Proposed Cruise Ship Dock

Preserve Our Parks (POP) states that the  proposed site for a new cruise ship dock on the Confined Disposal Facility is a filled lakebed area that includes the Lake Express dock. Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine allows filled lakebed areas to be used for facilities that are in aid of navigation, such as piers, wharves and docks, but not for other commercial structures or uses. Therefore, the site proposed for the new cruise ship dock does not allow for any other commercial development.

Since much of Milwaukee’s lakefront is filled lakebed, the Public Trust Doctrine is the reason it is largely free from commercial development.

Milwaukee residents prize our lakefront and the clear and open views it provides. This became manifest when thousands of people voiced their opposition to the USS Des Moines being docked permanently at Veterans Park as a tourist attraction and when Bay View residents rose in opposition to the City’s proposal to place a wind turbine on the Confined Disposal Area.

Preserve Our Parks believes that the Public Trust Doctrine has, throughout the City’s history, guided our leaders in their control of lakefront development, and we believe
its principles must control any proposals for development of the Confined Disposal Area.

Founded in 1999, Preserve Our Parks is a non-profit organization that advocates for and promotes the protection, maintenance and enhancement of parks and open space in the Milwaukee area and strives to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.