Title
Request from City Engineering for the proposed relocation of the existing fishing pier at Law Park due to the reconstruction of John Nolen Drive.
Body
This item is being presented to the Board of Parks Commission for ‘approval’ of the proposed relocation of the existing fishing pier at Law Park at the John Nolen Dr & North Shore Dr intersection. The existing pier needs to be relocated due to Engineering’s upcoming reconstruction of John Nolen Dr, specifically due to the proposed grade changes at the John Nolen Dr & North Shore Dr intersection that are needed to accommodate the new roadway/bridge designs and the widened path along the Lake Monona Shoreline. Keeping the pier in its existing location would result in a steep drop-off from the new path to the pier, which would require walls and a significant switch-back route for accessing the pier at an ADA-approved slope.
The pier is being proposed to be relocated approximately 720-ft to the east along the Lake Monona Shoreline, the new pier location will be roughly 100-ft east of the Broom St & John Nolen Dr intersection. The new pier will include a connection from both the east and the west to provide direct and ADA-approved access for users coming from either direction on the path. The new pier location has been reviewed with Parks Operations staff who install/remove the floating portion of the pier every year. The proposed location by Broom St will accommodate the install/removal operation appropriately, even better than the existing location accommodates those operations.
The proposed relocation will not have any additional impact on trees along Law Park. If the pier were to stay in the same location at North Shore Dr, there would be additional tree impacts (beyond the baseline reconstruction project), for both existing and future tree plantings.