Rib Lake village board OKs redesign, paving of Ice Age Pavilion lot

At the October 9, 2024 meeting of the Rib Lake Village Board, the board heard and approved Director of Public Works Cody Lind’s plan to redesign, expand, and pave the Ice Age Pavillion parking lot. This project will not begin until next year with a goal to have the lot expanded and graveled before the Fourth of July.

Paving the parking lot will come in later years. They will be clearing some nearby trees and expanding the lot on both long sides. The goal is to double the available parking spots. Currently there are around 50 parking spots, and they will be expanding it to have 80-100 parking spots.

Said Lind, “There's a lot of people parking on the streets and then you can’t see people crossing the road, and then you know, I don’t want somebody to get hit.” He went on to say, “So that spot, especially with the band shelter going in, the baseball fields there, the Ice Age Pavilion, Ice Age Days up there. It’s just a great location to have a little bit more parking, keep everybody safe, and kind of out of the way off the streets.”

When asked about the possibility of the DNR not allowing the expansion of the parking lot so close to the water, Lind responded positively, saying “No, it shouldn’t be (an issue). So setbacks for parking lots are a lot different than any other thing that you’re building down there. Basically I did pull up the old maps for the Ice Age Pavilion and they allowed it on there… It shouldn’t be an issue with the DNR.” The cost for this project currently amounts to just the cost of gravel. Lind said he projected the gravel to cost around $1,500.

Lind also got approval from the board for putting in a walking path along Tannery Lane, which would create a safe path for students walking to the baseball field from the High School. Lind said that he had witnessed many cars flying through the area with other students walking along the road, creating an unsafe situation. The path would also be graveled with tentative plans for paving in the future. Construction of the path would require some memorial trees to be taken out that are dead. To replace and continue memorializing the people those trees were planted for, Lind suggested the addition of a sign with the names of the people. The gravel for this project is $940.

In other business:

• The Village of Rib Lake’s 2025 preliminary budget was published and is available for citizens to review at the Village Clerk’s office. A public budget hearing for approval of the 2025 budget will be on November 11, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room at Village Hall. There are certain items in the budget that will be amended over the next year as expenses come up.

• The new handicapped door to the library/Village Hall was delayed.

• The Board approved a 10-year joint fire fighting agreement between the Village of Rib Lake, the Town of Rib Lake, and the Town of Greenwood. These make up the Joint Rib Lake Fire Commission, which “will provide the necessary funding and resources , as well as the authority for the Rib Lake Fire Department to provide fire and accident protection to all residents and their property.” All three of these governments share the fiscal responsibility of the the Rib Lake Fire Department. Said Fire Chief Russ Bullis, “It’s pretty much the same agreement we’ve had over the years. The first agreement was signed back in 1972. That’s how long the fire commission’s been intact here. Things have worked very good, very smoothly, and it’s just a matter of all of the townships and Village agreeing to sign it and move on for the next ten years.” Other areas covered by the Rib Lake Fire Department pay an annual fee to the Department for coverage.

• The Board approved Ordinance 2-24 to establish fire inspection duties. This gives the Rib Lake Fire Department the authority to conduct fire inspections of “all buildings, premises, and public thoroughfares, except the interior of private dwellings” in the Village of Rib Lake.

• Trick or Treating in the Village of Rib Lake will be held on Sunday, October 27 from 3-6 p.m. If a house is participating, their porch light should be turned on.

• The next meeting of the Rib Lake Village Board will be on November 13, 2024.