First published in our sister publication, Walworth County Community News
WILLIAMS BAY — The shores of Geneva Lake, tucked away in the southeast corner of Wisconsin, have been a respite for Chicago’s wealthy movers and shakers since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
But more than 150 years later, locals are split over a proposed resort for Williams Bay on the lake’s north shore.
Topography, a Chicago-based hospitality company founded in 2021 by Liam Kriehbiel, plans to purchase 137-acres of lakefront property for a resort to include an inn with 68 accommodations, two restaurants, a retreat center, a 3,500 seat amphitheater, racquet center with tennis and pickleball courts, a boathouse and spa.
The property would include the former George Williams College campus that closed in December of 2023 as well as the former golf course, originally designed by Dr. James Naismith, more well known as the father of basketball.
There also are plans to annex additional land from the town of Walworth to accommodate this project.
A joint Plan Commission and Village Board public meeting is planned for 7 p.m., Dec. 9 at the Williams Bay High School.
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Just as the debate over the fate of the Yerkes Observatory property next door divided the community until it was taken over by the Yerkes Future Foundation in 2020, opinions in this small community vary widely.
Susan Franzen, innkeeper of the Bailey House BnB just across the street from the development, launched a Facebook group — Friends of Williams Bay — as a forum to share information on the project.
The village will need to amend its comprehensive plan for the project to move forward, and Franzen questions the wisdom of that move.
“Last year we committed to remaining resort-free and intentionally did not include ‘resort’ in any of our land use categories in the Comprehensive Plan,” Franzen wrote. “Now a developer is testing our resolve.”
“How committed are we to keeping the Bay resort-free?” she asks.
“The plan just keeps getting bigger,” Franzen said. “Earlier this year, Liam presented a much smaller
concept to the Williams Bay Business Association but since then the plans have significantly expanded.”
On the other hand, there are those who see the proposal as a positive one for a piece of prime real estate that won’t stay vacant forever.
Longtime Williams Bay real estate agent David Curry wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the project is a good one for the community, arguing that private ownership is preferable to institutional ownership because it ads to the tax base.
However the development will be in a tax incremental financing district approved in July, meaning taxpayers won’t see any immediate positive impact on the tax base until the bonds for infrastructure, both within the district and nearby, are paid off 20 years from now.
But Curry argues that the positives of the concept are obvious, including the sales and room taxes that will also benefit the community.
“Williams Bay is a resort community whether some individuals wish it to be or not, and it always has been. In fact, it’s more resort town than primary resident town, if measured by assessed valuations,” Curry wrote.
Among other elements of the proposed project is a commitment to bring back the popular Music by the Lake summer music series.
“To ensure Music by The Lake’s long-term sustainability, we propose a new amphitheater with a natural aesthetic and lake views, seating 2,500, plus lawn seating for 1,000, totaling 3,500. This will enhance talent attraction and improve accessibility compared to the Ferro Pavilion. We plan to host approximately 8-10 performances each summer,” read the proposal.
Also, Topography says it will create a nature preserve on the land that was previously a golf course which will be “re-wilded” with native species consistent with meadows that were once common in the Midwest and will include grass-cut paths that meander through the nature preserve and down to the shore path.
