Two Discoveries Could Make WLA McDermott Park Lease Agreement Obsolete

Fond du Lac’s Advisory Park Board will not have to take action this evening on a proposed lease agreement with Winnebago Lutheran Academy to use a portion of McDermott Park for softball diamonds and a parking lot. In a memo to board members Public Works Director Jordan Skiff says two major discoveries render the lease and concept plan obsolete. He says WLA officials will be meeting to decide how to proceed, if at all. Skiff says because of residents concerns about flooding City staff took a look at the planned athletic fields and they would be in a floodway.  City ordinance and State and Federal floodway laws do not allow development in a floodway in such circumstances. Skiff also notes that under terms of a 2005 lease agreement with WLA a 60 foot strip of land on the east side of the park could be used to expand a baseball field or build a parking lot. Skiff says that lease runs until 2036 and the new parking lot would have to be built there.