Brown Deer eminent domain trial set for March

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Brown Deer officials and residents are waiting for a March court date to go to trial over the use of eminent domain for a $2.3 million streetscape project.

The date was set based on a ruling from Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Maxine White in response to a May 10 court hearing.

The dispute centers on ownership of the roads the village has targeted for streetscape work. While surveying for the project, the village discovered 51 residents on West River Lane, North Deerwood Drive, West Ruth Place, and North 42nd and 43rd streets had legal ownership of the roads.

The village offered each property owner $200 for road ownership. Twelve residents rejected the offer and demanded the village use eminent domain to take the land because the process could lead to greater payouts.

Village Board members on June 4 heard White’s decision to present the case to a jury and decided to postpone the streetscape project for a year, said Nate Piotrowski, Brown Deer’s community development director.

Brown Deer requested project bids in January and had identified Green Bay-based Advance Construction Inc. as the low bidder. The village put the project on hold until the May 10 trial, and Advance agreed to honor its price until June 1, Piotrowski said.

The village missed the June 1 deadline, Piotrowski said, and there won’t be enough time to get the project done in 2012. That’s why, he said, it will be rebid once the village determines a project start date.

But village officials don’t want to stall the project until after the March trial, Piotrowski said, and are trying to get that date moved up.

Plans for the streetscape project began in 2006, he said.

The village needs 66 feet from each resident who owns a portion of the road, Piotrowski said. That includes, he said, the road and rights-of-way.

The project, which focuses on a triangular area bordered by Brown Deer Road, Green Bay Road and a Canadian National Railway railroad, includes improvements to the area with new sewer pipes, reconstructed roadways, rebuilt curbs and decorative elements such as new signs, brick paving, sidewalks and stone wall seating.