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State’s high court won’t review Brown Deer road case

By: Beth Kevit, [email protected]//April 23, 2014//

State’s high court won’t review Brown Deer road case

By: Beth Kevit, [email protected]//April 23, 2014//

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Traffic on North Deerwood Drive crosses West Ruth Place in Brown Deer recently. Residents and the village are expecting a judge’s ruling soon in a dispute over who owns roads targeted for a renovation project. (File photo by Kevin Harnack)
Traffic on North Deerwood Drive crosses West Ruth Place in Brown Deer recently. The state’s Supreme Court will not review a lawsuit over the project and land acquisition. (File photo by Kevin Harnack)

The state Supreme Court will not review a lawsuit over a Brown Deer road project and land acquisition.

The case does not meet statutory criteria for review, according to a news release from the court.

In 2011, the village sued a group of property owners who refused to sell land for a $2.4 million road reconstruction and landscaping project. Brown Deer’s project targeted a triangle bordered by Brown Deer and Green Bay roads and a Canadian National Railway railroad and included upgrading roads, installing curbs and sidewalks, and building two stormwater management ponds.

During preparations for the project, Brown Deer learned residential property lines extended to the center of the roadways, so the village did not have clear ownership of the right-of-way.

Many of the 51 property owners in that area accepted the village’s offer of roughly $200 for their property, but about a dozen, hoping for a larger payout, rejected the money and demanded Brown Deer use eminent domain to take the land.

The village sued those residents, and in February 2013, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rick Sankovitz ruled that the village did not have to pay for the land. Roads in Wisconsin, unless defined otherwise, are understood to be 66 feet wide. Sankovitz determined that some of the affected roads were slightly narrower, but since the village has always maintained the roads, it owns them, according to the ruling.

The property owners appealed that decision, but Sankovitz’s ruling was upheld in October. The property owners petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court in November.

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