STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – Many Portage County residents spoke out against a proposed change to road maintenance. The county proposal is to trim back or remove all trees and brush within 30-feet of the center-line of county roads.
Some neighbors say the one-size-fits-all policy will alter their property and lead to the removal of trees on their land.
“If they want to tell me yes or no or tell me if they are in favor of the current policy or not in favor of the current policy, that is their option,” said Matt Jacowski, the Portage County Highway Committee Chair.
Public comment lasted more than 90 minutes.
Several speakers asked the committee to reconsider the change. “You can’t just paint a big broad brush over everything, you’ve got to look at the details and get that poor landowner some just consideration,” said one resident.
“If I would have been better informed of that when you sent out these letters, we were just thinking it’s just the regular brush removal. No, you guys got more aggressive. And that wasn’t communicated to us as landowners,” said another resident. “If your vehicle goes off and strikes that 100-year-old oak or my wife or my precious daughter and granddaughter, and her life or any one of my family members’ lives are taken away from them, suddenly that 100-year-old tree means nothing,” said another resident.
Those in favor of the changes wanted to keep driver and worker safety at the forefront. “What we are looking for in safe clear zones is to allow for vehicle recovery if it does leave the roadway, and if it can’t recover to the roadway, it’s minimizing the hazards involved,” said one resident.
The highway committee approved a compromise. “Supervisor Scott Soik made a motion that we have a compromise of a 12-foot from the edge or 24-foot from the center line clear zone. That passed the committee and I feel it’s a good compromise,” Jacowski told WAOW-TV.
No word yet on how soon this change might be implemented.
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