Residents of Armour Lake,
I would like to thank Eric Benn for providing me the latest news from Presque Isle. After reading his update I felt that this information should be shared with all Armour Lake Residents.
Once again snow pack in PI has been great for outdoor recreation and should be attracting lots of visitors, making a good season for local merchants.
1) Broadband Internet On 6 Jan, the Town Board hosted an information meeting on plans and opportunities for expanding broadband access in Presque Isle. The regional representative from our phone/internet network provider, Century Link, was the guest. His engagement was very positive and he furnished technical background on the current technology/network options and insight into what is currently planned for near-term installation or expansion. He has spent much of last year working closely with the Boulder Junction team that developed and recently got approval for investing significantly to expand broadband fiber infrastructure to all residences, and he spoke to PI stakeholders about how we can develop our own strategy for addressing PI’s priorities. The bottom line was that PI leaders now know there are four areas within our town that do not have broadband internet access and that are not currently planned for fixes. A fifth dead-zone (Frontier Lakes) is on track for fixes this coming year (due to aggressive engagement of some local residents and a recognition of prior planning errors by the FCC). Some FOAL members are in one of these dead-zones which covers portions of southern Armour Lake and North Crab (with network infrastructure coming off of Hwy B/down E. Armour Lake Rd). The other dead-zones are on S Crab Lake Road, along Viola Lane/Mermaid Lake, and a SE portion of Natural Lakes along Cty B. Town leaders asked Century Link for more detail on the current underserved/dead-zones and a 1st-order characterization of what it will take to fix each of these. The town stakeholders agreed our priority should be to a) make investments and pursue strategies that will make these fixes and b) look at what will be our best options for further/future investments to expand broadband access. There are Federal and State grant funding programs which very significantly subsidize network providers to expand their broadband infrastructure and the service available to rural and underserved communities. Presque Isle is now aware of these programs and we will work closely with Century Link and the regional regulatory bodies to ensure we take advantage and pursue smart investments. A follow-up meeting is scheduled in early March. No dates or promises are available at this point, but there is a clear understanding of the shortfall and intent to ensure we get the fixes.
2) Boathouses In early January, the Vilas County Zoning Board voted to approve the change to the County Boathouse ordinance which will permit construction of much larger boathouses (720 sq ft versus the current 300 sq ft) on lakes larger than 500 acres. PI has four lakes of that size and the county has 50. This change still has to go to the county board for adoption, and this is expected at the upcoming meeting. PI and several other Vilas County towns have their own zoning authority and can adopt measures that are more restrictive than what is permitted by the county. Because members of Presque Isle community have broadly expressed opposition to this relaxation, our PI town board has requested that our zoning board restore an ordinance that will keep the limit on boathouses in PI at the current smaller sizes.
3) Repaving Highway B There are two projects planned for Highway B. This summer (2020) the county will repave from the junction with Highway M (north of Boulder Junction) to where B meets Crab Lake Road. Several culverts will be replaced, which will temporarily close B to all traffic, but while delays should be expected, during most of the operation the road will remain open. The second project was the subject of a public involvement meeting which PI leaders hosted January 16th, and focuses on the repaving of Highway B from Crab Lake Road through downtown PI (Main St), to the top of the hill just past the Bank. Vilas County Highway Commissioner and an engineer from the design firm preparing the project design furnished information, and answered questions from members of the community. Both were very pleased with the level of interest shown by PI and they want our inputs as the design is refined and finalized through the coming months prior to being put out for bid next spring for construction in the summer of 2021. Key elements of the project will be a) repaving of the road from Crab Lake Road to the junction with Highway W (by Headwaters Realty and Karsyn’s Korner), and b) completely rebuilding the road through town up Main Street. The latter will include installation of storm sewer, installation of curbs & gutters, new pavement structure, and replacement of the culvert at the bottom of the hill where the creek flows to the west from Sensenbrenner Park, behind the gas station, and toward Pipke Park and the Presque Isle River. During the period of construction (summer 2021) they will establish detours on adjacent county and state roads for heavy/through traffic but will keep local travel open and allow business to remain open. Town leaders and members of the community will continue to coordinate with the planners/design firm so we get the best strategies for parking, walkways, lighting, power lines/utilities, and storm water mitigation – within the scope of this project. The engineering design firm distributed a fact sheet which will be posted on the PI Town webpage, along with supporting documents.
4) Action: PITLC has requested the number of volunteer hours spent by all members of all the lake committees as an offset to a volunteer promise commitment in the application for lake study grant funds. By demonstrating a consistent pattern of very significant past volunteer effort we avoid making a commitment of a specified level of future volunteer effort, if or when grants are received. The FOAL Board will handle this action item and will provide the hours to Eric Benn, our PITLC representative once those hours are collected. If any resident has specifics please forward them to me, my email address is below.
Thomas Reinkober, Pres FOAL Tom.Reinkober@verizon.net