GEI’s role was to advise the City of Racine on not just protecting but enhancing public access and shoreline protection in a time of rising lake levels. This is critical to the City with a healthy, open, accessible lakefront that provides a strong quality of life to residents.

Project timing has been vital. As Lake Michigan water levels near record highs, lakeside community public trust shorelines are threatened and, in some cases, failing. Federal, state, and general municipal funding is increasingly limited and difficult to obtain, thereby making the prospect of external government support for Racine’s shoreline reinvestment more remote.

In spring and summer 2019, the City engaged GEI Consultants to develop and provide a shoreline protection approach for part of its shoreline—Pershing Park—that could optimize public access while providing opportunities for private revenue to pay for those public access enhancements and still comply with relevant law. GEI’s work for Racine covered three topics:

• Relevant laws and policies that guide public trust resources
• A public access concept based on three scenarios that are primarily within the public interest
• Cost ranges