St. Germain votes narrowly to break ground on disc-golf course

During a meeting of the St. Germain town board on Thursday, Oct. 24, supervisors voted — by a margin of three-to-two — for work to proceed in turning a town-owned parcel of land into a public disc-golf course.

The land in question sits on the north side of State Highway 70, just west of the town’s municipally-owned golf course.

The board first heard a request to use the land during a meeting on June 10 from Cody Vojta, who spoke previously with supervisor Brian Cooper.

“So the cost for nine holes would be around $5,400 for the baskets,” Vojta explained at that time. “The St. Germain Sportsmen’s Club has vouched to pay the first nine baskets. So what we’re looking for from the town is permission to use the land. We’d need to do the tree-clearing, which I believe is $2,800 for tree removal and brush cutting and all of that.”

Cooper told the board Dylan Jordan, owner of Legacy Land Improvements, offered his professional services at a deep discount.

“He’s a member of our fire department,” Cooper said, “and as such, decided he wanted to help out.” 

A section of snowmobile trail runs through the parcel, and town board chairman Tom Christensen asked whether the proposed disc-golf course would necessitate a change in the trail’s route. 

“Nothing gets changed,” Cooper told him.

The largest portion of the costs involved with the construction of the course would be to install a driveway and parking area.

During the July meeting, the board voted unanimously to “Commit the Town of St. Germain parcel number 24-49 for the development of a disc golf course, not to interfere with the golf course or Bo-Boen snowmobile trails during their use, with a requirement that the town board approves the final plans.”

During the Oct. 24 meeting, Cooper explained plans for the course have changed after he met with representatives of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) to make sure the parcel was legally eligible for driveway access. 

He said the DOT personnel informed him there is already a driveway assigned to that property, though it is not where Cooper and Vojta planned to have one installed.

“Evidently, there is one 1,900 feet from Whitetail Acres Road,” Cooper told the board. “There’s a culvert. There’s a driveway in there already that’s permanent. I don’t even know when it was put there.”

“And I just got documentation that we are authorized to use that for access to that parcel for the disc golf course,” he said. “Now, that kind of changes everything.”

“It’s got to get brushed out a little bit more for some two-way traffic,” Cooper said. “It intersects with the snowmobile trail back there. This is a little farther away from the highway, but it’s sparsely populated with trees. I think the largest one that needs to come out is maybe an eight-inch maple. It would be fairly easy to clear that out.”

“So what we’re looking for from the town board right now is an authorization to clear that out for a parking lot and ask for some gravel from the town pile to be used for that,” he clarified. “I think in the next month or two, we’ll try to sit down and design out the mapping of the nine holes and get at it in the spring, unless we have a mild winter again.”

“So does this snowmobile trail go through the driveway?” Christensen asked.

“It does, currently, yeah.” Cooper answered.

“But it’s not going to go through the parking lot?” The chairman asked.

“The trail would be to the north of the parking lot,” Cooper answered. “And north of where the driveway is going to stop. So we’re not going to be doing anything with the snowmobile trail at all, except we’re probably going to be using it for a driving range as it goes around, and we’ll duck into the woods for where the holes need to be. They don’t want the baskets on the trail.”

“I’d like to see where it’s staked-out,” Christensen said. “I guess I’d like the snowmobile club to weigh in that it’s all right. How realistically, in the wintertime, is it going to have any use?”

“No,” Cooper replied. “Because we’re going to pull the baskets. That’s why the snowmobile club didn’t have an issue with it. They just didn’t want the baskets in the trail, because if they stuck up, they might catch it with the drag. That was their only consideration was if it was going to get used in the winter, that the baskets were not in the trail. My understanding was that the baskets were going to get pulled in the winter.”

Cooper also said volunteers would clear the area for the parking lot. He also said if Department of Public Works (DPW) superintendent Tom Stoltman believes the town has a sufficient surplus of gravel, volunteers would be able to transport it from the town’s pile to the disc-golf site.

“We have people who have dump trucks,” Cooper said. “And it’s just a matter of making some phone calls, since our (DPW) guys are busy.”

“I questioned — the first time this was brought up — about utilizing the park here around this building,” said supervisor Jim Swenson, referring to the town’s community center. “We’ve already got ample parking spots and space. You’re looking at a nine-hole course now. When do you want to go to 18? When do you want to go to 27? Or 36?”

“I don’t think it’s going to go bigger than 18,” Cooper answered.

“I’m worried that this is too confining for what it potentially could be,” Swenson said. “I know it’s getting to be a popular sport. All ages of users are doing it. If you start it in the park-area around the building here, then kids in grade school can do it. They can ride their bikes here easily. They’re already here with the school. I could see a joint venture with the school district. I think taking it out there would be limiting the users.”

“I think we poo-pooed that idea months ago,” Cooper said, “having it around here.”

“What was the reason that it was poo-pooed?” Christensen asked.

“I think there was some interference with the flea market on Mondays and all the other things that happen out there over the course of the summer months that they take up the area and you’d have Frisbees flying around and bouncing off of cars, and stuff like that,” Cooper answered. “I think that’s probably a good reason not to have it around cars.”

“And if you’re talking about the trail behind the school that people walk on,” added supervisor Kalisa Mortag, “You don’t want Frisbees flying around in there. The only other place is, what, behind DPW? That’s going to interfere with the ability to expand and add buildings to DPW for storage or whatever. That was my concern.”

Christensen then expressed broader doubts about the project.

“To be perfectly honest with you,” he said, “I’ve changed my mind on this, based on comments that I’ve heard. I asked a few people. A ‘few’ people is about six ... I think the board made a mistake years ago when we did the skateboard park.” 

The twon board, Christensen said, is “criticized all the time because there is no money available for the skateboard park. We don’t allocate any money to fix it up. The last estimate that I remember — for the blacktop — was around $25,000, and that didn’t count fixing the fence. We allowed those kids — they were so full of excitement — and we allowed them to go out and raise money. They raised the money, and we have the money sitting there that’s really not enough to do anything with it. And what do we do with the money, other than sit on it?”

Christensen said he’s been been criticized because there’s rumors going around that the town “already spent it on something else.”

“And we never did that,” he said. “It’s sitting in the bank. I see this as the same set-up. There isn’t an organization that is going to continue to support and develop this, like it is with either the Bo-Boens or the ATV club or the non-motorized folks. They’re having regular meetings; they’re organized; they do regular functions. I just think some board in the future is going to be ‘Why did that board ever do this? It’s deteriorated and we’ve got the big hole there where we cut the trees down’.”

“When the volunteers get done doing what they’re going to volunteer to do,” Cooper replied, “Then why don’t we just decide that the board is going to take it over; that the town is going to take it over, and they’re going to be responsible for getting volunteers to go out there, just like the non-motorized (committee) has volunteers to go out and clean up their trails? If there’s something larger that needs to happen, we’ve got a DPW that can handle whatever. I don’t see anything large back there, once it’s done.”

“I’ve never been in favor of committing town funds or room-tax funds towards this project,” Christensen said. “And I would not be in favor of committing the town to maintain it after the volunteers have built it.”

“I don’t agree with the DPW or the town taking it over,” Mortag said. “I don’t agree to adding another thing to the town, whatever it is. However, when I look at this versus a skate park, they literally take the baskets out, and if nobody wants to do it again, it goes back to nature and there’s nothing to deal with. Whereas with a skate park, we either have to spend money to rip it out or we have to put a lot of money into fixing it or maintaining it.” 

“You’re going to have a pretty big hole there,” Christensen said. “You’re going to be seeing it for years.”

Despite the concerns, the board voted to approve preliminary tree-clearing at the site and for the use of a portion of the town’s gravel supply, pending the recommendation of Stoltman.

Cooper, Mortag, and supervisor Patric Niggemeier voted in favor; Swenson and Christensen cast the “nay” votes.