Engineering firm hired to help with trail project
The Lake Geneva City Council have approved a task order contract with Kapur & Associations Inc. of Burlington to assist with Phase 1 of a trail project on the Hillmoor property.
The Lake Geneva City Council has approved hiring Kapur & Associates Inc. to assist with the bidding, designing and construction management of the first phase of a trail improvement project on the Hillmoor property.
The task order contract with the Burlington engineering firm is not to exceed $53,268
On May 26, the contract was approved 5-3, with Alders Mary Jo Fesenmaier, Joel Hoiland and Brian Smith voting "no."
The first phase of the project includes constructing the 0.65-mile southern loop of the 1.21-mile, 11-foot-wide trail in Zone 1 of the property.
Fesenmaier proposed an amendment that the trail only be 10 feet wide to reduce the risk of flooding and to provide more funding for other areas of the project.
Michael Krajovic, a consultant for the Hillmoor Commission, said city officials want the trail to be 11 feet wide to provide adequate space for pedestrians, bicyclists and people with disabilities. He said the project also would include stormwater management, native plants and a savanna prairie area to serve as a buffer between the trail and wetland area.
"We see people using bikes coming through Hillmoor to go up to Highway 50, as well as people walking side by side," Krajovic said. "To provide safe traffic, you need safe passage in two different directions."
Fesenmaier's amendment failed 3-5, with Smith and Hoiland voting in favor.
The entire project is expected to cost about $430,000.
In 2024, the city received a $242,260 Knowles-Nelson stewardship grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to help fund the project.
Lake Geneva will have to pay any costs not covered by the grant.
On April 27, council members approved a conceptual plan for Zone 1 that includes the trail system, an 18-hole disc golf course, a dog park, a splash pad, a playground area, sledding hills, an amphitheater, fishing outcrop areas, a meditation pond and a river walk.
Zone 1 is located on 32 aces near Eastview Elementary School and Dunn Field Park on Sage Street.
