Kohler Golf Course Plan Faces Key Vote Monday In Sheboygan

The Kohler Co.’s controversial plan to build another golf course on roughly 250 acres of land it owns along Lake Michigan faces a key vote Monday evening.

Sheboygan’s Common Council is expected to decide on Kohler’s request to have Sheboygan annex part of the Town of Wilson, where the golf course would be developed. The annexation would include a section of Kohler-Andrae State Park the company wants to use for the project.

Former park superintendent Jim Buchholz, now retired, said the firm should leave the state land as is. “They’ll be pushing in roadways through that area, building their shop and building their parking lot, all on state park land that people previously have used and enjoyed,” Buchholz said.

But economic development advocates say another golf course along Lake Michigan would be good for tourism. Dane Checolinski of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation said some of the tourists may be entrepreneurs who wind up eventually coming back to stay.

“There is a lot to be said on what happens when you bring individuals into your area. They find it very appealing, and now they want to live here, retire here or invest here. That’s happened more than once,” Checolinski said.

The county development agency hasn’t taken a stand on the proposed annexation, but Checolinski said he personally believes Kohler is correct in saying the change is needed to allow the golf course plan to move ahead.

The Sheboygan Press reports the annexation will require an 11-person supermajority vote of the Sheboygan Common Council. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is still reviewing the golf course project. But last month, the DNR Board signed off on allowing the department to begin a process that could change the master plan for Kohler-Andrae State Park and grant the Kohler Co. a 5-acre easement.