Minocqua residents in the southern Bo-di-Lac area won’t have to trailer their ATVs or UTVs to reach existing ATV/UTV routes in the Willow Flowage area and western Price County.
That’s because the Minocqua Town Board has agreed to let them use town roads to reach those routes.
Lakeland ATV/UTV Club president Dewey Sternberg collected over 90 signatures on a petition supporting the authorization, which would run from May 1 to November 1 of each year.
The board Tuesday chose a 3.5-mile route that takes riders close to Winter Park & Nordic Center after Supervisor John Thompson argued there is little use of Winter Park in the summer. The route starts from the Minocqua fire barn and goes south. The other route under consideration was a couple miles longer, but had blacktopped roads.
The board will amend the town ATV ordinance to include Bo-di-Lac, Scotchman Lake Road and Camp Nine Road as designated ATV/UTV roads. Citizens can still address the matter at two future board meetings. After the anticipated ordinance approval the ATV/UTV club would then sign the ATV/UTV route for local traffic use only.
Playground site
The town board approved a playground site at the 70 West Park. The matter had been taken up three times by the plan commission and three times by the town board. The board was split on which site to select.
But the weight of the 7-member plan commission recommendation and two town supervisors prevailed and the site of the former riding stables of the former Circle M Corral Family Fun Park was chosen. The vote was unanimous this time with Supervisor Bryan Jennings absent.
Town Chairman Mark Hartzheim said the stables are in too much of disrepair to save and could cost upwards of $5,000 to repair. He offered that the town should place a historic marker at the park entrance noting the long-time attraction that was popular with both tourists and locals.
There is concern that parents won’t be able to monitor two or more of their children engaged in different activities at the park. But Hartzheim and others pointed out that it was still the responsibility of parents and other caretakers to watch their kids.
“It’s the parents’ responsibility and not ours to make sure they’re not running in traffic,” agreed Supervisor John Thompson.
There would be parking adjacent to the playground area. The site is further away from the pavilion, which concerned at least one supervisor earlier. But the plan commission members felt there was a safety issue with kids crossing the pavilion area parking lot to get to a different playground area.
Supervisor Billy Fried urged continuance of the high school cross-county practice course around the park’s perimeter. Hartzheim said the town should be able to accommodate them.
In another action that night, the board approved the contract between the town and the Lakeland Union High School District to have a Minocqua police officer serve as school resource officer at the 700-student body school. Costs would be picked up by the school district for the school year.
Director of Public Works Mark Pertile told supervisors that a tree cutting firm would start removing trees on Dr. Pink Drive within a week. Both Dr. Pink Drive and Camp Pinemere Road are to be repaved after Labor Day.
The three recent storms that damaged trees have resulted in about $10,000 in cleanup costs, he said.
Finally, he recounted the experience that he recently had when a motorist stopped and offered his observation that Minocqua is one of the most-inviting and well-maintained communities the well-traveled motorist has seen.
