Posted on August 2, 2020
TWO RIVERS – As the popularity of the city’s Neshotah Beach Park swells as residents stick closer to home this summer, piles of sand are quietly growing in another area.
In an area City Manager Greg Buckley calls “North Pier Beach,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pumping 67,000 cubic yards of sand from Lake Michigan to the shore.
“The public is quietly discovering it,” Buckley said of the area tucked near the U.S. Coast Guard building off Harbor Road and 16th Street near the Northern Pierhead Light Tower south of Neshotah Park.
The Army Corps of Engineers hired King Company, based in Holland, Michigan, to dredge areas of the lake where sandbars have built up, creating hazards for ships and boats coming through. The company is using hundreds of feet of heavy plastic tubing to pump clean sand from the lake to the shore.
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“The public will get to enjoy a new beach at essentially no cost to the city,” Buckley said. There’s a gravel parking lot and portable toilet in the area, but the city doesn’t plan to add anymore amenities at this time, he said.
Sediment dredged further up the Twin rivers is likely to have contamination or other runoff not conducive to a public beach and will be hauled by truck to another fill location, Buckley said.
Meantime, the new area will soon serve as a welcome benefit to the city’s lakeshore, he said.
“It’s a great release for Neshotah,” the city manager said. “It could help with social distancing as well.”
Neshotah has seen thousands of visitors this summer — many from nearby areas such as Green Bay and the Fox Valley — as families seek activities closer to home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Buckley said city administrators encourage mask wearing and social distancing at the popular beach and park, but don’t have strict rules or policies in place.
“We’ve taken the position that people will get outside this summer and this is a fun place for them to come and be active,” he said. “If they have real concerns or health issues, we assume they will stay away. We have seen heavy use of the beach, but we believe people will use their own judgment in doing what they feel is safe for them.”
The beach and surrounding park attracts many day-trippers, he said. City leaders hope to bring back events after the pandemic and to continue to add amenities, restaurants and other activities to encourage tourists to spend several days or a week’s vacation at the Lakeshore.
“We have so much to offer,” Buckley said. “Neshotah Beach is our calling card, and we are working really hard to build on that.”
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at 920-686-2152 or send an email to pzarling@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @PGPattiZarling.
Source: htrnews
