Sturgeon Bay's West Waterfront - Have We Seen This Movie Before?

It’s nearly August in 2026, but we'll forgive you if you’re watching the latest news on the west waterfront in Sturgeon Bay and feel like you’ve watched this movie before. Back in 2014 a poorly-done rendering for a proposed hotel on the west waterfront sent the city into a years-long legal fight that ultimately redefined what can be done on the city’s waterfront.  Twelve years later, a similar rendering of an apartment complex next door to where that hotel was proposed has unleashed a public backlash that threatens to sidetrack the city once again. Debra Fitzgerald joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the controversy and what’s going on in the city, as well as a process recently put in place in another community to avoid exactly this type of outcome.For more on better public processes, listen to: Creating Better Public Meetings with John Kamp and James Rojas