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Appeals court sides with property owner in 14-year dispute

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//June 30, 2015//

Appeals court sides with property owner in 14-year dispute

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//June 30, 2015//

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A couple trying to build a road to their property did not get a fair hearing from the local town board, a Court of Appeals has ruled.

The case stems from a dispute over 40 acres of property in the town of Jacksonport near a small lake. Sturgeon Bay residents Thomas and Sandra Jorns bought the land, which has no public access, in 2001.

The Jornses attempted to get access from their neighbors but failed. They applied three times to the Jacksonport Town Board for a road to be built to their property.

Wisconsin state law lets owners of landlocked property without access to public highways apply for a road to be built at the municipality’s cost if the owners cannot purchase a right-of-way from neighbors or if the owners must buy additional land at an exorbitant cost.

After the Jornses’ third attempt failed in April 2013, they sued the board in Door County Circuit Court.

The circuit court ruled in the Jornses’ favor, concluding from the remarks made by two board members that the Jornses’ application did not get a fair hearing.

The circuit court nullified the board’s decision to reject the application and directed the board and the Jornses to select a committee to consider the application.

The board appealed the decision, and the Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in favor of the Jornses. The court, like the lower court, found that questions and comments from the board members showed “an impermissibly high risk of bias” that required a new hearing.

In particular, the court noted in its decision Tuesday that comments from Town Chairman Al Birnschein and board member Thomas Wilson suggested that they had “prejudged the matter before the Board or considered improper factors” and the board had already determined they would deny the application before the hearing.

The court ordered a new Town Board hearing on the Jornses’ application and disqualified Birnschein and Wilson from that hearing.

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