Lake Geneva Wisconsin’s City Council has not heard the last of Bob Hummel and his construction plans for 711 acres of land next to Big Foot Beach State Park. Although the City Council voted to deny the Mirbeau-Hummel general development plan that Hummel proposed a few months ago, a new plan has been in the works. Lake Geneva Regional News reported that Hummel’s attorney commented on there being nothing official in the works right now and there was no set timeframe when he would present a new proposal. 

However, Hummel’s attorney did mention that the Hummel Group would be meeting with city staff this week and discuss plans for a land division regarding the eight parcels of land that make up the property into 18 divisions; current allowed uses for the land include cultivation, selective cutting, community living arrangements and single-family residential. Hummel may also build a house on each of the eight parcels, with a total of eight homes without any special zoning requests. Whether Hummel will chose to do this, ask for approval of dividing the land into 18 parcels, or sell the land parcels individually to other developers, only time will tell.

The Hillmoor Golf Course property has come under the critical eye of residents and city officials alike. A Finance, License and Regulatory Committee meeting in late June brought some complaints to light about the condition of the currently unused city-owned land. 

The city owns 85 acres of property where 8 golf holes are located near Eastview School; this property has been leased to Hillmoor, while the remaining acreage and course is owned by George Wight. The course itself has not been opened all summer and the clubhouse has been closed since winter and complaints have been that the upkeep of the city-owned land has not been maintained like it should. Many Condo owners spoke out for the July 1^st meeting letting the city council know that they expected to have a community golf course that was to be well kept near their property and available for use, which has not been the case.

As the upkeep of the property is the city’s responsibility, being the landlord of the acreage, it is a sensitive issue and the city council must decide what their options are before addressing the solution to the public in a subsequent meeting.

Walworth County Wisconsin’s Big Foot School Board recently took a closer look at their new energy policy and its results at a Board meeting last month to see how efficient the policy has been for the year. The school district’s energy savings policy included a $600,000 loan to bring boilers, lighting and control up to date with energy savings standards; the Board expected to pay the loan off using savings from utility bills.

Although the district’s gas and electric bills did reduce in the past year, it didn’t decrease as much as expected. However, a few representatives from Complete Control Inc. (the company that brought the new energy policy forth), confirmed that savings were reduced but it wasn’t as noticeable due to rising costs in energy and increased demand for gas. Also reported was a savings of $95,994 judging on the previous year’s electric and gas bills, as well as an estimate of deferred maintenance cost (as boilers would not have to be constantly repaired) which came to an additional $80,000.

Find out more about environmentally friendly practices in Walworth County Wisconsin:

Fertilizer Ban

Watershed signs posted all Summer for safety

Restoration project for Lake Como