Close the Lake Geneva Boat Launch

I don’t write often about local politics. If I did, I would have something new to write about weekly, as the local governments churn and sputter and clumsily plod towards some vague vision of their municipal futures. That sentence gave away my opinion of most in local government, but it also effectively describes my objection to the manner in which local politics are conducted. There is a general lack of vision as to what each of our prized municipalities should be (excepting Fontana, mostly). The reason there’s a lack of vision is because at the fundamental core of these local residents there is a lack of understanding as to what these communities actually are. Without understanding what you are, you cannot imagine where you should go. This is the problem with local politics and this is why I typically choose to avoid comment on the blundering matters that stumble their way into other local newspapers and blogs.

But this week, there was big news, and that news is that Lake Geneva has a new mayor. This is news because the incumbent mayor lost, and he is a local business owner so the general consensus was that he would win. He didn’t. This isn’t a post about him, nor about the new mayor, this is a post about some of the issues that have been plaguing the City of Lake Geneva. These issues, by the way, are the likely reasons for the mayoral change. And if that’s true, then perhaps the slimmest majority of voters were displeased with the direction that town is heading. Ah, but don’t you see the problem here? Do you remember why there’s an issue with vision? It’s because of an uncertain sense of identity. What is Lake Geneva, anyway?

I can read that question and answer it with absolute certainty: Lake Geneva is an affluent resort community in Southeastern Wisconsin. That is the statement that should be understood and adopted by every Lake Geneva city official, employee, and property owner. This is what this town is. Yet there was some confusion at the leadership levels as to whether or not that statement of identity was true. And if it was true, then it certainly wasn’t understood. I view this town in absolutes. Early on, it was a resort town for wealthy vacation home owners. It grew into a resort town for wealthy vacation home owners. It will continue to thrive as a resort town for vacation home owners. Without vacation home owners Lake Geneva is just another dying town in rural Wisconsin. Understand that and you understand town. And if you understand that then you should understand where town should be heading. That is, to a future where Lake Geneva is a resort town preferred by wealthy vacation home owners. The rest is noise. (This doesn’t mean the town isn’t able to host residents and visitors of all makes and models, all incomes, etc., it’s just identifying the obvious and celebrated nature of town.)

There has been discussion of late about the need for low income housing in the City of Lake Geneva. I hear that and I understand the theoretical concern. But the concern has an interesting origin. The theory, as I’ve been told by town officials, is that if you build cheaper houses then you’ll attract younger families, and without younger families, a town dies. This is the theory that local towns, especially Lake Geneva, grapple with because they think it’s at once noble and bowing to the prevailing wisdom of small town demographic study. In practice, the theory is untrue. Young people do not move to a town because they found a cheap house with vinyl siding and vinyl floors and vinyl bathtubs. They move to a town because they found a job there. The previously unconnected (people who grow up here may very well stay, at least in small numbers) young people won’t come here and set up their primary homestead without those interesting and upwardly mobile jobs. You do not create a town by offering houses, you create a town by offering jobs. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, because we’re not creating a town. We are a town, and it’s a town that is highly prized for its shoreline and abundance of natural, and built beauty. Why are people trying to change the town? Because they don’t fundamentally understand it.

With that understanding firmly framing this conversation, consider now one of the other issues the City of Lake Geneva is struggling with. That of the downtown boat launch. This boat launch exists in a most unfortunate location, but it’s the location where the municipality owns the lakefront, so the location makes sense. The City has been discussing a plan to move the launch into the Bigfoot Beach Lagoon (Ceylon Lagoon), and never mind that I first thought of this idea more than six years ago, it was a bad idea that I had then and it’s a bad idea now. Officials cite the congestion and danger that the downtown launch creates, and they’re right to find those concerns. But the solution to the problem is not to expand the launch in a new location, it’s to close the launch. Like forever. For good. Eliminate it. Status quo bias dictates that the reaction to this idea will be negative, but why should it be? Do you think the launch is a driver of revenue for a city with a $10MM (give or take) annual budget? If you think that, I applaud you for your ignorance. The City apparently profits somewhere around $20k annually on the downtown boat launch. In other words, it’s the key blight on its municipal lakefront and yet it generates hardly a penny of profit. This is why it should be removed. Leave or improve the existing pier and make it hourly parking for boat owners who wish to park and walk around downtown. You’ll make back your lost revenue in a passive manner, and you will beautify your downtown.

The communities will cry about this idea, saying the launch is out of their control, and that the DNR is in charge of it. But this is untrue as well. Who runs the launch? The City of Lake Geneva. Does the DNR require the city have a launch? As best I can tell, the answer is no. There is simply a requirement for the number of boats that can be launched on any given body of water in the state, and Geneva Lake far exceeds that minimum number. By eliminating the City of Lake Geneva launch you’ll eliminate pollution (ever watch a two stroke engine fire up?), eliminate another possible contamination point from introduced invasive species, eliminate traffic congestion and shore path walking danger, and beautify town. Who could view this as a negative? The solution to the City’s boat launch pain is to remove the launch. I fixed the problem.

The other ongoing issue that never finds a solution is the need for additional downtown parking. The problem with this need is that by the time cars find themselves downtown and in search of parking, the problem has already been created: traffic and congestion. This is why parking should be done outside of town, on the East side of town where the majority of our visitor traffic flows from. The solution is not a big, dumb parking garage. What a terrible idea that was, and continues to be. The solution is a parking lot on the East end of town, with a city owned trolley that brings day-trippers downtown. The city’s own economic development group owns several lots in the business park already. Take one of those lots, pave it. Put a gate on it (automated, no attendant) and charge $10 a day for parking. Run the trolly (a cool one, like the Grand Geneva’s) and have it loop from the parking lot to the lakefront every 10 minutes from 8 am until 8 pm Memorial Day to Labor Day. Will the plan make money for the city? I’m not sure. Will it benefit the city in every other possible way? Absolutely. Best of all, the up front capital required is a fraction of what a dumb suburban parking garage would cost. Kill any idea of a parking garage, build the parking lot, buy the trolly, hire a driver. People will love the convenience and downtown will benefit from less congestion.

The way Lake Geneva stays relevant for another 100 years is to embrace what it has been for the last 100 years. But while we’re embracing it, we need to improve it. Beautify town. Make the downtown sparkle. Make the lakefront sparkle, especially now that we have the launch removed and some traffic removed. Encourage outdoor dining. Beautify the landscaping. Improve the visual. I wasn’t able to vote in the last election because I don’t live in the City, but I’m in the process of voting for what I believe in with my own dollar bills. I’m building my new office (with two incredible condos available for sale, writing as the owner, not the broker), and I’m not doing it to make money. If I wanted to make money off of development in this town, I’d build cheap houses on the outskirts and stack them on top of each other. But I don’t find that rewarding because it doesn’t match my vision of what this city should be. My building has a cedar and copper roof. It has divided light windows. It has charm and character and it is undoubtedly high end. Why? Because that’s the vision I have for town, and I want to contribute to the improvement of this amazing place. The reason my vision is so clear is because I understand the past and I have no confusion as to the identity of this resort town. Embrace this valuable identity, pursue improvements based on that understanding, and abandon the status quo that says our town should contort to become something it never was never intended to be.

About the Author

I'm David Curry. I write this blog to educate and entertain those who subscribe to the theory that Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is indeed the center of the real estate universe. When I started selling real estate 27 years ago I did so of a desire to one day dominate the activity in the Lake Geneva vacation home market. With over $800,000,000 in sales since January of 2010, that goal is within reach. If I can help you with your Lake Geneva real estate needs, please consider me at your service. Thanks for reading.

9 thoughts on “Close the Lake Geneva Boat Launch”

  1. Great idea! Totally makes sense. I live in the city and use the launch regularly but would be happy to use another launch on the lake to avoid the mess it creates downtown.

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  2. Great idea! Not! Closing the downtown boat launch will drive even more boaters to Linn Pier, where we can barely swim as the boats have now taken over the end of the pier.
    This particular part of the lake was not developed as a wealthy escape. Modest cottages are more the norm, we have no infrastructure for boats: fuel, food, restrooms, anything!
    Limited parking for beach patrons and boat trailers is also a problem.
    I don’t know how Williams Bay would react, but for us at Linn, it would be a real problem.
    Is there nothing that can be done with the downtown launch? All the shops and restaurants would suffer (and really, who can survive anymore economic challenges?)

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    • Why would the restaurants suffer? Because boaters are not launching and leaving? This is absurd and it is not an economic driver for the area. If no one wants a boat launch in their community, then let’s eliminate all of the boat launches, as I’d be in favor of that approach as well.

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  3. While I agree the current boat launch location in downtown Lake Geneva is not ideal, I disagree that eliminating that launch is the solution. Boaters will not stop launching boats on Geneva Lake as a result, they’ll just go to another boat launch, in a smaller neighboring town on the lake, and cause terrible congestion there. Being a resident of one of these smaller towns I find that unacceptable. Additionally, the issue you raise about pollution & emission reduction as an added ‘bonus’ of your proposed solution will not be actualized, but simply moved to another town. As I see it, the only way to solve those issues is to reduce the number of boats allowed to launch. This would help with traffic congestion and pollution and could go a long way to improving the safety of those recreating on our lake.

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    • The “smaller” neighboring towns have larger boat launches. There is no reason the city of Lake Geneva should have a boat launch. There is also no reason the Village of Williams Bay should have a launch… Anything we can do to limit the number of boats on the lake is a thing we should do. Enough is enough.

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    • Not eliminating all of the launches. Eliminating the downtown Lake Geneva launch. The majority of the boats on the lake are launched by Gage or Gordy’s, and those boat companies use private launches.

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  4. You don’t need to remove launces you need to add launches. David, you are not intelligent. People that launch boats, shop, eat out by supplies and stay at hotels. We don’t care that some of you are stupid and rich and think you now own Lake Geneva, even Wrigley lost at that game. All the launches are a mess for parking. Water is made to be on in resort towns.

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    • Thanks for your note. At what point do lakes become too crowded? Do you think there’s a maximum number of boats that a lake can hold? Do swimming pools and restaurants have maximum occupancies? If so, why not lakes? Please let me know how Wrigley “lost that game”. Curious for some enlightenment. Thanks

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