If the DNR funded the Nordheim Park Acquisition, it would help bring the total length of public beaches closer to the plan made in 1964
A description of the grant request for the Nordheim Park Acquisition is at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/newsroom/release/63461. To the best of my understanding, they are still reviewing the grant application. If it does help fund the park, the DNR will be following through, in part, on a plan made by of one of its predecessor bodies.
https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/sites/default/files/topic/Beaches/2023_WIBeachList.pdf#page=4 is the second page of a list with all 54 public beaches in Door County. At the end of the list, it gives their combined length as 7.447 miles of beach. This isn’t quite right, because it gives the older length of Pebble Beach. Adding in the Pebble Beach expansion, the total adds up to 7.561 miles.
This is less than what had been planned in 1964:
Swimming Beaches
Unit land requirements for swimming can be estimated fairly precisely. Between 100 and 200 square feet of beach are advisable for each person present on the beach on an average weekend day. About 3500 persons could thus be accommodated simultaneously on one mile of beach 100 feet in width.
There are 16.4 miles of public shoreline in Door County outside of incorporated areas and of this total between one and two miles are sand beaches suitable for swimming. Maximum desirable capacity of present public beach is then between 3500 - 7000 persons.
Assuming that present demand for public beach is fairly well satisfied there will be a need for roughly one and one-half miles of new beach by 1980 and an additional six and three fourths miles by 2000. (There are now about 12 miles of un developed shoreline in the county.) Swimming demand is expected to expand two and one half times by 1980 and a tremendous five and one half times by 2000. Public beaches would usually be part of new state and local parks and the estimate acreage needs of these parks see page 133 also include overall acreage requirements for beaches.
https://books.google.com/books?id=soYr0dwaLFkC&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false
This estimates that by the year 2000, Door County ought to have somewhere from 7.75 to 8.75 miles of public beaches to meet estimated demand from tourists.
This planning program was assisted by the staff of the Wisconsin Department of Resource Development. https://books.google.com/books?id=soYr0dwaLFkC&pg=PP9#v=onepage&q&f=false states
The technical work performed on this program was directed by Mr. Walter Johnson, Deputy Director and State Planning Director for the Department of Resource Development. The work was done with the cooperation and assistance of officials and technicians in several state and local agencies and involved numerous technicians..."
The Wisconsin Department of Resource Development no longer exists, because it merged with the Department of Conservation in 1968, creating the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Was this plan an unfunded mandate, where state officials get to do the planning, and local governments pay for it? Later on, the plan states
There will also be a need to periodically review the amount and source of funds (local, state and federal) available to implement planning proposals and to designate project priorities in accordance with pressing needs."
https://books.google.com/books?id=soYr0dwaLFkC&pg=PA246
This is vague. There was also some federal participation in the plan, but the part on swimming beaches appears to have been written by the state rather than at the federal level.
It states that funding will need to be available according to “pressing needs”. The critical opinion at https://www.maciverinstitute.com/2023/03/northern-wisconsin-ground-zero-to-prevent-complete-government-control-of-our-land/ lists a small number of counties where the DNR has purchased a lot of land. Are the woodlands in these counties a more pressing need than reducing overcrowding at Door County beaches?
Subtracting the current beach length from the planned beach length, the current situation is deficient by anywhere from 0.189 to 1.189 miles of public beaches. They might have planned for more than that, had they made projections past the year 2000.
The form at https://widnr.widen.net/s/vfcwqm52nb/town-of-washington-pst-analysis-final doesn’t say how much beach is planned for Nordheim Park, but “beach” is in the list in the project description on the first page.
There are different ways sand could be added to the shore. One of the more generous ways would be to line the northern and western sides of it with sand, which would go about a third of the way to the 0.189 miles. So creating the park won’t completely fulfill the low-end estimate from the 1964 plan, but it would help.