On a four to three vote Tuesday, the Sturgeon Bay City Council voted to accept a settlement agreement related to a portion of the city’s west side waterfront. The action came after council-members discussed the matter in closed session. In July, a two-person ad hoc settlement committee, working to end the impasse over the future of the waterfront parcels, issued a statement calling on the city and its Waterfront Redevelopment Authority to accept a negotiated settlement on the matter. The statement, provided by Alderpersons Laurel Hauser and David Ward, indicated that a consensus was developed over two days and 12 hours involving all stakeholders. In essence, the agreement indicates that the waterfront friends group that sued the city over designation of the ordinary high water mark in connection with a proposed hotel would drop its lawsuit and the city would forego its decision to ask legislators to determine the high water mark for the DNR. As litigants, the Sturgeon Bay City Council and the Waterfront Redevelopment Authority must each sign off on the settlement. However, the Waterfront Redevelopment Authority at its last meeting voted five to two to reject the the proposed settlement.
