Ski Ramp On Little Muskego Lake Continues to Seek A Home, But Should It?

The ongoing saga over where to put the Water Bugs Ski Team ramp when it's not being used for practice or shows in Bay has written another chapter, as the Public Safety Committee reviewed objections from Conservation Coordinator Tom Zagar over placing the ramp in alternate years in front of Holz Island.

Zagar wrote a memo to Parks and Recreation Director Craig Anderson objecting to the placement off the shore of Holz Island, calling it an environmentally sensitive area, and citing concerns over wave action contributing to erosion.

Previously, Parks and Rec had thought they reached a solution with Mark Harrison, whose home is on the lake and says he didn't feel he should have to view the structure five months of every year.  Last season, the jump resided near Chiconas Island, some 620 yards from 's home.

I had a chance to talk briefly with Harrison after that Parks meeting, and I admitted I didn't understand the flap.  I frequent the public access area directly across from the island, and closer than his property.  It's a ski jump.  It's white.  However, I don't see it as obstructing my enjoyment of the lake views, and I can't read the advertisements on it from that distance.

While the Public Safety Committee is researching the matter further with Anderson and Zagar, I'd have to believe there are other solutions.

If the problem is that the jump looks like a billboard, as  has suggested, perhaps the Waterbugs may be asked to remove advertising. Understanding that sponsors help to pay for it, there may be other areas that they can work out promoting sponsors.

The other suggestion is that if the color is so contrary to the lake, is there another color that would help it blend in? 

Truly, I think there are ways to have everyone get along, and I also have to believe there are worse things to obsess over. For example, there used to be a stand of grasses in Little Muskego Lake, now so overrun by traffic and wave action of the boats it's now used as a gathering circle for boats and swimmers.  That's a loss of natural feature on the lake and far more worthy of complaining about.

After repeated tours of the lake, the present location of the jump has been determined to have the least or no negative impact environmentally - which should be the greatest priority.  It's also six football fields' distance from the only person on the lake who seems to be complaining (at least publicly).

Or maybe it's a reaction to it being a part of the Water Bugs.  No group in recent memory has had to toe the line like they have, and for a group that has helped showcase a park that others complain doesn't get used enough, I sometimes wonder what makes them stay.  For the progress they've made in achieving a zero complaint season, the jump being where it is has represented the best solution to please the greatest majority of residents, and the matter just needs to rest.