The planned 18-hole course near Sheboygan, Wis., would be built on a 247-acre parcel that would retain the basic dune structure and white pine growth currently on the land, and would create corridors to provide views of Lake Michigan.
Kohler Co. officials recently went public with details for the new 18-hole course near Sheboygan, Wis., which would be built on a 247-acre parcel of wooded land the company owns along Lake Michigan, the Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald reported.
The golf course would retain the basic dune structure and white pine growth found on the land today, though corridors would be opened up to provide views of the lake, said Michael Belot, General Manager of Destination Kohler, the Herald reported.
It would include four holes along the shoreline, according to the company’s permit application. The company hopes to open the course in July 2017. It is seeking a conditional use permit to move forward with the project, the Herald reported.
“We believe it can be as good or better than the Straits course,” said Belot, referring to the company’s famed Whistling Straits course in the Town of Mosel.
The company also is seeking an easement from the state Department of Natural Resources for 3.8 acres of land that’s currently part of Kohler Andrae State Park in order to build a new two-lane entrance road and maintenance facility. Belot estimated that the process could take months, the Herald reported.
DNR officials said this month that obtaining an easement on state park property will require state approval and possibly a thumbs up from the National Park Service. Federal money has been used to develop and operate the park, which means a federal law might apply requiring that any land taken out of public use be replaced with land of equal value and utility, the Herald reported.
The company plans to offer an easement to residents of the nearby Timberlake subdivision so they would have lake access, though an exact location has yet to be determined, the Herald reported.
Members of the Friends of the Black River Forest oppose the project, the Herald reported. Meanwhile, Doug Fuller, chairman of the Town of Wilson Plan Commission, has expressed concern about the company’s plan to build a bridge over the Black River as part of its access road and to create a pond in a wetland area on the property’s north section, the Herald reported.
Fuller also questioned whether one of the course’s holes would be touching sand dunes along the lakeshore. “I don’t think damaging the dunes would be in your best interest,” Fuller said at this month’s Plan Commission meeting.
Company officials said they’ve just begun gathering information on the project’s environmental impact and are looking into what other permits will be required for the project to move ahead, the Herald reported.
“If you can find a way to enhance (the property), it would be in your best interest,” Fuller said. “If you can better it, I think that would get you a thumb up.”
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