A good turnout and details on the revised Silver Rapids Lodge redevelopment was evident on Monday night.
Held in the restaurant area with the public able to ask questions one-on-one with the developers revealed some interesting information.
The new of units has been reduced by five, the number of mooring spaces cut from 90 to 52 and the Tiki bar building between the highway and the lake has been removed from the plans.
“The big elements that have changed are we’ve reduced the number of new buildings by 10%. We’ve decreased the dock request by almost 50%,” said developer Jamie Tatge.
“The voluntary EAW is actually in the county’s hands right now, which is submitted to the county for their review, and then we’ll, sometime in the next week or two, we’ll go out for public comments. And then near the waterfront, we took out the Tiki bar.”
Public input two years ago helped to reshape the plan which is still estimated at $45 million to $50 million in overall cost.
The units will be sold as fractional interests where up to four owners can purchase one unit. The project will have three phases, the first being to tear down the lodge building and put a new structure with a restaurant, bar, swimming pool and outdoor hot tub.
“We looked at the big things that were frustrations for people. We listen to all that, and then we also made sure that the requirements of the density of the units all match the DNR and the county’s ordinance, which last time there were inconsistencies from the DNR, the county and what we required. So we made sure all of that was in check,” said Tatge.
Although the ownership of the project has changed, Tatge and Sandy Hoff are still investors and still heavily involved in the project. While there were reductions in the project, costs have only increased since it was proposed two years ago.
“It’s probably a $50 million project now, because costs don’t get any less. It’s going to be very similar. I don’t think it’s going get any cheaper.
Hoff said the county made changes to match what the DNR requires. Two years ago the state threatened to sue the county over what it would allow.
“So now they spell out more clearly what everyone needs to do to comply. There was a lot of uncertainty, and that’s what created the challenge for us,” said Hoff.
“There was always this misconception that we’re going to come in with 90 big docks. So now we’re down to 52 moorings and, you know, a lot of the folks that weren’t supportive of the project thought we were going to attract a lot more people to boat. But we don’t have that many customers that are boating here all the time,” said Hoff.
The change in the ownership group was addressed by Tatge with Storie Company being the lead investor.
“We brought in an additional capital group. Obviously, the delay in holding costs and the delay in the project and the way it costs a lot of money. I mean, that’s probably an extra two million bucks. Maybe more. So we brought in a capital group to make sure that we can get the project off the ground.
“Sandy (Hoff) and I are minority partners in the larger project. But they are a lion’s share of the capital. We’re still the developers,” said Tatge.
Lake County Commissioner Joe Baltich was at the meeting and was asked about the county board’s view of the project.
“I can’t speak directly for them because I will say they are a diverse group, but I will say that I believe it won’t have any issues. Unless there’s some surprise waiting for me, but I don’t see it. I think the county’s going to be very supportive of it,” said Baltich.
Baltich said the update to the county’s ordinance was long overdue.
“I know that our law, that ordinance was made originally in 1995, and it wasn’t modernized. It didn’t match the state. So what we did is we followed the state’s format. But we’re a little bit more restrictive than the state is in our shoreline uses.”
B altich s aid t he p ublic will have plenty of opportunity to provide input.
“We’re going to be doing public hearings, planning and zoning meetings, the whole thing. It’s a big project. We’d be crazy not to,” said Baltich.
Opposition to the project in the first iteration came from several groups include CURE. Hudson Kingston, now also a Fall Lake Township supervisor, spoke to his concerns.
“I would say last time, I was supporting the petition for environmental review, and now they’re gonna do environmental reviews.
“So that’s great. I’m very happy about that. I also will point out that somebody has told me they did remove the leaking underground storage tank, and I really wanted to hear that today.
“I’m really glad they did do that. Those are great developments, and they should get credit for doing it differently this time.”
Kingston said while the changes made are good, he will continue to play a role.
“I’m going to learn more about it this time. I’m gonna read the documents. I do have concerns that it’s still pretty dense and, like a pretty big, a pretty big number of fractional units, which I call timeshares but we don’t have something like that up here. We do have home resorts where people have like bought the individual cabins. This is not that.
“So it’s going to be a lot of traffic. I’m worried about drunk drivers. That’s something that’s going happen and, people walk on the street and we don’t have that many streets. But I think that’s as far as I’ll go right now. I wouldn’t call myself anti. I do want them to do it the right way. They think they’re doing it the right way and I think it’s a good thing to talk about,” said Kingston.
