How marina purchase will help keep the Chain O’ Lakes flowing
The Chain O' Lakes is well known as a tourism magnet and economic engine for Lake County, but keeping the good times flowing requires some help.
That's where the Fox Waterway Agency — a small, unassuming and somewhat unknown entity — comes in.
Its mission is to improve and maintain 7,100 acres of the Fox River and Chain for recreation; restore environmental quality; control flooding; promote tourism; and preserve and enhance the system for residents and visitors.
A key move that checks several of those boxes, waterway officials say, was the $2.4 million purchase of Bauske Boat Basin marina, strategically located on a channel between Nippersink and Pistakee lakes.
One of the main ways the agency pursues its mission is removing sediment that flows south from Wisconsin via the Fox River and farm fields along the Chain. Last year, the agency removed about 100,000 cubic yards — about 6,000 dump trucks worth — of muck. And that was just enough to keep pace.
“We’re taking out as much as estimated comes in every year,” said Joe Keller, the agency’s executive director. “Grass Lake alone is estimated to have millions of cubic yards of sediment that should be taken out.”
Because it has no taxing authority, the agency's main source of income comes from the sale of boat stickers required to access the waterway. Last year, about 23,000 stickers were sold, generating about $2.5 million.
To augment its income, the agency dries and sells the nutrient rich reclaimed topsoil at its processing facility in Lake Villa. In 2024, about 7,500 cubic yards of soil were sold, earning $70,000 in revenue, Keller said.
Removing sediment and debris is key to keeping primary navigational channels open. In times of flooding, a section of the Fox River that flows beneath Route 12 from Nippersink Lake into Pistakee Lake, is a critical trouble spot.
Because the waterway in that area narrows from more than 3,400 feet wide to about 166 feet wide, agency officials say it needs “regular and efficient access” to Governor’s and Nippersink channels before, during and after flooding.
That's why Bauske's marina, a family run operation since about 1960, was targeted for acquisition. Since the flood of 2017, the agency has worked to secure funding from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to minimize flooding and improve safety, Keller said.
Governor’s channel allows boats to travel freely between the lakes, creating a vast water-based recreation network, according to the agency.
“That's an area that needs ongoing attention,” Keller said. “This property will allow us to do more regular maintenance of Governor’s channel.”
The agency received IDNR grants in January and July totaling $2 million as reimbursement for the $2.4 million purchase, a 9-acre property Keller said has been for sale for years.
The future of the property is to be determined as the agency applies to the state for tax exempt status. Property taxes are about $90,000 a year, according to Wayne Blake, the waterway board’s chairman.
Keller said all options are open but the agency is working out an arrangement for the Bauske brothers to run it next year.
The value is the location, as equipment can be staged with unfettered access to where it needs to be used.
“The fact it’s located at the heart of this system is a game changer for us,” Keller said.
The marina also was on Fox Lake’s radar as it is just northwest of the village’s $12.5 million Lakefront Park. The village extended sewer and water to the marina site and included it in a special financing district, in hopes of sparking new development.
That likely isn’t in the cards now. But Mayor Donny Schmit said removing sediment is “definitely a benefit to the village.”
“I understand where they’re coming from,” he said of the purchase. “They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do.”