Wilcoxes sign village's easement agreement
Andy Steinke/Events
Rick and Susan Wilcox signed an easement agreement late last week allowing the village of Lake Delton to remove trees on their property. The Wilcoxes now have a clear view of the Dell Creek Dam from their home.
By Andy Steinke, Dells Events
Rick and Susan Wilcox's legal battle with the village of Lake Delton is over.
The couple signed an easement agreement Friday Nov. 7 to allow the village to enter their property to remove trees on an earthen berm covering a sea wall that is part of the Dell Creek Dam.
The easement agreement gives the village full responsibility of the dam, Rick said.
Village Trustee Tom Diehl said an injunction hearing was set for 1:30 p.m. last Friday and the Wilcoxes signed the easement agreement around 10 a.m.
"They will own the exact same property, but now they won't have any liability of owning the dam or for the work that needs to be done over time," Diehl said.
Susan said the couple signed the agreement about 12 hours after their title company denied their claim. The company decided it had no liability for the Wilcox's loss because there was no record of a dam on their property.
The Wilcoxes said they signed the agreement because they knew if they hadn't, the battle would've continued on, the village's threats would've gotten worse and the legal fees would've continued to pile up.
Village employees started working Monday and removed trees Tuesday through Thursday.
With the trees cut down, the Wilcoxes now have a clear view of the dam from most of the rooms in their home, Susan said.
"It's a dam view, in more ways than one," Rick said sarcastically.
The Wilcoxes knew the trees would eventually have to come down, but they figured the village would reimburse them for their losses.
"We came to the conclusion early that the trees would have to go," Susan said, "but we thought there'd be some fairness."
The village had started the condemnation process on the property before filing suit in Sauk County Civil Court on Oct. 31 to gain access to the land.
No offer was ever made to the buy the land, and now the condemnation process will not be necessary because the Wilcoxes signed the easement, Diehl said.
"The only reason we started the condemnation talks was so that we could get the work done," Diehl said. "So it became a moot point when they signed the easement."
The Wilcoxes were keeping the wooded lot next to their home vacant until they were ready to sell it and use the money as a retirement nest egg. Now the lot is dam property and thus unbuildable and unsellable.
According to the civil complaint filed by the village, the village wanted to enter the property to "inspect, repair or replace" the sea wall, which is part of the dam.
But Rick said the village doesn't plan on checking the wall.
"It doesn't make sense," he said. "They said they had to take down the trees to check the wall, but they aren't going to check the wall."
Diehl said last week that the village doesn't believe anything is structurally wrong with the wall, and said the village has to remove the trees because the Department of Natural Resources said they had to come down.
Diehl said Thursday its his understanding that the wall will only be examined if some roots made it down to the wall located three feet below the surface.
He said workers may go in at one location and check the status of the wall.
Rick said he wonders what kind of damage construction vehicles may have done to the wall, and what tree roots that may potentially be in the wall are going to do when they die.
"In my opinion, they are doing more damage by removing the trees," Rick said. "If they roots are in the wall, and they die, then we'll probably see seepage next year."
The Wilcoxes met with the village assessor Tuesday to see if the village can reduce the assessed value of their land now that the vacant lot has changed from waterfront property to dam property.
According to the easement agreement, the village will back fill the earthen berm with clay at a three to one slope and will also seed the area, Diehl said.