the lighthouse and just see what's going on.

We will have a very large public putting green that will be open to anybody who wants to come and just have fun.

And you know, if your kids are two and a half years old and you want them to see what putting's like, bring them on out.

We'll have ice cream and you know, these putting greens, and they've got them at Sand Valley right now, are they huge, they're huge, and the whole thing is to get kids out there and and have fun and and enjoy it.

So, you know, we're going to do that.

That will be right on the lake, and you know, it's it will be more than just a golf course for people who are who are dying to play golf.

So we we are confident that by doing this, we are going to generate a lot of guests, a lot of visitors to our city, and uh, you know, we think it's uh we think it's a win-win for all the communities uh around Racine, including Racine, for the golfers, and for the non-golfers.

So that's what I've got.

I just wanted to share what our vision was.

Uh if you have any questions for me or the architect, uh Craig Haltam, got two Craigs here, uh, and I can answer any question that you may have on either the lease or any other questions you might have.

Alder Allen does have uh her name in the queue.

Great.

Did you have questions for okay?

Go ahead.

Yes.

But before I begin, thank you so much.

One moment.

Uh the questions I have uh reflect our last meeting.

Am I able to ask those questions?

Because I I do need those answers.

I don't know how to do that.

Yeah, I guess to clarify, uh, Alder Allen.

If you have we'll get into general discussion, and if there's a point at which you want to direct questions to city staff or the city attorney, we could do that at a later point.

But if you want to address questions to Mr.

Leopold now, it's directly about his proposal.

Then go right ahead.

All right, thank you.

So thank you so much for um giving us that overview.

Uh I can see that you're very excited about it, and we are always excited to hear about people who want to come into Racine and invest in our community.

Uh we sit in a unique space here in Racine as the common council because we recognize that for Racine to continue in a sustainable manner, we do need to introduce revenue into our city in order to continue to be a thriving municipality.

That being said, also I I for one enjoy the golf circuit and uh and can recognize you know people who enjoy that same space.

However, shoe park being what it is to the city of Racine.

When you when you give you a proposal, I believe that language matters, and your enthusiasm for the uh golf course comes across.

However, I don't feel that the city as itself can see themselves in your proposal.

Uh it is a public park.

And in your description, you're talking about a nine-hole massive redo of it.

You're removing our parking lot.

I myself having walked through there just recently, I'm trying to envision a comfortable way that a person who is not interested.

I heard you at the very last moment introduce what someone who might want to do, bring your kids to uh the open putting green.

But we have people that come there for other reasons, right?

And so if the entire space of 52 acres is um used for the golf course, I don't know how the lone person who wants to walk through there and enjoy just the views or something, uh I'm paramedic, you know.

I'm just would be able to do that comfortably.

The other thing in your proposal, you lead with uh the green fees for people who are going to participate as a you know golfer.

You say $24 for two years.

I believe that is not serving our community well.

I believe that since it's going to be in racing, it should be in perpetu in perpetuity.

Um I have a number of other concerns about our involvement over the 10 years, and that you have this moment at the 10-year mark where you can uh opt to not continue.

That's that could be a financial liability to the city of Racine.

And in the next 10 years, we really do have to be looking at how we secure our our revenue base at that time, not at the possibility of taking on you know additional financial liability.

And then the other thing that is near and dear, because I do have 13 of these points, uh, is any relationship with uh job opportunities, employment opportunities for the people who live here in Racine that includes our our students.

I mentioned this at the meeting.

I didn't see anything about it, and I'm not talking about something that happens after the fact five years in or and I'm speaking as a marketing professional and as a business professional, right?

And and for those of you who are in the audience listening, I am a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby, and I'm a very much an environmentalist.

I'm also from California, so I'm a I'm a complete nerd.

And so what I'm saying is that I don't hear much that speaks to the city's core values.

I don't see anything supporting the Racine Unified School District or others.

I don't see uh employment path for people, including our children.

I don't see the ability of the city of Racine and our parks department to be able to utilize any of that space for our own booking.

There's a lot of open blank spaces that I'm looking to see filled.

Mr.

Leopold, did you want to thank you?

No, thank you very much.

That um let me see if I can address a couple of those.

Uh what one of them, which uh question that comes up a lot is is the green fees, and that was probably the one item that we have uh the most discomfort with and the most negotiations with the city.

Um a nine-hole what what we're going to build will be a iconic golf course, a difference maker.

So as you as you think about more employment and bit greater taxes and more people coming into Racine, you know, if if it's the same old shoe park, that doesn't generate anything.

Uh the revenue of shoe park completely for one year was a hundred thousand dollars.

That's what it was for last year.

So um it it doesn't, it just doesn't generate any of the things that you were just talking about.

What we do believe is that when you have a successful business of any kind that brings in people into that business, it's going to be a win-win for a lot of other people who are touched by all the people who are coming in.

And I I think that certainly came loud and clear through this the little city that we were in today where Sand Valley is now located where 10 years there was no golf course today.

How many people do you employ up there?

Um the largest employer in the county.

Largest employer in the county, a thousand people, I think is what I heard.

So you know, with that kind of with the kind of vision that we have, we're not gonna say we're employee a thousand count a thousand people, but we're gonna have a lot more being employed at better jobs than are being employed right now.

Um I have somebody else in the queue, Alder Allen.

We can come back to you for a second time.

Um Alder Jorgensen.

Thank you.

Uh I just had a couple questions, but I if we can go one at a time.

I I think the biggest one is um I've I've heard from a lot of folks and seen from a lot of folks that they they feel this is privatizing uh this course.

Um I'm wondering if you could kind of detail in in your mind how this is different from what would just be a privatized course, really how it maintains the public park atmosphere um with uh a partnership to it.

Yeah, good good question.

And there's I think there's a really um the uh a good uh comp that I can use, which is a Racine Country Club.

It's a private club now.

It was bought by a gentleman who used to be a member, his name is Mr.

Molleter, he owns the course.

We are going to be leasing the course from the city.

Um we have restrictions on us that we are going to need to abide by.

There are things that we're going to need to do in order to meet the goals that the city has.

We're also paying a um you know a lease to the city.

Uh so you know that would be really almost amounting to a hundred thousand dollars a year, which which is a lease payment versus what's going on now, which is the full revenue, it's the only revenue of the uh of the golf course.

Um we don't have we don't have the ability to make it a private course, can't do that.

We wouldn't want to do it anyway.

Um, and we don't have the ability, frankly, to after this is done, we can't make and do a 12-hole golf course.

We can't make it in, you know, we can't put a driving range in.

Um, so there are you know, there are restrictions that we that the city has negotiated into this contract that we will abide to, and and we're we don't have a problem with any of the restrictions.

So we're not gonna try to get around anything.

Thank you.

And then the other question I had too is I know when when you talked about the um the public places and public spaces in it, um we talked about the the clubhouse and the cafe uh and the the putting green, but in the video, and I think in our past conversation too, there was a lot of discussion around what would be the new beach area and the trail.

I'm wondering if you can kind of detail what your vision is for those items.

Yeah, thank you.

That's uh again, it's there's there's so many things that I could talk about.

Um, and and that is a that is an important part of this course, and a lot of questions came up with the mayor, and what we have committed to is that we are going to keep the the we will maintain and keep open the beach area so that people can walk their dogs, walk their kids like you saw in the picture, walk down and walk as far as they can get until the water stops them.

But right now, right now, it's the trees that have stopped them.

It's the fallen trees that are on the beaches.

They don't ever get to the part of the water, it's the trees.

We have made a commitment that we will clean that up and we will keep it clean so that they can walk from one side of the north side of the property to the to the south side with open paths unless the water has gone up to the rocks.

Thank you.

And then there was a part about a walking trail in there as well, too.

I think along Lighthouse Drive is what it said.

Yeah, we will have up on the on the on the east, the west side of Lighthouse Drive, a walking trail.

It won't be a concrete or asphalt, but it will be a path that you that people can walk their dogs or just go for a walk.

Um and we will have that there so they can go from the north to the south and then maybe loop down and come up from the shoreline.

I mean, those are things that they cannot do now.

It's it's not possible.

Right, because the yeah, like you said, that with all the down trees, the beach really hasn't been accessible, so all of that would be a new public beach, then.

Yes.

Thank you.

Those are the two questions I had for now.

Alder Mac.

Thank you.

This truly is a unique public-private partnership and uh a significant investment.

Uh, one I'm assuming is going to take some time to uh repay itself.

Um, do you have an estimate on how long that investment might another great question?

It will never pay itself.

Okay.

Period.

This is not it's not why we're doing it.

We will never get that $10 million back.

It's a it's an investment in our community.

That's the only way.

I mean, you can look at me like going, is that guy crazy?

The the fact is there is not, I've got financial people on the front.

There's just no way that we've ever tried to depreciate the 10 million dollars, we'll never get it back.

And I've never got the impression that you were coming in here, and this somehow was going to be a cash cow uh for you, your family, your your partnership there.

Um, yet we've seen a lot of criticism out there on social media about out-of-town investors, and your wife so eloquently pointed out that you live in the community.

She works or she runs the company downtown Racine, and that uh clearly not out-of-town investors.

Um I know firsthand your your wife's family has a long history with environmental activism from your father-in-law getting rid of chlorofluoral carbons out of aerosol cans before it was mandated.

Your brother-in-law's passion about reducing plastics in the waterway.

Um I used to work for the county, and I'd go up and see them ban the paragon falcons, and your mother-in-law was sitting up there in the front row, like a little kid as they uh brought those falcon chicks out.

And so to see or hear the comments about uh the environment, the destruction of the environment there.

Um park staff.

I I uh staff said we really need to look at this as two separate projects.

The protection of the shoreline in the golf courts itself.

Um I have a couple questions.

One has to do with the hundreds of trees that are going to come down.

I drive by there often and I see this stand of weed trees in the middle of the the course, and it doesn't look attractive.

It looks over uh overgrown.

Do you have an estimate of how many trees might actually come out of it?

It might be another the other Craig question, and what you're looking at to replant there.

Yeah, I uh those are those are good questions.

I'll let the other Craig uh um uh comment on that as well.

But let me say we have we have um hired Jens Jensen, who is well known in the Racine community, and his grandfather, I think, was you know, very an environmentalist and and a tree person for lack of a better word.

Um and he has a lot of thoughts.

He his his main comment that the trees are that are all along the shoreline are trees that do no good.

They are not the type of trees that should be there, they fall into the lake, they don't have the right kind of routes, and there's so much that can be done on the shoreline.

Um Craig, do you want to make any have you do you have any uh thoughts of how many trees?

Well, I would say that the if you could come up to the microphone, please.

Um the shoreline trees are also um one of the complications of doing the revetment is that we will have to uh disturb a larger area um than just the the where the stones are placed.

So part of the trees will uh be removed as part of that process, and then as Craig has said, um we are beginning to develop plans on what the right trees would be to plant in all these areas on the point of saving trees.

Um the golf course will not be treeless, and the priority that we would put is that we want to keep trees that uh protect the roadway, so there's a safety aspect to making sure the trees stay in in areas that would be important to safety.

Um there's also several specimen trees on site that we would be looking and already have tried to accommodate in the in the various ways that we've done reroutings of the golf course, and there will be a tree planting plan that goes along with the plans for the golf course that makes the existing woodland across the road uh much healthier, a much stronger.

Um I think you said you know, you look at that, those trees now, they might they aren't particularly attractive, and they're not full of the types of trees that we think um we can have thrive there.

So one good way to think about the golf course and and the way it's going through um these types of uh environments that I'm describing is kind of a journey through a um a native shoreline habitat, which is largely treeless.

There might be occasional specimen trees that we are keeping in certain parts of the shoreline, but that's the native habitat as it was, and then you move across the road, and that's where we would focus on preserving as many specimen trees as we can and developing healthier forest, and uh all of the trees along the property line also stay.

So um while we keep those trees, we can maintain clear views to the water, which is also a priority for us.

So if you're looking at the shoot park uh today versus what we are proposing, it would still be recognizably a golf course that has plenty of trees, um, but the native habitat at the shoreline would be restored to a treeless uh links type golf course as we've described.

So it it I don't know the number of trees that would go out, but by percentage, it's different in these different environments.

Okay, and and here again staff has told us that the shoreline should be considered separately from the golf course project because those trees like you re reiterated have to come down because of the revent and in showing up.

Um last time you were here, it was pointed out the type of plantings and grass will actually use less water and less fertilizers.

That's still the plan than what is currently used today.

Yes, the I would say that they're using a minimum right now, so the golf course is maintained very responsibly right now.

And what we're proposing, even though, as Craig said, will be a world-class golf experience and very different to what you have now, it will be maintained in the same spirit of doing the absolute minimum amount of fertilizer application, chemical application.

You might be doing those things for budget purposes right now, but it also serves the the dual purpose of making a much uh environmentally friendly golf course.

So a key part of that is we are converting the grasses to a type of grass that can be maintained to very high standard, it's a fescue grass, uh blended possibly with some bluegrasses, but a very hardy drought tolerant grass.

And the type of golf that you see in those images that we've put up is characterized by dry, firm conditions, which means we want to irrigate the absolute minimum, and we'd like to keep uh all inputs of all kinds to the to the absolute minimum.

That's what helps the golf be great.

So thank you.

And then the uh I guess I don't know if it's a comment or if it's a question, but there's a lot of talk about the um public access to the course, and um people that have sent emails and social media have talked about how they currently picnic there and they walk it and they do all this, and I find it hard to believe that you can walk a golf course without getting hit by a flying golf ball, and I'm not sure where the picnic areas are at Shoop Park.

Me, it's been a while since I've golfed there, but I don't recall seeing a lot of general public coming out and then join the ambience of this 52 acres there.

No, they're the the only picnic area would be by the lighthouse area.

Uh and if anything, we will enhance that and we will have picnic tables outside our our cafe area that would be accessible again for golfers and non-golfers.

No one will ever be asked if they walk in the cafe.

Are you playing golf today?

Everybody is everybody is welcome.

All right, thank you.

Other hardman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Over the years, it seems like um more and more of the park real estate has been carved out for golfing.

be asked if they walk in the cafe are you playing golf today everybody is everybody is welcome all right thank you all thereman thank you mayor over the years it seems like um more and more of the park real estate has been carved out for golfing and there really doesn't seem to be an equitable property division for what the park piece of it originally was supposed to be um the intent of shoot park was for there to be a park and I do under I I hear you when you say that there are walking trails that there will be beach access where you can walk um but walking trails and having access to the beach is what we've always had we live on the lakefront racing is on the lake front we we can do the beach the park piece of shoot park is what was originally meant for everyone so that's non-golfers that's golfers that's people who want to um sit down and put a blanket out whether they want to go to the cafe or not go to the cafe um and it seems like more of the park piece of it is being lost and I don't think that that is what um Dr.

Shoop intended and to be frankly honest because I used to work at SC Johnson I don't think that that's what Sam Johnson wanted because he created that this we believe and the philosophy behind this we believe is that residents have access and we leave a footprint um we don't leave a footprint that takes away from our environment and so a lot of emails and calls that I am getting from residents um feel like the desires of the residents when it comes to just wanting to have a place that is unique shoop shoe park is unique um the park piece of it is unique not just the walking trails and the sand and the beaches piece of it so I do understand that you will make the picnic piece a little bit better um but that doesn't seem to really pull into the free park that was originally intended for the people so um I'm not I'm I'm just trying to be the advocate for the voice of the individuals that really feel like non-golfing residents would like to have an equitable division of it not that we don't want the golf course to um be awesome and not that we don't want Johnson's help on securing the shoreline but there just seems like there should be an equitable consideration when it comes to the residents who were promised or the original philosophy of it was for it to forever be a park a free park no cost park um I don't so I don't know if you can speak on you you have spoken but I I think I I I think I can and um actually if you if you read the the uh deed that Dr.

Shoop gave the property to the city he gave it to the city to be an old man's home that's in the deed and um which another way to put it is a retirement home for uh the elderly men but he it is it is referred to a reason we we joke about the old an old man's home is what he wanted to be and I think there might have been something in there I um you know if that doesn't occur then then be made as a park or something like that so I I apologize I don't remember how that was but his direct hope was that it would be an old man's home um we all know it's been a golf course for 50 to 70 years um so a long time and um I mean right now there are no picnic tables no probably have there ever been except there is a table over by the the clubhouse that people could sit out grab a beer and then sit outside and have a beer but it's I don't see families you know doing picnics there so I I under I understand what you're saying um and you know our proposal obviously is that this will be a more family friendly environment than it is right now that I can absolutely assure you uh but but it I mean I can't I can't run

So I I underst I understand what you're saying.

Um our proposal obviously is that this will be a more family friendly environment than it is right now.

That I can absolutely assure you.

Uh but but it I I mean I can't I can't run from the fact that it's it's a golf course.

Thank you.

Okay, I hate to be a dead horse, but I am really looking for an answer about the fees.

Yes, no, I'm yeah, absolutely.

And and the RUSD connection.

I love the fact that it is going to be a premium course.

What I'm what I see is an opportunity for us to uh introduce our our youth, our talented youth, into that activity, that profession, that walkway as a as one of our academies, for instance.

I'm also looking again for that employment value, but I'm looking for that piece about the fees, okay.

You know, and those were not answered.

And for for me, if you're at this stage of your planning, then that conversation, because I did mention this at that meeting earlier in the year, and the response was you know, somewhere in the future we could do that.

So I'm really not looking for somewhere in the future.

I'm actually looking for that to be mentioned as a concrete plan that working on because that's a conversation that would take place now, and then the opportunity to unfold that would happen in the future.

Okay, so I I was I was in no way trying to run from your question.

I would have come back to it because I know that that is a very important question that has that has risen.

So we started with the 24.

So it will be 24 for the first two years.

Um after that, the the fees will be tied to Johnson Park fees.

So the highest the the highest Johnson Park nine-hole fee we would tie our fee into.

So if their nine-hole fee is $35, which it is right now, that is their highest nine-hole fee, then ours will be $35.

And I I will tell you that that is that will that 10 years from now that will be a steal.

And um that it does worry us, it worries us a lot that we are we are being tied into the the Johnson Park fee, which is not a course that will not be comparable to ours.

I mean, that's how that's how we believe, although JP is a really great public course.

So at some point um we want to have the ability right now, Johnson Park, um who is the uh who who's the deal, who's the contract with?

True.

So the contract is with Trune, and Trune has the ability to raise Johnson Park green fees five percent every year.

If they decide if they decide not to raise the Johnson Park green fees, we don't want them to be able to dictate what our green fees are.

So we will want to be able to use the five percent inflator in our green fees if they decide not to use it.

And and I mean it could very well be that there that something at Johnson Park, the course is is you know, is not doing well, they're they're not watering it, the irrigation systems not working, the equipment's not being replaced, but we on the other hand continue to invest in our course.

We don't want to be tied into a greens fee that Troon is going to have at Johnson Park, and we can't operate our course at that.

Can you hit your projecting to us that your marketing vision includes you know all the people coming into racing and taking advantage of this course and and the hospitality every scene, right?

In my I'm just gonna be devil's advocate, make your money off of them, you know.

Or you mean the other people, right?

Right.

And I don't know.

I don't know who's who's doing your marketing or whatnot, but for the people that live here in Racine, you know, that 24 dollars, and I get it.

Five years from now, that's gonna look like like change, but I also know my community.

So 24 dollars now will be this, you know, that'll be a win for them in the future.

But you know, you settled in it two years, we have a 10-year separation possibility.

Uh there's a huge gap.

I haven't heard you know why the 10 years.

I'm not really excited about that.

I think that should be extended, and I think any allowances that are given to the city should extend at least to that 10-year part, you know, not stop.

And then uh I'll touch on those trees.

So our forestry gave us a really excellent report about why we need to uh look at what's going on with our trees.

I do understand as uh as a person who studied it that you know, if we do not address those those uh ill trees, they will continue to poison our shoreline and even the healthy trees.

And so though some people think holding on to those sentimentally will help our ecosystem there, that is completely not true.

The opposite.

But for those other things that I'm speaking of, I really I really do want to see you know, kind of like a buy-in to that and more of a relationship with the city.

We sign on that dotted line and say go for it, and then we step back and we don't readdress anything or come back to you for 10 years, and anything could happen, and we also don't have a say in how any of that happens.

You just mentioned you don't want your green fees tied to someone else's uh golf course.

I'm not really comfortable with you know, as much as I love the 10 million dollar input, I just you know, going, oh okay, well, go on it, and then we find out that you've you're making a decision to to separate, and then here we are at 10 years looking at some financial liabilities that we can't afford.

You you won't have any if we walk away in 10 years, you keep the 10 million dollar investment that we put in the golf course.

We're not gonna walk away from that.

I mean, that's number one.

Number the other issue that you brought up is make your money off the other people coming in, and we will.

We'll make we're gonna raise those as high as we can.

But another question that was that the mayor was concerned about, and I think other I know other people have been concerned about.

Are you going to have certain times that Racine residents can come?

So you only let them come between one and two in the afternoon, or something like that.

The answer is no, they can come anytime.

So as we're budgeting, we you know, is you know, are we gonna be filled with city of Racine people?

Fantastic.

And but it could be, you know, five, ten years, that could be 35, 40 dollars, where the people from Chicago would pay 150.

But we aren't going to restrict the times that city of Racine golfers can come enjoy uh the golf course.

So they can come anytime.

And so that's how I would address that.

It's it's hard to budget, you know, how how large will our revenue be?

Well, it depends how many Racine golfers come and how many non-Racine golfers come.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Leopold.

We are um we do have two other presentations then from um somebody's staff.

Um, unless there was anything else you wanted to add before we close, we're gonna go to Mr.

Kepnick and Mr.

Rooney just to talk about the forestry component and the um the shoreline component.

So thank you very much for being here this evening.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

If I could ask Director Kepnick to from the Parks Recreation Cultural Services to approach the Diaz.

Uh some of you may have seen this presentation before.

Some of you were not on the council when he gave this presentation before, but there's been much discussion of the trees and the birds on the site, and we asked Mr.

Kepnick, who's our parks director now, but prior to that was our forestry division manager from for many years.

So Mr.

Kepnik, if you could uh have a revisit of the report that you gave to us previously uh for the benefit, particularly of the newer members on council, but for the members of the public who are here as well.

Thank you very much.

Uh so my goal tonight is to walk you through how I evaluated this proposal, the factors I considered, and the framework I used to assess it.

And I'd like to note that this is not an ecological assessment or an environmental review, but simply the approach that I took to better understand this project.

Um first and foremost, I would like to note that windpoint and shoot park is a recognized birding area amongst birding enthusiasts.

Regional birding records and e-bird observations online indicate that more than 270 bird species have been documented in the area.

These species can be broken down into the type of habitats that they prefer.

Generally using four different major habitat groupings.

There is open water and lake habitat, shoreline and beach habitat, open land and meadow habitat, and trees and woodland habitat.

Just over 60% of the 270 species are known in the area, do not use the tree and the woodland habitat, which seems to be you know something that has come up multiple times.

The high number of species observed at windpoint is best understood because of the habitat diversity as well as the shoreline geography which projects out into the lake.

Trees and shrubs are one part of that habitat picture, but they are not the only factor that drives bird diversity at this location.

So when I, as uh Alder Mack alluded to, when I think of this project, I break it down into two major separate projects really.

Uh the first is the shoreline stabilization and the bluff resiliency, and second would be the golf course redevelopment itself.

Uh, these are related to the same property, of course, but they're different project components with different environmental considerations and different purposes.

The shoreline and bluff work is a resiliency and an infrastructure issue.

The east edge of the property includes a bluff along Lake Michigan that has experienced significant erosion.

During the January 2020 high water and storm event, major bluff failure occurred, and trees and soil were lost into the lake.

The existing bluff edge in its current condition is unstable, and vegetation along that edge can contribute to continued instability through root leverage, wind loading, and associated soil movement.

In order to stabilize the bluff and install shoreline protection measures, vegetation along the bluff edge would need to be removed to allow access and construction and to reduce ongoing stabilization.

This is not simply a vegetation removal issue, it is part of shoreline protection and resiliency, responding to documented erosion and infrastructure concerns.

Regarding the tree canopy on the course itself, we do have a full assessment, the forestry division of all public trees in the city, consisting of about 40,000 GIS points.

Prior to putting this initial assessment together, I did a query and of all the species on the course, and it shows that a large share of the existing canopy is dominated by a relatively small group of tree species, including silver maple, green ash, white ash, Norway maple, and honey locust.

Forty percent of the trees on the course, which consists of 74 individual trees, are made up of these five species.

And in addition, 55 of the 184 trees on the course are under 10 inches in diameter, and due to their small size, currently provide very limited or relatively limited canopy habitat benefit.

It's also important to note that several of those species have management or ecological limitations.

Norway maple, one of those five species is non-native and it provides relatively limited wildlife value compared to higher value native species.

Norway maple is also recognized by the DNR as a species with invasive tendencies and the ability to spread into natural areas.

I mentioned white ash and green ash.

And ash in general have provided canopy value historically, dating back to the 60s after Dutch Elm disease, they were largely planted as a replacement species.

But today these trees are highly vulnerable due to emerald ash bore, an invasive insect from China that has been present in the Racine area for approximately 15 years.

And these trees require ongoing treatment to remain viable, and as such, they do not represent durable long-term habitat.

Silver maple supports more insect life than many of the other common species on the site, but is also relatively short-lived and more prone to decay and storm damage, which limits its long-term reliability.

And the last species, honey locust is a native tree.

But again, when compared with higher value species, it supports relatively low insect diversity.

That covers everything I wanted to mention, so I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Director Kepnick?

Particularly for the three new alders, but for any of the members or any questions for Mr.

Kevin.

Alder Jorgens.

I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more.

I think in the past you've maybe shared a story of you when to go do a tree assessment out there, and you watched one of the trees you went there to go assess being carried out to the lake.

Could you could you talk more about like what the impact is of having the wrong tree in the wrong place?

Sure.

Well, that specific situation was after the January 2020 storm.

For those of you not familiar, the lake was at record high levels, at least 24 to 30 inches above where it is today.

We also had a warmer winter, so we did not have any shore ice.

And so when this large storm came in, uh we had direct wave action onto this bluff, um, again, which and the lake was at a very high level.

Uh so I went out to assess the damage probably a week after the storm.

And while I did not see trees actually actively falling, there were large trees laying in the lake itself.

They had, you know, the root systems had given out, they had tipped over, they were still attached at the shoreline, but laying in the lake.

And then at a later date, uh those trees were completely gone during later site visits.

Uh and these were not small trees, these were probably 12 to 16 inch diameter trees, uh, at least 30 or 40 feet tall.

Um, and what was the second part of your question?

But the was that just nature, or was that maybe the wrong tree in the wrong place, or you know, the are they set up to be on a bluff like that?

I'd say it was directly tied to the erosion and the damage from the storm itself.

Um, you know, trees do not have really deep root systems in general, they have shallow root systems.

And the amount of wave action um during that storm and probably subsequent storms as well, although they may have been uh not as uh significant, but they still had their damage to the root systems.

And once that erosion begins, uh then wind takes over.

Um these erosion channels continue to erode from future rain events, and it just is a process uh where the bluff continues to fail, and then trees are caught up in the uh you know in the in the erosion.

And so I I think it's been there have been people who've called me and said, well, if we just put more trees and planted more trees, it would stabilize the bluff.

It that kind of sounds like it's going against maybe what you've been describing of the trees are a component to it, but if there's major erosion going on, that another tree Yeah, in its current state, um it's it's too far gone to, in my opinion, to do anything with vegetation.

Uh there needs to be actual construction, uh reshaping of the land, and bringing in of resilient uh infrastructures, rocks, uh, whatever it may be to provide that protection.

So it's eclipsed what a uh you know, more vegetation would be able to stabilize?

Absolutely.

And so if if we didn't do it, the ultimate ending would be that the trees would fall into the lake, much like you witnessed, and the bluff would be gone.

Yes, I imagine when the lake uh level rises again, because it is cyclical, whether that's five years, six years, seven years down the road, um, we will most likely be experiencing this same issues just continuing forward.

All right, thank you so much.

I appreciate those are my questions.

Thank you, Director Kepnick.

Seeing no further questions, we'll ask um Commissioner Rooney to please approach the DS and discuss the shoreline resiliency or lack thereof uh thank you, Mayor and come council members.

So I'm gonna review a little bit uh the presentation that I believe we made in March last before the common council.

Umcorps was hired by the golf course group uh to provide shoreline protection plans.

My office in turn hired Smith Group uh to review uh the design here storm analysis prepared by Tamcor and determine whether the engineering uh was sound or not.

Uh Smith Group is uh highly regarded coastal engineering firm that they did our harbor back in the 80s.

Um they found it to be sound engineering.

Um final approval of those plans is uh will be under the purview of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, as they are the regulatory and permitting agencies over waters of the state.

Um there's been some confusion, I think, about um you know accessing the shoreline and the revivment, so I'd like to clear that up a little bit too.

The toe of the proposed revetment will be placed well above the ordinary high water mark of Lake Michigan, meaning there will always be beach that will exist between the toll of the revetment and the shoreline that is defined by the current lake level.

Um, and this will always uh be available then for the public to walk the entire 3,000 foot shoreline.

So the statutory ordinary hide water mark of Lake Michigan is 579.8 feet above sea level.

That's for regulatory purposes.

Um it's elevation represents a fixed legal point used for coastal management and permitting rather than like a daily average water level.

The revetment tow for this shoreline protection revetment will be constructed at elevations that vary between 583 and 585.

So it'll be well above that ordinary high water mark.

Um just to give you some context of where the water level was back in January of 2020, um, it was at 582.4 feet, it was almost at all time record high.

Um that's what causes the significant coastal erosion flooding, you know, when combined with the record storm event.

Um the estimated cost of the shoreline protection uh for this project.

Um this is the revetment, the slope embankment, um, and access road is estimated between 1.2 and 1.3 million dollars, and the engineering and permitting is estimated at about 150,000.

Uh the revetment is estimated to have a useful service life of anywhere from 50 to 100 years.

This is obviously dependent on any wave conditions that could cause problems with that.

The revetment, speaking with both the city's consultant and the designer, it should be inspected after any significant storm that produces um uh significant waves when the lake level is over 581 feet above sea level, and that's something that probably should be considered when that event happens.

Um, and also just you probably know this already, but FEMA provided no funding for repairs of this property after evaluations and applications were made by the city of Recene and Smith Group six years ago.

Um, lastly, we also were tasked with looking at the existing buildings on the property.

So there are two buildings out there, two properties, if you will, that are separated.

Um both buildings, uh, the clubhouse and that service garage, they're included in the city's facilities condition assessment program.

Uh both buildings have facility condition condition index scores over 30 percent.

So an FCI score represents the percentage or fraction of investment that needs to be made in a building over the next 10 years divided by the replacement cost of that facility.

So anything over 0.30 should be considered for replacement or being raised.

The clubhouse is 0.37, and the service garage is 0.42.

Um, the estimated useful life of these facilities, the clubhouse has about 6.7 years left, and the service garage a little over five.

Um there are several assets associated with each building that are also beyond their useful service life.

Um, for example, the parking lot.

Um the clubhouse itself, along with the land and the parking lot has a net present value of about 975,000 dollars.

The assets on that property um that are now beyond the useful life are nearly 300,000.

And the service garage has a net present value of just over 100, and the assets associated with that are now totaling 25,000.

So, in summary, you know, the value of the shoreline production is close to 1.5 million.

The assets at both these buildings um have a net present value of a million, but they have liabilities that are exceeding 300,000 dollars currently.

So this would be 1.8 million dollars that the city would not have to invest in this property to take care of the shoreline or take care of these assets that are deteriorating at these different locations.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Alder Mack.

Thank you.

I have a couple questions.

Number one, um, in your opinion, does the city have the money to budget to make the upgrades to shoot park?

And it is a is it a priority within your department based on all the other um priorities you currently have.

Well, I mean, all the assets in the city that under the purview of public works are priority.

It's it's a question of funding and and making choices, and that's you know what you folks on the common council have to make those decisions.

What do you want to prioritize?

I can tell you we have a growing list of 70 plus buildings that we have in the city that we have not been able to address adequately roads, sewer infrastructure, lighting, other facilities.

So at least um it's it's it's a long list, and uh we'd love to take care of these things, but it's not a priority right now, I think, of the common council or public works at this time because there are other things that are front of that in the queue.

And we have a fire station, which I think is approximately what 60 million dollars.

Yes, the common council is yeah, contemplating a new fire station, which would commit another 50 million dollars.

So I'm assuming that the council's going to put making upgrades at Shoop Park very, very low on the list.

Uh I can't speak for my colleagues, but looking at um the fiscal position that we're in today, and the need for both uh police and a uh new fire fire station is probably going to take a higher priority.

There's some concern about um who's gonna be responsible if the Johnson Leopold family pulls out after 10 years.

I'm really not concerned about that because the way I look at it is they're making a 10 million dollar investment, looks like a couple million dollar investment in infrastructure, clubhouse, maintenance building.

Um not sure how much the irrigation system is going to cost.

So uh whether it's us making that investment or they're making that investment, um, if they don't get involved in the the project, and we end up having to make those um make those investments.

We're gonna be on the hook for it, you know, in perpetuity.

Um at least for the next 10 years.

I um assuming that the agreement means that they're going to maintain and provide the upkeep, and they've made it very clear they want a 50-year lease.

I'm thinking the 10-year lease may have been something the city negotiated so that we can look at it after 10 years and see if there's uh opportunity um if things are going successfully to maybe generate a little bit more income for the city.

I don't know.

That will be a question for uh the mayor and attorney letney when that time comes.

But do you have any issues if they walk away after 10 years with uh having these brand new buildings that uh they've invested?

Well, and I don't think uh neither with uh the buildings themselves or the shoreline protection investment.

If you look at the areas that were damaged in that January 2020 storm, uh those are the areas that were uh either uh engineered poorly, not engineered at all, or the wrong material was used, and those are the parts that failed.

So the plans that were prepared by Tamcor, that were reviewed by Smith Group that'll go to the DNR and Corps of Engineer for a very thorough review, are going to be the type of materials in the engineering that sound that usually can withstand even some of these most ferocious storms.

There are still areas that exist along our lakefront that were untouched by that January 2020 storm because they were done correctly with the correct materials.

So I I'm not concerned about either one of those things if in 10 years for some reason they decided uh they didn't have a house and uh maintenance buildings and stuff like that.

Well, we uh we like I we don't have I don't think we have a building other than the new transfer station that's less than 20 years old, so I think the city would welcome any new building that is very little maintenance cost to it.

So yeah.

Other questions for Commissioner Rooney?

Okay, thank you very much.

Um we're now gonna go to public input.

Uh again, when uh the clerk calls your name, please come up to the Diaz.

Uh you will have three minutes to say we want to say we do have more than 15 people registered to speak.

Uh so just I would encourage all of you uh if you are saying something that is has already been said, try to keep it uh to something maybe new and novel.

The three minutes are yours to speak on this topic and and this topic only.

Uh, and if the clerk could please call the first name.

Jesse Jesse Booker, 126 Sheffield Drive.

I think I saw you on Facebook.

Yeah.

Hi guys.

All right.

So, first of all, Wednesday, July 15th, Festival Park, Four Racines Got Town.

Please feel free to come out by show of hands.

How many people here are directly related to the Shoop family?

Feel free to raise your hand.

Nobody.

I'm going to ask that you please do not invoke the name of a family that you are not directly related to, first and foremost.

Now I'm going to take you on a little history lesson over Wind Point.

So 1917, the land was turned over to the city.

How many individuals here live in a house that was built before 1917 in Wind Point?

None.

Okay, my family owns the house that is an eyesore on Lighthouse Drive.

My Uncle Les and my Aunt Phyllis, the gray house just north of the prairie school.

Is everybody familiar with that house?

Yeah.

Just north.

My grandpa, Gerald Wishaw, also known as Peanut, tended the land in Wind Point.

That used to be farmland, right?

He had a fruit cart and a vegetable cart and pumpkins on his front lawn for the individuals of Wind Point.

Alright, at some point over the course of the last hundred and nine years, there was a question do we want to make improvements to the land or do we want to keep it the same?

A hundred and nine years.

That house was built in the late 1800s, and I'm sure that anybody in Wimp Point will be glad to see that house come down in an instant because it's an eyesore.

Built in the late 1800s.

The prairie school, the charm jewel of Wind Point was built in mid-1900s, right?

I'm sure at some point somebody said, should we build this school?

And a lot of people voted yes.

And since then there have been many improvements to the prairie school.

But at some point, somebody could have said no, keep it the same.

We could either accept a 10 million dollar investment into Wind Point, or we could keep it the same.

All of the land along that coast for Lake Michigan was tended by my grandpa, and at some point somebody voted to improve that land.

North of my grandpa's house was all farmland.

All the land around that was tended by my grandfather, but the same people of Wind Point who live in brand new houses are now here today trying to tell us to keep it the same.

A hundred and nine year old property.

Why would you want to forego a 10 million dollar investment into your property, into your space, and just keep it the same?

I'm not understanding.

If somebody came to you and said, hey, I'll improve your kitchen, 50,000, you can have it.

Would you accept that?

Would you accept them investing into your home?

Then why would you not accept them investing into your land around your house?

I just don't understand.

Somebody has to help me make it make sense why we would not accept a 10 million dollar investment to improve the land that has been developed over and over and over again in the course of the last hundred nine years.

You don't have to answer today, but you are welcome to reach out to me, Jesse Booker, and explain to me why you don't see the value.

Thank you guys very much for your time.

Thank you guys very much for your time.

Hi, Greg Thompson, 221 13th Avenue.

Um, I've been playing Shoe Park uh for probably close to 30 years now.

Um, usually a few guys uh with me will come up because it's not for the quality of the golf, it's for the walk by this serene, beautiful lakeshore environment.

We we just love it.

It's it's just a unique place.

There's only one other place you can play golf on the lake in Wisconsin, and we can't afford to go play there because it's whistling straits and it's over 400 around plus a caddy.

Now we have this opportunity for a donation of 10 million dollars to improve this property and to make it accessible to people of all ages, races, and income levels.

The Kaiser family, who is behind Dream Golf, has a 25-year record of environmental stewardship and providing inclusive golf for juniors that wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity, and that'll be part of this project as I understand it.

Perfect example of this is what the Kaiser family did in Madison at the Glenway Golf Course, um, where they rejuvenated an old course that the city could not afford to restore.

Um projects that I've been fortunate enough to see are Sand Valley here in Wisconsin and Bannon Dunes on the coast of Oregon that the Kaiser family did.

Um they're absolutely stunning, and this is the type of environment they're they're looking to bring here.

Now you have the local family of Craig Leopold and Helen Johnson, who have a, as you know, a long record of donating to the community and being doing sustainable projects.

Um it's an incredible situation to have two of these families that have done such good work for decades coming together to do this project here in the city of Racine.

It's just stunning that that's even a possibility.

Um of the things I think that are important to note besides the golf, continuing to be a golf course, are the new walking paths for the public for people to walk with their family or their dogs, what have you.

Obviously, as you heard, the Sherland stabilization and erosion control is a huge factor.

Um restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat.

Um, not much has been spoken about that, but what they plan to do and what they've done at their other courses that I visited greatly enhanced that.

The opportunities for juniors to work there in the clubhouse and to be caddies and the play golf are huge.

Handicap accessibility for the first time at Shoe Park.

It would be very difficult to get around that place right now, but you'll have that with the new parking lot in Clubhouse.

It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I hope that city.

So I just want to kind of plant that idea.

Thanks.

Hi everyone.

My name is Dr.

Laura Brandman Johnson.

I live in District 5, represented by Alderby Jorgensen.

Sorry.

Thank you for the opportunity.

But do you guys know who plants the flowers at Shoe Park and who tends to them?

Do you know who power washes the clubhouse right now when the spiders get kind of out of control and it gets kind of gross?

I do.

Do you know the little old guy that golfs four holes and has a beer a couple times a week?

I know him.

Have you met the kids out there that are from a lot of the local high schools that golf out there?

I know a lot of them.

Have you ever talked to the people that walk the shoreline along hole two?

That's undoubtedly sinking into the lake.

Certainly, I I've met them.

I don't know if any of you have, but what a treat.

Those are the people that I care about when we talk about all of this.

No one can make a reasonable argument that shoop doesn't need work.

I have golfed shoop for a very long time.

Ask me about the best waterproof shoes so you don't end up with soggy feet on holes.

What uh four, nine, five.

Um falling into a sinkhole and hole five.

Um it needs work, right?

Shoop was we have shoop because of like philanthropy is not dead, right?

This is an incredible gift, but part of it doesn't really feel like a gift.

Um, it feels like there's strings attached.

I know we talk a lot about cost, um, and we're talking about how it's gonna go up 11 dollars.

I know a lot of people that don't have 11 dollars.

So when we talk about who this is for, I love the idea of having more people come to Racine.

I love the city.

Born and raised, gonna stay till I die, right?

But I want this park to be for the kids that I see out there now.

I want it to be for me when I'm a thousand years old, shuffling around the course.

That's who I want this to be for.

Um again, I know it needs work.

Nobody can argue that, but please just keep that in mind as we move forward with this.

The people that use it are the people that matter.

I appreciate the gifts.

I appreciate the excitement for the course, but I don't want the people of Racine to be lost in all of this.

So that's my ask to you guys as you vote for this.

Thank you.

Kevin Kastner, 2814 Green Street.

I'm a public school teacher by profession.

Shoop is my summer job.

My love for Shoop comes from the fact that it is simply not a destination, but a community-based golf course.

We in the clubhouse are not going to deny you entry for being three minutes late.

There's not a dress code.

We are not a course with a week-long waiting list for a tea time, let alone a year.

I cannot speak against the corporate dollar.

What I can speak from is my experience.

My experience from getting to know local business owners like Miss Yu, who owns the wig shop downtown and utilizes the course daily.

The group of high school kids that I get out every weekend for an extra round because they can I can see how much they care, and they don't have a school team, and they're truly working on getting better.

Did I hurt our bottom dollar?

Absolutely.

It's worth every penny.

Uh, the community group that threw a birthday for Shoe Park, the old timers that just want to do four and have a Miller Light, the cost of that experience was eight dollars.

The group that plays cards once a week, the couples I've seen their relationship grow, the guy I saw daily last year, who expressed to me that this is what he does for his mental health.

I haven't seen him in a while.

I hope he's okay.

The daily couple that comes into the clubhouse to talk about how they grew up here.

That is why Shoop is a destination.

The prairie school and the coaches that get to use the property to figure it out.

The windpoint group that does the yearly beach cleanup.

I'm using my time today to speak for those who are not here.

Shoe Park needs help.

Shoe park does not need to be replaced.

I'm gonna use what time I have left to challenge the investment group not to create a destination that, in my opinion, simply will not set itself apart from other options in the state.

I challenge you to view us as an as a community course, not a corporate opportunity.

I challenge the group of citizens in front of me to look past the one-sided videos on social media, and honestly, the silly AI-driven campaigns that provide a laughably false idea of what this will look like.

I challenge the city to continue the train of thought that I've already heard from you.

The conversation put forward by the investment group has not been city forward.

The optics are nothing but corporate driven.

Investors, you have the opportunity to not replace us but build up what we already have.

The alternative, I fear is a historical community landmark and experience that will simply die.

Jeff Neubauer, 1145 Main Street.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and members of the council.

I'm a fourth generation resident of the city of Racine, and I'm here to support this proposal.

Shoop is a wonderful asset.

And it is a very expensive deferred maintenance liability.

For no cost to the city residents, we can address this enormous deferred maintenance that we've heard about from Mr.

Rooney, and an opportunity to enhance the asset with an amazing investment of 10 million dollars.

This will be done extremely well.

Why?

Can we count on that?

Because these impressive plans are not just plans on a PowerPoint presentation or in a video.

This is the Leopold Johnson family who are the investors, and they always do it well.

Every Johnson project is done with excellence, with beauty, and with integrity.

And with a multi-generational perspective.

The Johns have been here investing in this community for six generations of business people with other generations on the way.

This is not going to solve all the city's problems.

But we do avoid 1.8 million dollars in deferred maintenance expense, which the city cannot afford to address.

We bring new money to the city from out of town folks to spend in our restaurants, in our hotels, which creates more jobs for our community than we would otherwise receive.

Now I'd like to address the issue of walking on and enjoying the property.

I've been doing that for 30 years with my kids.

When Greta was a little girl, we would go down there with my mom and her sisters, and my mom would sit on the shore because she couldn't climb over all the trees and obstacles.

So she sat there, we climbed over all that stuff, we had fun.

Now Greta has a five-week-old daughter.

I look forward to the day when I can go down there with my grandchildren, and when I'm not able to climb over all the trees that have been there for 30 years, and to be able to walk on those new paths and really enjoy that land and that landscape the way it should be enjoyed.

So I want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you here today.

I want to thank you for your service on the council, which I know isn't always fun, but you're serving the public, and I'm grateful to you, and I want to urge you to support this proposal for our community and our residents.

Thank you.

John McLaughlin, 62 Harborview Drive.

Thanks very much, Mr.

Mayor, and uh appreciate the opportunity to speak.

I am in support of the uh SHU proposal.

I became aware of it uh a number of months ago through colleagues that I do golf with and um you know I I'm taking the mayor's comments to heart.

I'm not gonna try to reiterate some of the the comments are made other than it's clear the investment is substantial, it's needed.

I don't see a property like this being brought to a reasonable standard without the investment, but I think the point that I'd like to make the most is I've had the fortunate opportunity to golf at Sand Valley about a month and a half ago.

I I'm not from Racine originally, I'm from New York, so I've lived in Wisconsin for about six or seven years, and I couldn't believe it.

We're in the middle of central Wisconsin, and I'm seeing these amazing sand dunes, and I felt like I was on the coast.

So I'm looking at Sand Valley, uh, I'm looking at whistling straits, and I'm saying, well, these communities were able to figure it out.

They are there were clearly disruptions to those communities.

They clearly had to go through some we want to call it pain or whatever, but the the outcome was amazing.

And I do believe, knowing some of my fellow golfers, that we are drawn to destinations like this.

We want to play courses like this.

We want to play, we want to invest in the hotels, we want to eat at the restaurants.

We want to drive revenue to these communities.

Um it's and I see the young kids at work at these places, it brings them employment opportunities.

It's to me, it's a win-win for everybody.

And um, you know, again, I'll go back to my point.

I saw what they did at Sand Valley.

It is it is just absolutely spectacular.

And living in downtown Racine, I mean, I'm I'm all for the community.

I want to see Racine succeed.

I think this would be just a tremendous asset for the community.

And I I know my golfing colleagues from around the United States would as pointed out earlier.

Come to Racine, come to Sand Valley, come to Whistling Straits.

Amazing, amazing uh opportunity for us here.

And I hope you'll vote for it.

Thank you.

John Batten, 3430, Michigan Boulevard.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Good evening, everyone.

Um glad I didn't have to follow Jesse.

I'm I'm gonna be not that energetic.

Um I just everyone here was asking the right questions, and I definitely feel the passion uh of the teacher.

I'm sorry, I forgot your name.

That's where I learned to play golf too, uh, 40, 50 50 years ago or so.

Um, shoot park is a special place.

Um, but I think we have to be honest that it's not a priority for the city.

We can see what's happened over the past few decades.

It hasn't gotten better, probably, and this is no fault of the people working there, they're working with a limited budget, and you have priorities.

Um, which I will say in the city of Racine, there are priorities there significantly more important than the shoe park golf infrastructure.

Um this is I want to say a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it is the opportunity to bring something world-class uh to our area, something to make it unique.

Um I definitely also feel the emotion and the concern about making it affordable for Racine residents, particularly students, young people learning to golf, looking for a place for employment.

So I I'm sure that there would be an appetite in corporate Racine to help with some scholarships or something for young people to keep the cost affordable to those just learning the game, wanting to get involved, so it's not necessarily the daily rate, but I would encourage uh the council to reach out to see what we can do to help, particularly with the young golfers to make it affordable for them because this is a gateway to a whole nother industry and opportunity.

Young kids going out there to work at a at a what this facility will be like.

I've been very blessed.

I've been able to play abandoned dunes in Sand Valley.

They are absolutely spectacular.

Um this will be too, and and it just growing up um with the Johnsons.

I I just have to reiterate that their commitment to the environment and making sure that this is absolutely what they're gonna say, it's going to be.

I think you it will be.

I I just you have to trust that this will be a truly spectacular gem on Lake Michigan.

And again, I understand your concerns about accessibility and how this brings more opportunities to the people of the city of Racine.

I would also look at it as again just the 1.8 million, but what you don't have to invest in this, someone else is investing it.

You're purely drawing revenue.

You can take those costs that you did, those funds that you didn't have to invest and the ongoing revenue and apply it to things that we all know that could be you know higher priority for the residents of Racine.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor Vinny Rutino, 2312 Kinsey.

Hello everybody, I'm bringing my daughters up.

Um I'll be brief because they're not making it all the way here to the end, but my name is Vinny Rettino.

Um I'm lucky enough to do broadcasting for the Milwaukee Brewers.

I'm the color commentator for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Born and raised here in Racine, love this community.

Uh, we're never leaving my wife and I, both born and raised here, raising our three daughters, and this is an opportunity to put an absolute gem here in this community.

Um, it's just kind of a no-brainer.

I'm just I'm not gonna reiterate everything that everybody else said.

I had an opportunity to play at Aaron Hills yesterday, actually, coincidentally.

I'm not good at good enough of a golfer to play at Aaron Hills, and luckily I didn't have to pay the Greens fee of 450.

Um, and I'll tell you that up and down the driving range.

There was people from all over the place.

Okay.

You're hearing all kinds of different accents uh at the driving range.

And I'm talking to the caddy who's a friend of mine, and I said, where are these people coming from and where are they going after this?

He said they're gonna go to whistling straits, they're gonna go to Sand Valley, they're gonna go to all the other marquee golf courses around uh the state.

Racine, Wisconsin will be another one of those destinations for these people.

Okay, and so we're talking about people from Scotland, Ireland, England, uh all over the place, Australia.

People they just want to play golf, okay, and play at the most marky places.

And so now all of a sudden we're gonna get an opportunity here in Racine to play at a place like that for $24 or $36, whatever it's gonna be.

I mean, no-brainer.

Um so, yes, in the baseball theme, people will come.

Okay, if you build it, people will come.

Um the other thing is Sand Valley employs 300 junior caddies.

Okay, this is the Kaiser Group, they employ 300 junior caddies.

Um, my daughter keeps putting this picture of the golf course on my on my notes here.

And and there's no there's no better stewards of this community than uh Craig and Helen.

There just isn't.

And you know, I uh I have an opportunity to know Connor, their son also is gonna follow in their footsteps.

It's just gonna happen.

Okay, so um, yeah.

I guess I wasn't brief.

That's TV talk for me, three minutes.

So uh hope you guys vote for it.

Thank you.

Kieran Johnson, 5062 Hunt Club Road.

Hello.

Um tonight you will vote to determine the future of Shoot Park, a scrappy municipal course with million-dollar views, as the developer once said, it doesn't belong to the developer.

In 1917, Dr.

Clarendon and Ida Schupe deeded the land to the city with an explicit unshakable condition.

And uh I have the deed here.

It says the property shall forever be held, maintained and improved by the city of Racine for public park services.

There's deed.

Up until this morning, the lighthouse dunes video stated that Dr.

Shoop established a park and golf course in 1929 to remain a golf course forever.

I think they wanted to establish that this was always Dr.

Shoop's wish, but they took it off today.

Dr.

Shup died five years before golf was added, so it was never his wish.

Shoot Park was not purchased by the city via public funds or general municipal use.

It was an absolute benevolent gift to the citizens of Racine under Wisconsin property law.

Accepting land dedicated forever creates a permanent charity, charitable trust and a restrictive covenant.

The city of Racine merely serves as a fiduciary trustee, and the general public remains the sole legal beneficiary.

Um furthermore, only yesterday did the developer post the pricing structure for residents uh in the agenda for today's meeting.

Shoot Park proposed terms.

You might want to read that.

The developer says after two years, the reduced rate will only be available to Racine City residents.

Everyone else will be subjected to the premium pricing, including Wind Point residence, where the club will be uh will be um placed, and that's Mount Pleasant, that's everything.

And the developer hasn't even told you what the price is gonna be.

What is that price?

Is it a hundred?

It should be probably a hundred, a hundred and fifty.

Right now, we pay nine to twelve dollars.

Um also another thing is their vision is clear cutting the entire shoreline to mimic a Scottish coastline.

It will completely wipe out the trees and natural habitat that over 270 bird species rely on.

Shoot Park is also a recognized as a critical migratory stop over along Lake Michigan.

The Wisconsin DNR and other regulatory agencies are unequivocally clear about the absolute necessity of protecting our natural coastlines, destroying this decolic ecosystem for a manufactured fairway flies directly in the face of established environmental stewardship as the state and state guidelines.

Um also the fear of the bluff collapsing is a manufactured crisis to get a Scottish dune.

Um actually the figure from 2020 was only 80 feet that was lost.

So we have recently formed a citizens for shoot park organization, and we plan to fight.

Uh if you vote yes, we will be going to um the uh attorney general.

Thank you.

Richard Pierce Russend, 1150, or sorry, 115 White Sand Lean.

Thank you, and good evening.

As a physician in internal medicine, a Lake Michigan kayaker.

I'm not a golfer, sorry.

And a resident of Wind Point since 1994.

I appreciate this opportunity.

I haven't having listened to the questions uh before you and the answers.

I'll pare it down.

Yes, the Hoy uh report is very important, central.

They emphasize trees and grassland.

Grassland is important for all of the habitat infrastructure, etc.

etc.

Please be aware of that, cognizant of it, and I appreciate the attention to that.

I don't hear that that's enough of a tension on this proposal.

The implications of pesticides and uh fertilizers, I hear that it's gonna run off into Lake Michigan.

Uh algal plumes are gonna follow.

Uh we and I appreciate that it's gonna be minimal minimalized.

Nevertheless, we need to have consideration of a mound, perhaps of a septic system that captures and filters that before it goes out to Lake Michigan.

Maybe you want a runoff in case there's a huge flood or something, but some infrastructure that protects our shoreline, which is very delicate for habitat and for water quality, which we are all drinking from.

The loss of broad public access, kayaker, golfer, photographer, uh pensive reflection purpose.

Um, these are uh dog walker um proposals, weddings, these are the sorts of things.

I don't want to have to go to a golf club or to a clubhouse in order to launch a kayak.

You cannot launch from Lake from the windpoint.

That's a treacherous and dangerous place to launch from.

Currently, my wife and I launch uh from the parking lot at Shoe Park.

Yes, the walkway is narrowed.

Yes, we still navigate that, but that's the place to launch from.

Can you somehow figure out how to get access to the lake for paddle sports, for instance?

Shoe Park, as mentioned, was bequeathed.

That isn't negotiable.

We have to honor that original request for public lands or a veteran's home or an old man's home, as I heard that it was described accurately so.

Finally, Sam Johnson himself fought publicly against We Energies, against the expansion of the Oak Creek Coal Fire Plant.

His driving principles were that he took the Longview for the community.

He took it seriously.

Quote, based on quality of life issues with our people, the health of our people, the health of our families, and my family.

And he talked to Richard Abado, the CEO, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, of Wii Energies, and we really got a no comprehensive answers.

They just went out charging with their plan, and they were gonna sell this plan to the community.

I felt a little bit brushed off.

Well, I feel a little bit brushed off too, and I asked for yes, refresh that golf course.

It needs it.

Get broad community import and access to the lake for people who want it and have it now but are gonna lose it.

Dedicated golf, no.

Listen to expert guidance and get a consultant to advise you.

Thank you.

Harry Schultz, 539 Newman Road.

I have a couple issues that I feel have not been addressed.

Uh I I guess we know there will be caddies at the golf course, so I'd like to know if the caddies will be required.

And also, I'm not really sure if there's going to be golf carts.

And if there are golf carts, are the golf carts going to be required?

Because these would be additional things making the golf course less affordable for probably city recent residents and others.

And uh I guess uh this is the first time I've heard tonight that uh the uh the fee for non-recene residents will be uh as high as possible, we're told.

And uh I guess I figure that was brought up was 150 dollars.

So you have to consider that uh you know you have Bob and Joe go to Case High School.

One lives in the city of Racine, one lives in Mount Pleasant.

The uh the kid from All Pleasant will have to pay 150 dollars to golf with his friend that pays uh 24 or 35 dollars or something like that.

So it's kind of a it uh will not be all that affordable for uh a majority of the people, really.

And uh and you also question I also question whether it's sustainable to have such an expensive golf course that it's not gonna make any money, it's never gonna pay for itself.

Maybe uh a less uh elaborate, less expensive version of restoring it would make more sense.

Uh thank you.

Adam Metzen, 5440, Four Mile Road.

Good evening, my name is Adam Mattson.

I don't technically live in the city of Racine, but I own a lot of property here.

I pay taxes here, and I work extensively in Racine and have been deeply invested in this community.

Uh I'm here tonight simply to voice my support for the proposed park project.

I think it's a great opportunity for the city and a positive investment in one of Racine's unique lakefront assets.

I hope the committee supports the proposal and moves it forward.

There's plenty of time for everybody else.

Remy Oskerson, 2614 Indian Trail.

Good morning.

It's good to see you here.

And well, here I am.

Uh this year I will be a senior at the Prairie School, and this year will be my 13th year at that school.

Now I've grown up a lot here and spent a lot of time here, and just in this committee, I've heard four reasons for this development.

The first is the crumbling infrastructure, and to that I say we do not need to double the size of golf course to fix a few aging buildings.

The second the second, sorry, is an ecosystem.

It shouldn't take you someone who just finished biology and past to tell you that the roots of trees and plants is what clings to the soil and absorbs the water.

I do not see how this proposal will mitigate that erosion.

The third is that this will be a destination for people far and wide to come from to.

When I'm say 40 years old, 30 years from now, I like a place for my kids that I had to.

And the fourth reason is that I heard that there's ice cream in it for me.

I have culverts for that, and I cannot be bribed by ice cream.

I do not want anything with strings attached, and I want this to be public land that I can enjoy for my time and for my children's time.

Thank you.

That concludes the public input.

Okay, that takes us to the item that is before us.

This is item 0609-26.

Communication sponsored by Mayor Mason requesting to authorize the mayor and city clerk to enter into an agreement with Leopold Johnson Golf Group for shoreline stabilization, habitat restoration, clubhouse construction, and a long-term lease for the operation and maintenance of Shoot Park.

Is there a motion to approve the item?

So motion by Alderland to approve.

Is there a second?

Seconded by Alder Pete.

Uh discussion.

Alderland, you made the motion.

Did you want to speak to your motion?

Yes.

I'm very excited about this proposal, and I thank you for your investment and your time coming here.

When it was first brought up to us, I had a couple of things that I had questions about.

Both of those questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I think this is wonderful.

I don't think that we have the money to take care of Shoot Park like we should be able to.

So I think that this is just a great investment for the city of Racine, and I support this wholeheartedly.

Thank you.

Clearly, um there's been a lot of give and take, it appears, between our first meeting and today, and I'm assuming knowing the way that negotiations work.

Umbody got exactly what they wanted.

But if both parties feel that it's fair, then uh hopefully it's considered a win-win.

My first job at the age of 14, I was freshman in high school, was down the street from my home in the town of Summers.

It was at a golf course, petrifying Springs.

That was a county golf course.

It was also considered a public park, even though they charge people to come on the golf course and play a round of golf.

That job taught me about responsibility, showing up on time, waking up at four in the morning so I could be there at 5 a.m.

on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Taught me how to interact with customers, how to manage money because the first time I had a job.

And back then, although the minimum wage I think was three dollars an hour, I was only making $2.

The next year I got a raise of 10 cents, and at some point they raised it up to minimum wage, but it was a good job.

And I anticipate that young people in our community may have the same opportunity I had at uh shoe park.

I've golfed Shoe Park a few years back with some friends on a Saturday or no, a Friday afternoon.

We were the only ones out there.

My shoes were soaked by the time I got back to my car.

I didn't anticipate that, but I had never golfed it before.

We joked that it was whistling straight south, sitting on the lake the way it was.

But now we have a proposal before us that will actually upgrade the park and make it uh significant.

There's a lot of banter back and forth in social media about Shoe Park, that it's intended to be a public park.

A golf course is a public park if it's owned by a municipality.

We hear how we loved a picnic there, but there's no picnic tables outside of one outside the clubhouse at Shoot Park, so I'm not sure where the picnicking is taking place.

Uh I've never taken my family and put out a blanket on the eighth green and uh pulled out a sandwich and some sodas and told the grandkids, hey, we're gonna have a picnic here.

We don't hike it.

I'd be afraid of the grandkids getting hit by random golf balls.

My dad told me a cute story today, and when he was a kid, uh he went down to Shoe Park and he didn't know what golf was, and he got all excited because he uh kept finding these golf balls and he's loading up his pocket, and turns out uh people were playing golf and he was taking golf balls that were in play.

Um while it would be nice to maybe put a playground in there to maybe create a forested area, I do have to remind you it was a brickyard back, I think the 1800s.

Um it wasn't park space, it wasn't green space, it wasn't dunes, it was kind of an industrial area, and when the brickyards went away, it somebody converted it.

It is a golf course, it has been a golf course for a very long time.

If those here on the council want it to be something else, then we have to find the money for that.

But I don't see that happening.

Whether the Johnson Leopold group or the city maintains it, it will be a golf course for quite a while.

If we maintain it, I don't anticipate it being a well-maintained course, and that's just the facts and the reality that we're dealing with.

We have a family that's investing their money.

Whether or not they've created an LLC or corporate, I don't see this as a corporate takeover of a municipal park.

It's a family.

From what I understand, Mr.

Leopold is passionate about golf.

And he can afford to invest in upgrading a beautiful park that we have.

He is replacing infrastructure that we don't have the dollars for.

We'd go down those rickety old stairs you weren't supposed to go down.

And he'd load up his pocket, and I am not going to vote for anything that is going to take that experience away from other grandchildren or other children.

In fact, the last time I went down there, it was not very attractive.

It wasn't maintained.

There were trees and things all over the place.

And so we have an investment in the shoreline.

We have a parking lot that is in desperate need of repair.

We don't have the money to do that.

We have a clubhouse that's in desperate need of repair.

We don't have the money to do that.

We have a maintenance shed that's in desperate need of repair.

We don't have the money to do that.

We have to build a fire station.

We have to build a police station.

We're building a community center and a health center.

We don't have the money to invest in our park in the village of Wind Point.

And yet we have a responsibility for that.

Whether or not the Johnson Leopold family pulls out in ten years or 50 years.

We have an investment.

If after ten years they say we're walking away from that, and I don't anticipate that will happen, but we never know.

That's ten years that we don't have to put money into shoot park.

Ten years that we don't have to put maintenance dollars into the park because they will be maintaining it.

They'll be cutting the grass, they'll be paying the water bills, they'll be fertilizing it.

This isn't something that they're going to make a lot of money off of.

I can go to Johnson Park or Washington Park or Ice Grove.

But on the other hand, I wouldn't mind trying it just to see what it's like.

What are the intangible benefits of having this investment in this golf course?

Tourism.

People coming into the community.

They could stay at one of Wind Point's finest hotels.

Oh, wait a minute.

I don't think Windpoint has a hotel.

But they could stay at the Verdant or the other hotels in the area.

They could come downtown and take in our beautiful lakefront, eat at one of our fine restaurants, go shop at Dimples or some of the other fine stores that we have here before they head back out and hit another golf course on their week-long expedition.

This is a win-win for the city of Racine.

And I would encourage each and every one of you to think long and hard about it, but I would encourage you to support this proposal.

We talk about the deficit, the structural deficit we have.

We talk about the difficult budget that we're going to face in October when we begin negotiating.

This will be one item that we won't have to worry about.

And to have a world-class golf course in our backyard that we own.

When it's all said and done, we, the city of Racine, will own that golf course.

That's a positive thing.

Thank you.

Well, the first golf course that I played home when I first moved to uh Racine.

And I used to take my kid down there many years ago, and I have noticed the determination on the water part.

Uh I've noticed the trees.

Of course, I used to live on that side of the area of town, so I've I've been in a few of the windstorms over time.

So I've seen what the trees have done down there, and I understand what we've talked about tonight.

I've heard from both sides, and everyone I think is answered.

Great questions.

I think we've listened to each other, and I think it's good for this city of Racine who not only in the audience, but because I think the audience uh explain their slides.

I think I could our colleagues did a great job of expressing their set their comments as well as asking the key questions.

Uh I I should have hit the button before Alder Mac did, but I totally agree with what he said, and I think again, thank everyone in the room because I think we did a great job of communication, and but if we can't communicate with each other, accomplishing anything will be a great challenge.

Thank you.

I ended up turning it off because all of my notes I think Alder Mac red.

Um I just I just wanted to say that I appreciate every single person that emailed every single person that spoke the last several meetings, both sides.

Um, the willingness to hear each other.

Um there, and I agree that there just seem to be so many benefits, and I know some of the things that people feel like we're losing.

Um, I don't think we're losing them.

When I think about the students that I serve, I want them to be able to practice on a really nice place.

I want them to have that community on a really nice setting.

I don't think it has to be one or the other.

Um, I I had an elementary kids who watched buildings and grounds come in and put sod down in front of their school, and they were so excited to have nice grass.

All of our students should be able to go someplace really nice and practice and enjoy the game of golf and walk on a path and be on a beautiful space on the lake.

And if I'm gonna trust a family to do it right, it's gonna be a family that has invested in my community since I've been a little girl lives here my whole entire life, watch them bring mental health into schools, watch them hold community forums.

I'm gonna trust this family and I appreciate their willingness to listen to the environmental impacts to answer questions to meet with people.

So I think there are so many benefits when I think of scholarships for students and the investment and I I don't think it has to be either or I think we can still keep the community part of shoot park and the things that people love and upgrade and and make it beautiful for everybody.

Alder Jorgensen thank you you know this is uh this was something that I'd be very transparent when it was first presented I I was a bit apprehensive to it.

I was very concerned uh with how it would remain affordable for Racine residents because it is uh a park that is owned by the city of Racine and so um it was something that I was following very very closely uh on on how this would be able to be uh remaining an affordable course for the the city of Racine residents uh and so by tying it to another one of our municipal golf courses I really do feel like that does remove a lot of my apprehension that this would become wildly inexpensive for for city residents uh I think there's been a lot of discussion on you know wind point and windpoint residents I don't live in windpoint I don't represent windpoint um I can only go off of what their elected representatives have done and they adopted it their portion of it unanimously so to be totally transparent I was looking at it through the lens of what my job was which is to represent the 5th district and the city of Racine residents who would elect us and myself to be here and so I really spent a lot of time thinking about it.

I it's been it was funny everyone brought up their kids and bringing their kids there I have a daughter she's 15 months her name's Bonnie and we brought her there not too long ago and we tried to go down by the the lake shore but it was hard to get to you couldn't go very far there were down trees uh and so actually I ended up uh taking her back up to the shore while my wife and some friends that were in from out of town stayed down there.

Uh and so we were up waiting on the shore my daughter and I got to thinking about it of you know in in 10 years uh you know where how what do I want to bring her to uh do I want to say you know taking her through there and I was on the council and we had an opportunity to do this but we chose not to and there used to be a parking lot there but it's fallen into the lake.

There used to be a clubhouse there but we had to tear it down because we couldn't afford to repair it so now there's no clubhouse or do I want to be able to take her somewhere and say you know this is one of the top golf courses in the country it's very expensive to play here.

But this we get to play here for a reduced rate because this is a city of Racine Park it's one of the benefits of living in Racine is you'd be able to golf there for an extremely reduced rate.

And I I think that was was really one of the things that I I think that we could be proud of that move to the city of Racine we have a world class golf course that you can golf for for $24 or $35 or whatever Washington Park is set at which well I I'm not a golfer myself so I just want to clarify that.

Well I've been told Washington Park is a very nice golf course I it's not described as one of the top in the country and so if this has the opportunity to do so that's a great asset.

The only thing that I I did kind of catch my ear um it was brought up tonight of there may be some appetite from the business community to put forward something so that um younger uh children that are just starting out would maybe be able to have some kind of fun set aside for um children who live in the city of Racine to golf there and have some of that fun cover it or all of it there is a week still between final approval for this so this comes back on on Tuesday of next week of when that would be coming back.

I think that's uh a decent amount of time to maybe get something I think it would be fantastic if when this came back in a week there was uh the start of a proposal to it of in addition to all of the things that we're working on now this would be what the the business community in the city has come forward with as well in addition to it.

Uh I I myself chose to live in Racine uh and and raise my family here and settle down for many other ones, uh many other reasons.

And so I think this is uh something that we could add as another feather to our cap uh as one of the the amazing reasons of why to choose Racine.

Thank you.

Any other discussion on item zero six zero nine dash two six?

Before we go to the vote, just a reminder we are an executive committee, not full council.

So there are um six members of the executive committee, myself, Alder Allen, Alder Harman, Alder Pete, Alder Jorgensen, and Alder Land.

Um and then uh after the vote this evening, it will go to the full council next Tuesday, the twenty-first at six o'clock.

So for people uh watching at home or who might be here wondering when final passage might occur, it would be on Tuesday the twenty-first at the full council meeting in the space that you're in today.

So when the clerk calls your name uh for executive committee members, please vote as you wish.

Aye.

Yes.

Thank you.

That's five eyes zero nos.

Motion passes unanimously.

This does exhaust our agenda, and so we are adjourned.