Bender Park Boat Launch: Resolution Draft Urges County To Dredge

OAK CREEK, WI — A drafted resolution that formally urges Milwaukee County to dredge the silted-in Bender Park boat launch harbor is scheduled for consideration at Tuesday's Oak Creek Common Council meeting.

Resolutions are sometimes used by councils to express an opinion, and to communicate with other government units.

Parts of the county-owned boat launch site have become silted-in, yet it's considered a designated safe harbor, the drafted resolution says. If passed, it would "urge Milwaukee County to immediately undertake dredging of the harbor at the Bender Park boat launch," and says the county should "suspend the imposition of boat launch fees until the dredging of the harbor at the Bender Park boat launch is complete."

The drafted resolution indicates a copy of itself would be forwarded to county officials, including County Executive David Crowley and Milwaukee County Supervisors Patti Logsdon and Steven Shea.

In certain parts of the boat launch harbor entrance "there is less than 12 inches of water," the drafted resolution says, "it is necessary to dredge the harbor in order to make it safe and usable by the boating public."

The Common Council adopted a similar resolution urging the County to act in 2010, according to the new resolution's report. Milwaukee County "undertook dredging efforts in 2011 and 2013, and the Parks Department sought authorization to apply for grant funding in 2017 for redesign and reconstruction of the access channel, but the issue persists," reads the report to the council on the new resolution.

The report to the council noted there would be no fiscal impact from passing and adopting the resolution.