"County board tables sale Of Cave Point county park" from the June 24, 1969 Door County Advocate
County board tables sale Of Cave Point county park
State offers $30,000 for County land
The county board this morning tabled until September a resolution authorizing the sale of Cave Point county park to the state for $30,000.
The resolution from the zoning, industrial development and planning (ZIP) committee would have accepted the offer of $30,000 from the Department of Natural Resources for the 18.6 acre park, including 900 feet of rocky shore frontage, for inclusion in the new Whitefish Bay state park.
Richard Weisgerber and Herbert Petersen led the opposition against the sale, Weisgrerber asking, "Why are we so anxious to sell a county park" and then commenting, "It's one of the few things still free to the people who come up here."
Petersen said, "$30,000 is peanuts. I don't think we should sell it for $300,000."
However, Ron Berg, a member of the ZIP committee, pointed out that the park will be surrounded by a new state park and that his committee "was elated when they came along with an offer like this." Bernard Hagedorn, ZIP committee chairman, added that the offer was in line with appraisal prices.
S. S. Teller Jr. also noted the problem of county or town right of way on land in a state park in that it becomes "a glorified parking lot" for park visitors avoiding the park admission fee.
The motion to table the resolution came after Tom Herlache said he was not aware of the pros and cons of the matter and that he felt he needed more time to study them. And when the tabling motion came up, Hagedorn commented, "A lot of people are asking what the delay is in land acquisition for the new parks and now you're helping to delay it."
Although first taken by most to be a "tongue in cheek" gesture, Herman Vandertie indicated he was serious when he suggested that the ZIP committee investigate the possibility of the state taking over the entire county park system. "A lot of people have asked whether they're worth the cost of the upkeep," he said.
Earlier, one of the county parks, the Forestville dam, had been labeled "a disgrace to the county" by Alfred Haasch, who said his constituents were asking why a northern county park (Door Bluff) is receiving $17,000 in improvements and a southern park like Forestville dam is getting none.
When Petersen pointed out that the Forestville park is "nothing but a mudhole" with the water being allowed to flow through the dam, Haasch agreed and charged the county with both "postponing and neglecting it," noting that $10,000 had been allocated for the project.
Hagedorn said that plans for repairs to the dam are being finalized by soil conservation district engineers and when Berg said he thought that the price of $5,000 for each new gate sounded high, Haase added, "Mark Schlise could do the job at half the price."
[author not stated]
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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