This morning we attended the Public Works Committee meeting for the city of New Berlin, Wisconsin. We testified at the pre-meeting, Privilege of the Floor as to our opposition for a proposed bike/walking path which would cut the back yards of residents in our sub-division ourselves included by 25 feet. The street behind us has become busier in the 10 years that we have lived there. We have planted 14 pine trees now towering over the phone lines...many other residents also have spent many thousands of dollars on landscaping with berms, trees, plantings, etc. The "natural pine fences" provide privacy, reduces noise...adds beautiful greenery to the area. Enter the City of New Berlin....there is a very good possibility that the city will receive a federal grant which would add a shoulder to 124th Street from the north end of our sub-division at Layton Avenue to several miles south, Grange Avenue. The path is an extension to this project which no one wants...no one who lives in the area that we have found to date...just some members of the City Council.
My testimony said it was only common sense...take land, destroy trees, less privacy, more noise....and a devaluing of the property. In addition, though it is not the immediate plan, the property owners may at some point be required to maintain these paths...which for many due to the steep terrain, detention pond, irregular landscape....would mean lifting a snowblower into a trunk....a physical impossibility for most people....climb through snow banks which this year are more than a few feet deep at various times in our turbulent winter...hauling the snowblower...(that will happen) and blow the path that no one wants....Years down the road,...or the path, we may well be assessed for re-surfacing, mudjacking, replacement of concrete or asphalt...now there's a real selling point for property owners ! We also explained that what diminishes one property also has an effect of lowering the value of many others because it may well be used as a sold comparable. One alderman said he had evidence he "forgot at home" that said side paths actually increased the value of homes by 40 per cent ! What he was hoping we would not remember is that he tried that at the last meeting and this quote was from a bicycle association. Mmmmm...too bad bike associations aren't the economic barometer for pricing homes.
We need some help.....we have a small window when we wll petition residents, take pictures to show the erosion of the landscape and need for retaining walls, moving phone lines, destroying trees...but what I would really greatly appreciate or realtors and appraisers of AR is for you to address this depreciation in comments to this blog so I may add that to our credible evidence...please use your designations and titles and know that the residents of Country Estates, Nicolet Woods and Hales Heights Sub-divisions in New Berlin, WI are eternally grateful for the help you are providing in trying to prevent the destruction of backyards, trees, etc. THANK YOU !
Sally K. & David L. Hanson, ABR, CDPE, CSS, e-Pro,ILHM, REDS
Sally!
I was talking to someone who lived in a town northeast of Madison who said she was startled recently when she found our her home is going to be replaced with a community center - in four or five years.
Needless to say, her and the neighbors are getting together.
I don't understand how eminent domain can create common ground for much.
Steve
Thank you Susan and Steve....
The homes affected are $300-$400,000 and some in the "good old days" paid up to $500,000...ANy other examples people can site are most welcome and needed....EXCELLENT POINT...interior paths are one thing,...especially when the sub-division was designed that way and usually has dues at the inception to pay for maintainance...this is an unwelcome intrusion that usurps green space, reduces privacy and increases noise...just what every homeowner wants...yeah right !