No Permits Yet and One Denial
Hello everyone,
On July 21st the Racine Common Council voted 15-0 in favor of a golf course designed to attract the wealthy. Turning a Public Park into something unrecognizable. I spoke to the President of the Common Council, Jens Jorgensen, the week before the vote and he let me know that they would be voting in favor of it because of the costly repairs needed for the bluff by the parking lot. Turning over a multi-million dollar property to billionaires when it was meant for the working class. I offered to the entire Council to write grants, do fundraising, form a Friends of Shoop Park so we could keep it as a Public Park but they had already made up their minds.
The Dune golf course proposal has not received any permits yet. They need permits from the Wisconsin DNR, The US Army Corps of Engineers and the City Planning, Heritage and Design Commission. They received a denial from the Wisconsin DNR last November for their request of exempting 5 wetland areas from state regulations. That denial letter is on the Save the Trees Facebook page. It surfaced via one of our followers the morning of July 21st. It was sent to then Park Department head Tom Molbeck on November 25, 2025 You don’t need to be on Facebook to access the page.
It’s important that we let elected officials know that we are watching. We want to make sure that there is no action to start course construction until all permits are granted. Remember that the Wind Point Planning Commission has voted 5-2 against the parking lot (February 19, 2026). All 5 unelected residents voted against the parking lot on lighthouse grounds. The 2 board members on that commission voted for the parking lot. Please, Wind Point residents, keep reminding your neighbors, form groups to push back on this terrible plan. Do whatever you can to stall or stop the plan to take over lighthouse grounds. Form a separate group to work on this. Use your voice!
1). Please reach out to elected officials in both Racine and Wind Point asking that they offer oversight to make sure that developers are not taking any steps to implement their plan before they receive all permits. Please reach out to Racine Common Council members (if you don’t live in Racine contact Jens.Jorgensen@cityofracine.org He is the President of the Common Council, Mayor Cory Mason (mayor@cityofracine.org); the head of the Racine Park Department (matt.koepnick@cityofracine.org) and the head of DPW (John.Rooney@cityofracine.org I’ll also be reaching out to Wind Point Trustees. Please create and keep your own contact lists for these officials so you have them handy. Their information is readily available on line.
2) Someone in our group thought it would be a good idea to reach out to state officials and ask them to make sure the DNR denial for Wetland Exemptions from last November stays in place. Apparently, there have been times in the past when people have intervened to make the rules disappear. Please reach out to State Representative Angelina Cruz Rep.Cruz@legis.wisconsin.org and ask her to make sure that the denial of wetland exemptions for the Shoop Park Project stay in place. You can also contact Mike Thompson, the DNR Director for SE Wisconsin. His office is in Milwaukee. His email is mike.thompson@wisconsin.gov Please reach out to any other official you can think of including Governor Evers, Senator Baldwin and Secretary Karen Hyun, the head of the Wisconsin DNR, requesting that the denial for the wetland exemptions for Shoop Park remain in force. Secretary Hyun, by the way, is a former executive for the National Audobon Society and former Chief of Staff at NOAA. Try to think of unique ways to get people’s attention to help us protect this important birding area and a place that has been a Public Park for over 100 years.
That’s all for now. There may be a public comment opportunity when these decisions come before the DNR. I’ll let you know.
We are still trying to stop what we believe is an illegal takeover of a Public Park.
Wendy