Parking lot owner sues Somerset in federal court

Listen to this article

The owner of a parking lot in the village of Somerset has filed a lawsuit against the village for blocking access to the lot during events and for permitting a competing business to build a driveway on that parking lot to divert traffic into its own lots.

According to the amended complaint filed Thursday, the lawsuit stems from a parking lot in Somerset that Daniel Baillargeon bought on May 15, 2012. The parking lot, according to the complaint, has been used for event parking for festivals, concerts and other attractions for more than 20 years and is adjacent to County Road VV, the main highway passing through Somerset.

But when Baillargeon, who does business as Baillargeon Properties LLC, opened the lot and began renting out spaces for an event from May 19 to May 21, 2012, police cruisers blocked access to the lot for two hours and redirected traffic into Wayzata, Minn.-based Somerset Amphitheater LLC’s parking lot, according to the complaint. Somerset Amphitheater’s property surrounds the parking lot and contains stores, campgrounds, parking lots and concert venues.

According to the lawsuit, during one event in the summer of 2012, Somerset Village President Jeffrey Johnson, working as head of security for Amphitheater, informed Baillargeon that he could not open the parking lot. Baillargeon alleges he lost about $30,000 in revenue over two days.

According to the complaint, the village of Somerset and Johnson have continued blocking access to the parking lot multiple times since May 2012 by using police cars, private vehicles and traffic cones. The village also permitted Somerset Amphitheater to block access around the parking lot, Baillargeon alleges.

Also, the village allowed Amphitheater to build a driveway on the eastern part of the parking lot. According to Baillargeon, the permit was granted without notice or without a hearing.

That part of the lot, according to the lawsuit, was a 66-foot strip on the eastern portion of the lot dedicated for “future use and development” by Somerset “for the benefit of the public” under Wis. Stat. 236.293. When the former owner of the parking lot had applied for a conditional-use permit, the village had required it to dedicate that strip for that purpose.

In building the driveway, Somerset Amphitheater also removed a curb that was part of the intersection that the village required the former owner to build before it could obtain the conditional-use permit, according to the complaint. The new driveway, according to the lawsuit, was used to redirect visitors and festival attendees to the Somerset Amphitheater lot instead of for the use of safety vehicles, as originally stated in the driveway use permit.

Baillargeon alleges his Fifth Amendment right to just compensation for private property taken for public use and his 14th Amendment right to equal protection have been violated by the village. He is seeking a jury trial and $75,000 in damages.

Baillargeon, reached Friday, declined to comment and referred to his attorney, Tyler Frennan. Frennan said the village’s actions have clear political undertones but his purpose is to resolve his client’s legal problem with the village.

A message left with an attorney at a law firm representing the village, Weld, Riley, Prenn & Ricci SC, Eau Claire, was not immediately returned Friday. Follow @erikastrebel