‘Floating’ stairs to link Clay Bluffs to beach

Ozaukee  County supervisors have accepted a $389,722 bid from a Grafton-based company to build a “floating” staircase from the Clay Bluffs Cedar Gorge Nature Preserve in Port Washington to the Lake Michigan shore below.

The stairway by About Nature LLC  would be similar to a staircase the company built at Virmond County Park in Mequon and would provide “an ecologically sensitive low-impact public access” to the lakeshore, county officials say.

The bid was accepted by the county’s Natural Resources Committee earlier this month, contingent on approval of the construction contract by the county Planning and Parks Department.

The bid includes a 15% contingency to cover any potential change orders.

The committee also approved construction of a visitor center and a wooden pedestrian bridge at the 134-acre nature preserve.

The preserve was acquired in 2022 by the county and Restoring Lands, formerly known as the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust with the help of federal and state grants, foundations and private donors.

Improving public access to the Lake Michigan shoreline is one of the stated goals of  the preserve’s development and the grants funding it.

The staircase would be located at the north end of the preserve and would include sections secured by cables “to respect the ecologically sensitive Cedar Gorge and best fit the local topography,” according to a memo from county Planning and Parks Director Andrew Struck.

An elevated boardwalk will be extended from the base of the stairway to Lake Michigan.

Funding for the staircase is from Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, state Department of Natural Resources Stewardship grants and a county capital project fund grant.

The stairway from the bluff is likely to increase foot traffic on the beach below, especially as walkers will be able to connect with Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve just to the south in the Town of Grafton.

Lion’s Den is already the county’s most visited park. The addition of Clay Bluffs and the Ansay Family Nature Preserve just west across Highway C is likely to make the area an even greater draw.

Some neighbors of Clay Bluffs with lakefront land have already started to complain about people walking on the beach.

Struck said the county has posted signs and are working to educate hikers of the park limits.

The committee also awarded architectural design and engineering services to Kueny Architects for a visitor center and a 65-foot-long wooden pedestrian bridge across the gorge.

The nature center will include a public welcome area, indoor bathrooms, a large meeting room with space for educational displays, a small kitchen area, office space, and storage room for tables, chairs and seasonal displays, according to a memo to the committee.

Kueny has provided architectural services for other county projects, including the bathroom pavilions at Lion’s Den, Covered Bridge Park and the multi-purpose building at Hawthorne Hills County Park.

Kueny’s bids were $132,020 for the nature center and $36,120 for the bridge.

The preserve will include a trail system, a lake overlook, woodlands and wetlands and restored prairies.

Officials had hoped portions of it might have opened by the end of last year but government shutdowns and other issues slowed progress.

Struck has said he hopes work on the trail system might begin by this fall.

In any case, complete development will take several years, he has said.