What's With the Flood Plain?
September 27, 2020
We’ve been told the Restaurant/Mixed Use building has to go on the peninsula as that is the only place where it could be built and not be in the flood plain. Below is the flood plain map of the park.
The light yellow orange is the 100 year flood plain. This shows the most likely areas to flood. The pink area is the 500 year flood plain. This also can flood, but it is less likely. If you look at the pavilion, you can see that some of the pavilion is in the 500 year flood plain.
Let’s talk about some other locations. The site for the “hub building” at the end of main street is in flood plain. Looks like that was a poor choice. If you go west, over toward the Fond du Lac river, much of that area, Fraizer Point is NOT in the flood plain. Many people have suggested this location for a structure.
In a July 7th 2020 interview on Between the Lines with Greg Stensland (minute 5:10), Ben Giles stated that the restaurant building could not go on Fraizer Point because of the 1982 referendum. THIS IS NOT true. The 1982 referendum was repealed by the city council probably in 1992 and if not at that time, it was gone by 2014.
In the FAQ on the Lakeside Forward website it says the Fraizer Point location does not allow for the installation of boat docks and that “Stinky Point” is not desirable for dining.
Looking at the peninsula map from the Alternative Master Plan, overlayed with the flood plain map, it looks like the Restaurant/Mixed Use building is going to be placed in the 500 year flood plain. To be close to the shoreline it goes in the 500 year flood plain.
Additionally , there is very little room for moving the building to the west without ending up in 100 year flood plain. You can see that the 100 year flood plain dips inland quickly as you go west.
Moving it further to the west isn’t an option, as all of that area is in the flood plain. It made sense to put the restaurant on the second floor of a new multipurpose building on the pavilion site. That option is no longer possible because of the decision in August 2020 to proceed with the pavilion remodel.
We were told the restaurant building was moved to the west. It certainly wasn’t very far to the west and frankly, there isn’t a suitable out of flood plain location on the Lighthouse Point Island. Practically speaking, the only flood zone free location for a building is on Fraizer Point.