Northern Door has applied for designation

By Kurt Rentmeester
krentmeester@gannett.com

The state Department of Transportation's Scenic Byways Advisory Committee could make a final determination by the end of the year on Northern Door County's application to enter that program.

Liberty Grove Scenic Byways Ad Hoc Committee Coordinator Ann Miller will meet Dec. 8 with the Scenic Byways Advisory Committee in Madison to discuss the county's application. The town of Liberty Grove will make the application for authorization.

Miller will respond to the committee's questions and comments at the meeting to help determine Northern Door County's eligibility. In the meantime, the Liberty Grove Scenic Byways Ad Hoc Committee is completing work on its core management plan.

"We've been working on it," Miller said. "But it's not compiled as a formal document at this point."

If Northern Door County is designated, it would be better known as the Door County Coastal Byway, she said.

The proposal includes the villages of Ephraim, Egg Harbor and Sister Bay, as well as the towns of Gibraltar, Jacksonport, Sevastopol, Liberty Grove and Baileys Harbor.

The designation already has spurred plans for town historical groups in two communities, said Jeanne Majeski, a Jacksonport town supervisor.

An organization in Baileys Harbor is forming a historical society there, she said. That group could seek grants to fund projects through Scenic Byways.

A historical group in the town of Jacksonport also has been selecting a site for a building that would be dedicated to local history, she said.

Some of the other groups that could seek funding for development through Scenic Byways include the Jacksonport Business Association, the Door County Planning Department, the Door County Visitors Bureau and the Door County Economic Development Corp.

In addition, Miller said some municipalities in Southern Door County could make an application to the program to be part of the state DOT's Historic Byways program.

Miller said municipalities there could apply to enter the DOT's Historic Byways program because of the amount of the area's 1800s heritage as a Belgian settlement.

Cletus Fontaine, chairman of the Union Town Board, said the proposal will go on a meeting agenda and supervisor will consider the project.

"Whatever we do, we'll have to explore it," Fontaine said.

Some municipalities south of Sturgeon Bay could apply for the Historic, rather than the Scenic Byways, program designation.

"This is covering the whole county right now. Ann (Miller) was able to get everyone on board," Majestic said.

The designation could draw a new crop of visitors to the town of Liberty Grove. That can be good news for local tourism.

There is a separate group of travelers from across the county who are drawn to Scenic Byways, Miller said.

"It will give some recognition and give people another reason to come here," Miller said, "a whole traveling public who look for Scenic Byways, places that have unique characteristics."