Posted on May 29, 2019
DECATUR — The boats are back in the waters of Lake Decatur this Memorial Day weekend, with owners ready to enjoy the fruits of a multiyear dredging project and hear music from the new Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater drifting across the waves.
While some aspects of a long-term plan to transform the lakefront have cruised ahead in recent years, one key component has not: installation of uniform, upgraded docks for private boat clubs along the shoreline. City and Decatur Park District officials said recently that they continue to discuss how that vision could become reality someday, though there are no plans in place right now.
“We look forward to those conversations,” park district Executive Director Bill Clevenger said. “… We don’t know what (upgrading all of the docks) would look like, as we’re way too preliminary into it.”
Upgrading the docks has been part of the plan since 2011, when both government bodies approved the concept, later dubbed “Lakeshore Landing.” The plan envisioned transforming the city’s east side into a hub for recreation over a decade or longer.
That plan also called for the creation of consistent standards for all the docks along the Nelson Park shoreline. Officials said new rules would address safety concerns about electricity, and would require boat clubs that might have been neglecting dock maintenance to step up their efforts.
Public opinion was heavily sought during the initial stages of putting together the Lakeshore Landing concept. Some boaters objected to the uniform dock idea, fearing subsequent fee increases would price them out of the lake. They also objected to losing the ability to customize their docks.
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To showcase what they’d like the new marina to look like, the city and park district built a cluster of new, uniform docks as part of a promenade located near the Beach House restaurant at 2301 S. Lake Shore Drive.
Response was initially tepid. By the second season they were open, the park district was unable to fill all of the available spots.
Since then, Clevenger said, popularity of the docks has grown. He said there’s currently a waiting list of about 10 or 12 people wanting to sign up for dock rentals, as all of the ones available for rent are full.
Boat docks along Nelson Park are shown on in 2018. A 2011 plan called for the creation of consistent standards for docks along the Nelson Park shoreline
JIM BOWLING, HERALD & REVIEW
“We see that people have gravitated toward the product,” Clevenger said. “(The dock project) is probably a process that has to evolve with the city and the park district working together … We kind of just have to methodically work our way through different phases of input.”
City Manager Scot Wrighton said the boat docks are just one aspect of of the “large, complex issue” that is the city’s management of Lake Decatur.
He said the city and park district have had discussions on potential ways the two bodies can continue to collaborate. Most recently, those talks have led to the city and park district agreeing to partner and provide gas sales to boaters at Nelson Park for the 2019 boating season.
“We have had, and continue to have, collaborative discussions,” Wrighton said.
Lakeshore Landing
Due to its location in the center of Decatur and next to the sprawling, 180-acre Nelson Park, community leaders have long touted Lake Decatur as one of the city’s most distinctive assets. The 3,093-acre waterway was constructed from 1920 to 1923 on the Sangamon River, supporting key area industries and providing the primary source of drinking water for Decatur and Mount Zion.
Seeking to capitalize on the lake’s potential recreational purposes, the lakeshore development plan was created. The park district also needed the city to sign off on the project, as it controls the lake and almost all the boat slips on it.
In the years since the plan was approved by both the park district board and the city council, many elements have either been completed or are in the works. This includes a mini golf course near U.S. 36 that opened in 2014. A ropes course and batting cages were added to that facility in 2017.
The Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater, primarily funded by a $3.9 million donation from the Howard G. Buffett foundation and named after Buffett’s wife, kicked off its debut season Friday.
Nelson Park has also gotten a mountain bike trail, a dog park and outdoor exercise equipment among other new amenities. A $10.5 million water park is under construction and expected to open by next spring.
One of the first major projects of the Lakeshore Landing concept was the construction of the new promenade and docks near the Beach House in 2012. The project cost $1.4 million, split between the city and park district.
Justin Knappe, with his friend Mark Hunter and Mark’s 4-year-old son, Micah in tow, spent time Wednesday taking his boat for a spin on the lake.
Knappe has rented one of the city and park district’s new boat docks for a couple years now, and said floating docks should be considered if any future plans are put in motion. Due to the height of the fixed docks, boat lifts are needed and cost extra if someone wants to rent a slip with one installed. Initially, just four of the docks came with boat lifts included, but the park district has since added more.
“Since they have the lifts on them, it’s not that much of an issue,” Knappe said. “But I think that’s what kept a lot of people from coming out here before … now that they’ve added the lifts to them, you can see there’s a lot more people over here now.”
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If the uniform docks do come to fruition someday, he said, they should either be floating docks or come with lifts installed — just as the 2012 docks do.
While renting a slip with a lift does raise the cost of the annual lease “considerably,” Knappe believes the price is worth it.
Lake management
Wrighton said the recreational aspects Lake Decatur’s management — such as future gas sales, how to finance them and the prospect of hiring a third-party marina operator — will be part of a watershed management plan that city staff has been instructed by council members to assemble.
The council met on April 29 to discuss the city’s stewardship of the lake during a special study session.
When it comes to the lake as a whole, he said, recreation opportunities are secondary to concerns related to improving the lake’s water quality, reducing agricultural pollution and controlling siltation in the aftermath of the city’s dredge project.
The $91 million Lake Decatur dredge, one of the largest municipal projects in Decatur’s history, aimed to increase the man-made waterway’s depth and capacity by removing debris and dirt from its floor. The project began in fall 2014 and wrapped up last year.
“Lake Decatur serves as a water supply,” Wrighton said. “That’s the No. 1 purpose of the lake, and second comes recreation.”
The idea of possibly finding a third-party operator to oversee the lake’s marina was first recommended by Consultant Greg Weykamp of Edgewater Resources, and the creator of much of the lakefront plan.
He said doing so would be the most cost-effective way to ensure the docks meet the same standards. Officials tried to find a marina operator in years past, including pursuing a potential deal with the operator of Lake Springfield, LLC, but a deal never worked out.
Ideally, Wrighton said, the operator would oversee lake services such as boat fuel, repairs, sundry stores, installing docks and handling the rentals, upkeep and replacement of the docks if one is found. “If all of that can be handled by someone who specializes with that, then that’s an enhancement,” he said.
The city has not yet taken any action on watershed management issues, and Wrighton said staff hopes to bring a potential management plan back to council in “a couple of months.”
Clevenger said any moves going forward with the uniform docks would have to be under the city’s leadership, but the park district is looking forward to having conversations on where that project goes from here.
He also said it would be important to allow Wrighton, who began his tenure as city manager in March, an opportunity to settle in and see what direction the city would like to go with the docks in the future.
As for the lakeshore development plan’s current accomplishments, Clevenger said, the city, park district and public should be proud of its progress.
“It’s one of those projects that hopefully 20 years from now, it’s something the community’s going to look back at and be proud of,” he said.
Source: herald-review.com
