After listening to an hour and 40 minutes of speakers asking the Sturgeon Bay City Council not to begin negotiations toward a settlement of the impasse between the city and a citizens group over the ordinary high water mark on a westside waterfront parcel, the city council Tuesday decided to do just that and they did so on a unanimous vote. In fact, the council-member who introduced the resolution has been a strong opponent of the current plan. The resolution provided by council-member Kelly Catarozoli sets up an ad hoc committee made up of alder-persons David Ward and Laurel Hauser to try to reach a compromise that would set the ordinary high water mark on Parcel 92 so that the impasse can be broken. The initial resolution offered by alderman Ward would have had Mayor Thad Birmingham, or a designee, handle the city’s side of the negotiating process. The committee is also expected to be supported by legal counsel. No word as to when it will begin its work and how long the negotiations will take. In a related vote, the council voted to table any action on a resolution that would have sought state legislative action to break the impasse on the ordinary high water mark issue. Alderman Ward cast the deciding vote. However, the matter can be taken off the table at any future council meeting.
