Shoreline Committee — Minutes

Town of Onalaska Shoreline Committee Meeting Tuesday, October 28, 2025 1. Call to Order by Chairperson Luke Marcou at 7:00 pm. Committee members present were Marcou, Frank Fogel, Marc Schultz, Fritz Funk and Steve Wage. Mary Rinehart, Ashley Kiley, Scott Cortopassi and Steve Miller also participated. 2. Motion to approve the agenda by Fogel/Schultz, exchanging the order of #4 and #5 passed unanimously. 3. Public Comment (3-minute time limit): Fritz Funk said he felt he had erred in judgement in approving the budget calculations for the $642 permit fee and had expected to revisit the process. He had heard from residents who said they would be removing their docks if faced with a fee that large and noted that such dis-engagement from the lake, particularly for youth, would harm efforts to improve the lake. He hoped the Committee could discuss and arrive at a reasonable cost share for landing expenses for the shoreline residents rather than assign all of it to them. He also noted that Buffalo City charges $60-$120 annually for permits and recommended the Town bill residents annually, as permitted in Town ordinance, to spread out the impact of a fee increase. 5. Discussion and possible action regarding proper procedure for recording minutes and submitting minutes of public meetings: Motion by Fogel/Marc to use the distributed “Meeting Minutes 101” as template to go by passed unanimously. 4. Approve minutes of September 23, 2025 meeting: Fogel/Schultz moved to approve changes in the condensed version of the minutes submitted by Marcou. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Report by Wage relating to Shoreline inspection with USACE and Town of Onalaska representative: an email report of the September 11 inspection was distributed, with discussion by Wage. Fogel/Schultz moved to open the floor. USACE shoreline ranger Ashley Kiley related they had done inspections in 2023, 2024, and 2025 and that there were now only 15 violations outstanding. They used a spreadsheet with addresses and owner, pulling up the County GIS/GPS for real-time location, also using a USACE map to drop pins on problem locations. The USACE real estate division now has the spreadsheet and it will be up to them to share with the town. Steve Miller related other boats taking pictures of his home. Fogel/Schultz moved to close the floor which passed unanimously. 7. Discussion and possible action to recommend to the Town Board possible additional wording be added to the shoreline number post indicating “structures private, shoreland public”: Mary Rinehart related that 2-faced signs, similar to license plates, have been investigated. Fogel/Schultz moved to proceed with a horizontal sign and add the additional information as well as the fire number. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Discussion and possible action regarding submitted draft shoreline operational plan: Funk/Schultz moved to have chair Marcou and himself work on updating the operation plan by November 25 meeting. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Discussion and possible action to solicit for RFP for shoreline inspections: Fogel/Wage moved to solicit for bids to inspect leased shoreland adjacent to each shoreline parcel in the Town of Onalaska, and record with a checklist and pictures. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Update from Town Board regarding public informational meeting December 18, 2025 at 10 am to noon, and 5-7 pm relating to shoreline fee adjustments and installation of dock identification numbers: Brief discussion included presenting the operational plan revision and hopefully the RFP responses. 11. Update from Lake Onalaska Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District and LORC: The Lake District will hold its annual meeting at the City of Onalaska council chambers on November 19. The Lake District will be discussing expansion of its boundaries, and funding for continuing its weed-cutting. LORC will be meeting at Red Pines on November 4 and plans to be dredging by June 6. 12. Adjourn: Motion by Fogel/Wage passed unanimously. Adjournment at 8:52pm. Submitted by Fritz Funk