Progress is being made on the effort to upgrade Bradley Lake in Sturgeon Bay. According to information supplied by Roger Anderson, funding is available to cover work on an engineered wetland planned for the small body of water near Sunset Park commonly referred to as “Little Lake.” Five bids, ranging from $292,000 to $373,000, were received and the city’s finance committee selected Rass Excavating and Materials LLC as contractor to do the job. The Sturgeon Bay City Council is expected to accept the bid, setting the project in motion. However, work on the wetland won’t happen until the summer because a coastal management grant won’t be received until July. In addition to raising over $96,000 for the Little Lake upgrade, the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay has agreed to be responsible for planting the wetland which will be located south of Little Lake in Sunset Park. The storm water runoff from 260 acres, which now drains directly into the lake, will be diverted into the engineered wetland where suspended solids, phosphorus and nitrogen will be removed in a series of swales and biofiltration cells. Engineering work on the second and most expensive phase of the project is expected to begin this year. Perhaps as much as a million dollars will be needed to fund that phase of the project.
