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High court to decide whether WisDOT must compensate property owner

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 3, 2016//

High court to decide whether WisDOT must compensate property owner

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 3, 2016//

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide Thursday whether the state Department of Transportation must compensate a property owner for restricting access to a highway even though it created another point of access.

The case stems from a dispute between WisDOT and Hoffer Properties LLC, which owns 9.9 acres of land in the town of Watertown. The property includes a barn, single-family home and a machine shed that is partially rented out as a workshop.

The northern boundary of Hoffer’s property is Highway 19 and the southern boundary is railroad tracks. The property had two driveways on the the highway; one was for private use, the other was for agricultural use.

In 2008, WisDOT took on an improvement project of nearby Highway 26 that required the elimination of Hoffer’s access to Highway 19. In 2009, WisDOT extended a road to the western boundary of Hoffer’s property as a replacement for the access Hoffer lost.

WisDOT is arguing that because it provided an alternative means for Hoffer to access the public highway, it does not need to compensate Hoffer.

Hoffer, on the other hand, contends that if a jury concludes that the alternative access that WisDOT provided was not reasonable, then it must compensate Hoffer. Hoffer, at its own expense, would still need to build a driveway to connect the property to the road WisDOT extended.

The Jefferson County Circuit Court sided with WisDOT in 2012, and the District 4 Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in 2014.

The high court heard oral arguments in the case in September, with Benjamin Southwick representing Hoffer and Abigail Potts arguing for WisDOT.

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