City Council To Discuss Lakeside Park Master Plan Tonight; Decision To Be “It’s A GO” or “NO”

If past history is any indication, tonight’s Fond du Lac City Council meeting will feature passionate pleas from all sides.

City Council is again set to take up discussion regarding Lakeside Park and the Alternative Master Plan. The main pieces to the plan include a proposed multi-purpose building that would house a restaurant, and would be constructed just to the west of the Lighthouse. A donor group, Lakeside Forward, has received financial commitments in the amount of nearly $6 million to assist in the construction of the building, as well as other features associated with the plan.

Main opposition to the plan has come in the way of the Friends of Lakeside Park, which has not been in favor of the location of the building.

In a special council session held last week, May 4, City Council reached consensus on three alternate locations for the proposed building, that included moving the multi-purpose building to an area just west of the current pavilion; to an area east of the parking lot on Oven Island; and finally an area just south of the current Yacht Club.

Lakeside Forward denied all three locations, but did offer up a compromise in the way of agreeing to move the building further west of the current proposed location.

In a social media post Wednesday on the Lakeside Forward Facebook page, Eric Stone said “the placement of the multi-purpose building after we have moved it further west, is now blocked by a grove of trees and provides minimal changes to the views in Lakeside Park, while offering excellent views from the restaurant area and the public space which will also have a direct site line of the lighthouse.”

The Council agenda for tonight includes two key resolutions:

Resolution 8939A, a Resolution That Directs Termination Of The Lakeside Park Enhancement Agreement

Resolution 8939B, a Resolution That Amends The Lakeside Park Enhancement Agreement And Accepts Lakeside Forward’s Proposal To Move The Restaurant/Multipurpose Building Slightly West Of Its Current Site

The newest members to the council, which include Tiffany Brault, Keith Heisler and Patrick Mullen, ran in opposition of the current agreement, and had indicated they wanted to see the matter put to public referendum or to terminate the agreement completely.

One side of the aisle, Lakeside Forward, is in search of progress for a community that would include “initiating intentional enhancement and vibrancy.”

The other side, Friends of Lakeside Park, is standing firm in what they feel is protecting the crown jewel of the city.

And in the middle is a City Council that has come to the fork in the road, and now has to decide which is the best route to take.

Council is set to meet Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m.