Residents petition city to omit sidewalks from Messer project

The public comment portion of the Rhinelander Common Council’s Aug. 12 meeting began with over a dozen residents of the city’s Hodag Park neighborhood literally standing behind a spokesperson, Matt Campbell, as he addressed the topic of the 2025 Messer Street Area and Utility Improvement Project.

The group’s goal, according to Campbell, was to “open a dialogue” with the city.

“There are many things we like from we’ve learned so far about the project,” Campbell noted. “We appreciate the utilities being redone, the curbs being redone, however we have some reservations specifically surrounding the sidewalks...”

Campbell advised that members of the group planned to attend the informational meeting on the project scheduled for Wednesday evening (after this edition went to press) but wanted to first advise the council of their concerns and ask that an item be added to the panel’s Aug. 26 agenda so that further discussion can take place after the informational meeting.

Campbell also referenced a petition signed by residents of the Hodag Park neighborhood. He asked if he should read the submission into the record but was advised to submit it to the city clerk.

The River News made an open records request for a copy of the submission.

In response, the newspaper received what appears to be two separate but very similar petitions — one focused on sidewalk construction on Lake Shore Drive and the other referencing all sidewalk construction planned as part of the Messer project.

“The city proposes placement of new concrete sidewalk on both sides of Lake Shore Drive between Doyle and Rose streets as part of the 2025 Messer Area Reconstruction Project,” one of the petitions reads.

The other petition states “the city proposes placement of new concrete sidewalk on both sides of the residential streets as part of the 2025 Messer Area Reconstruction Project.”

Both petitions go on to state that “the consensus” of the affected property owners is that the proposed sidewalk addition and street widening “are not wanted or needed.”

“The residents recognize that the main purpose of the MAR project is to address the aging and failing underground public utilities and we approve of these repairs,” one of the petitions reads. “However, we are also of the opinion that the public utility replacement is being used as an opportunity to force concrete sidewalk installation into the 2024 MAR project and public input on this matter should have started much sooner. Currently, these streets are low traffic volume, low speed, residential streets. The current arrangement of ‘shared use’ of the roadway by vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists is satisfied in a safe and cost-effective manner.”

Both petitions note that the addition of sidewalks will result in a loss of trees and other plantings. 

“Damage to root systems of trees near the sidewalk may result in the killing and weakening of some trees,” the submissions state. “There will be impacts to the property owners’ lawns that extend beyond the outside edge of the new sidewalk. To blend in the new sidewalk, landscaping to the adjoining private property will probably require temporary limited easements up onto private property. This is especially true for sloped sections of land. Many homeowners will lose decorative items that lend value and character to their homes. Many children that live in this area will lose already limited space for play.”

“We feel the new sidewalk construction on this project should be approved by the people that live within the construction area and not by the city,” the petitions conclude. “We oppose the new concrete sidewalk project being proposed on this project.”

The city formally unveiled the project on June 24. It is comparable, in both size and scope, to the recent Oneida Avenue project, city officials noted.

The streets involved are Messer (from Doyle Street to Hodag Park Drive), Evergreen Court (from Doyle Street to Rose Street), Lake Shore Drive (from Doyle Street to Rose Street), Rose Street (from Lake Shore Drive to Thayer Street), Fremont Street (from Messer Street to Hodag Park Drive) and Hodag Park Drive (from Messer Street to Thayer Street), all located near Boom Lake and Hodag Park.

The project is expected to include sanitary sewer mains, manholes, laterals, partial street, sidewalk, storm sewer and miscellaneous improvements, according to materials included with the June 24 council agenda.

In July, the city held a public hearing as required as part of the process of applying for grant money to fund the project, but only two people chose to speak and one of those individuals was a city official (city forester Tom Jerow) who does not live in that neighborhood.

Another addressed the Messer project during the public comment portion of a special council meeting held on July 30 where the alderpersons authorized the mayor to sign paperwork as part of the grant application process. 

That individual, who identified themselves as a resident of Messer Street, expressed concern about losing the neighborhood’s trees.

“We have beautiful, beautiful trees on our road and if you drive down on our road there is great landscaping,” she said. “Everyone takes great care of their lawn and we take great pride in that, we don’t want to lose those trees.”

Later in Monday’s meeting, during his regular update on all of the ongoing city street projects, Mark Barden of Town and Country Engineering noted that he expected the Aug. 14 informational meeting would include a “lively discussion.”

The River News expects to publish a followup to this article following the Aug. 14 meeting.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected].