Village Takes Next Step toward Re-Erecting Atwater Security Fencing

After more than an hour of heated discussion and some angry screaming from Lake Drive residents Monday, the Village Board voted 5-1 to re-erect security fencing at .

"This is ridiculous, come and spend a Friday or Saturday night down there and watch what goes on down there," one Lake Drive resident said. "The village acts like they don't care about its residents. We have been talking about this for two years."

Monday, residents echoed previous concerns about crime spilling onto their property after the fence was removed. The fence had lined the north and south end of Atwater Beach, deterring trespassing onto privately-owned beaches via Atwater.

While the crime has waned since the beach was closed for renovations months ago, underage drinking, drug use, littering, broken glass and syringes, theft, unattended fires, vandalism and kids having sex were a daily occurrence, according to residents.

"Do we have to wait until someone gets raped down there before the village does something about it?" one resident asked.

Shorewood Police Chief Dave Banaszynski has said police have tried to patrol the private beaches but have failed because of tough terrain and a lack of resources. By time police arrive, he said, trespassers have left the area.

Shorewood's Park Commission approved removing the fence in 2009, citing a special interest group's concern that the ugly chain-linked fence ruined the beach, and the village arguing it was falling apart. Soon after, Lake Drive residents started complaining of trespassers. The village placed no-trespassing signs at the either edge of Atwater Beach, but Village Manager Chris Swartz said they've been stolen twice.

The board’s original motion Monday night was to install a fence with a price range of $10,000 to $20,000, but some trustees were uneasy about the cost, with earlier estimates being about half that. Instead, the board approved a motion to erect fencing, without naming a price range, and then to bid out for fencing.

, mainly from agencies that typically have jurisdiction over placing fencing on public beach property. The village talked with the Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers, and both said if the fence was placed above the ordinary high water mark, where the water typically doesn't go beyond, then the village was free to install a fence.

To provide better security, village officials said they would connect the new fence to an existing fence on an adjacent jetty to form a more complete physical barrier to the beach. However, the fence would then go past the ordinary high water mark, Trustee Thad Nation said.

Nation cast the lone vote against replacing the fence, saying the village is inviting a lawsuit by placing a fence past the ordinary high water mark.

“We will be functionally taking away people’s right to walk below the ordinary high water mark by connecting to the jetty,” Nation said.

Trustee Ellen Eckman said the fence would only act as a deterrent and never stop trespassers.

Once the village decides on a fence and location, it will send a model to the Army Corps of Engineers, Milwaukee County and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for final approval.

Trustee Don Ford hoped the fence could be back up by the end of July, when the beach is re-opened.