A snowmobile and ATV club interested in constructing a storage building in Gillett is negotiating a land trade with the City Council.
The Gillett Sno-Riders club plans to construct a long and narrow building to store its ATV and snowmobile trail equipment. Plans for the building will be finalized in the next few months, with construction ideally beginning in the spring, said Erik Lambrecht, who serves on the Gillett Sno-Riders board of directors.
“Our main intention is storage right now, but we’re hoping in the future that we can hold ATV and snowmobile safety courses out of there,” Lambrecht said.
He said club members want to have one facility to store equipment that is now scattered in the garages of several members. Instead of a plain, steel shed, Lambrecht said the building exterior will conform with the surrounding historic buildings and possibly incorporate a railroad theme.
The facility will be built on property just off Railroad Street across from Gillett Meats. A legal description of the land, believed to be owned solely by the city, listed the Union Pacific Railroad as the owner of a long, narrow parcel. The Sno-Riders are finalizing an agreement with the railroad to purchase the strip for $5,000.
Once the transaction is complete, the club wants to finalize an agreement with the city that involves a land trade. The club proposes using the western 50- by 200-foot parcel for its building, and the city proposes using the eastern 20- by 20-foot parcel for a trailhead for the Nicolet State Trail.
City officials plan to apply for a grant from the Department of Natural Resources to develop the trailhead. Preliminary plans call for the development of a parking lot, trail information kiosk and bathrooms with showers. The trailhead would be located across the street from Nicolet Trail Campground.
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