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ESCANABA -- The Escanaba City Council voted Thursday to move forward with the Harbor Advisory Committee's plan to seek an individual or business to establish a bar and restaurant on park property near the Escanaba Harbor.
"This kind of reminded me of some ten-twelve years ago … someone wanted to take a fair amount of the park and turn it into private dwellings, and that did not go over very well with the public, and I'm not certain if that's what you had in mind that it would go over very well with the public today either," said resident Charles Lindquist of the plan to open a private business on park property.
The request for proposal language submitted to the city council by the Harbor Advisory Committee is broadly written, not specifying much more than the establishment must be a public restaurant and bar that would be leased from the city.
"We're not asking for a very narrow scope. I'm sure there are a number of different visions for the harbor and what could be down there," said City Manager Jim McNeil, who noted the RFP was drafted using RFPs from other communities for restaurants on municipal golf courses as examples.
Initially, the Harbor Advisory Committee was looking specifically at leasing out the site of the former harbormaster building, which is currently a garage. However, the city administration and the committee opted not to restrict proposals to only that area.
"If somebody wanted to put a proposal together somewhere else in the harbor I think we'd be open to looking at it as long as they identify exactly where that building would be, how big it would be; what it might look like. We'd be open to ideas," said McNeil.
McNeil stressed that whatever the restaurant and bar ended up looking like, it would remain city property. He said he envisioned a lease agreement with the lessee paying thousands of dollars per month to the city. Those funds would be used to support harbor maintenance and operations without raising taxes.
"We're not going to sell land in the park. We want to have control, we have to have control, and we would expect some sort of lease payment so that not only our harbor benefits and the boaters, the marina, but also the city can use an asset to generate income," he said.
Council Member Karen Moore, who has served as the council's liaison to the Harbor Advisory Committee for the past four years, said a bar and restaurant has been on the wishlist for the harbor for some time. She also referenced a meeting held at the Escanaba Yacht Club with about 40-45 people, mostly club members. Moore said more than 90% of those present at the meeting were in support of the proposal.
"I think the idea is to get lots of ideas, because I think there's ideas out there that we haven't even though of and ideas can be accepted or wildly rejected. We never know what we're going to get," said Moore.
Lindquist, who spoke during public comment, expressed his concerns that adding a restaurant to the park area would both rile up residents and damage the ongoing efforts of the House of Ludington to reestablish itself after years of being closed. Council Member Tyler DuBord left his seat at the council tables to speak from the podium on behalf of the House of Ludington, for which he serves as the general manager.
"In regards to what you're looking for in regards to a restaurant/bar establishment down in the harbor area, that is not a competitive market for us. We are a different type of entity in some aspect so I'm open to a free market as well," he said, noting that the House of Ludington was willing to work with the Harbor to adjust open times and offer specials for transient boaters.
When it came to a vote, the council voted unanimously, 4-0, to approve the RFP. Mayor Mark Ammel, was not present at the meeting to vote.