City Council to explore selling riverfront property
July 25, 2012 at 5:48 am in Hudson Star-Observer
A divided City Council on Monday night voted to explore selling the riverfront property between Lakefront Park and St. Croix Street to adjacent homeowners so they can continue to have docks in the St. Croix River. Continue Reading
This should be a pretty easy decision, except that it involves some city board members. This property never belonged to anyone but the city, and the railroad. Just because these homeowners failed to look at a plat map to see what they were purchasing, is nobodies fault but their own. Why, should city residents not have the use of these properties for fishing, and other recreation, so a few can have river front property that was never theirs to begin with?
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Always has to go the way of a select few. I do not agree with selling the property. If the city is so strapped for cash, go an easier route and lease the space and put in a dock and a ramp and leave the rest of the area open to the public. The city gets money they get their dock and the public still gets to enjoy the property. I don’t understand why the privileged few always have to own so others can’t enjoy. You have access very nearby to launch a boat. Beyond that I suggest you use the marina.
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The City Attorney and the WI DNR have clearly stated that the docks on Park land are illegal and a liability to the City. Rather than enforcing the city ordinance and having the docks removed, the Mayor and Alderpersons Yacoub and TeWinkel appear to be bending over backwards to appease this small group of homeowners with illegal docks on Park land — even if that means selling the Park land! Watch the webstream from the July 23 City Council Meeting and draw your own conclusions: http://www.riverchannel.org/streaming/citycouncil/
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Well, on your lines of thinking, here is an example of the exact reason why the docks should be removed. When should it stop? Maybe the people who own the building east of the boat landing should be able to buy the boat landing, maybe the Phipps Center should be able to buy the beach house property. The reality is the first street property owners have never owned the property, never paid taxes on riverfront property, have never paid dock permit fees. They are no more entitled to the property than I am. Just because they thought they owned the property doesn’t make it theirs.
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Watch the City Council meeting and decide for yourself if Burchill, Yacoub and TeWinkel are addressing the issue of illegal docks on City land, and are acting in the best interests of ALL Hudson residents.
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The dock restrictions on the St. Croix are to keep it from looking like Minnetonka where you can’t find a piece of shoreline that is not being utilized for a dock. Even in places where the property owners actually own the shoreline, they are not allowed to add more dock space than they already have. I’m sure that there are plenty of property owners out on Cove Road that would love to add dock space but have been told that it’s a big no-no.
The DNR has made it pretty clear to the city what they expect to happen in this situation. It wouldn’t surprise me that if the city council does allow the adjacent property owners to purchase this land, the DNR would later block them from constructing (or maintaining) docks there.
If the city puts this riverfront property up for purchase, there’s no reason why a group of local citizens and business owners wouldn’t be able to purchase it and set it up as a land trust. This shoreline is a valuable asset to our community and should remain property of the community. If these people want docks, they are more than welcome to move somewhere where the shoreline is actually for sale.
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Whose leg do you have to hump to get a dock in this town?
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I have not walked along this shoreline, so I don’t know what it looks like. Under current city (public) ownership, what is there to regulate what the boating public does on this property? Considering how crowded beer can island gets on summer weekends, is the public not able to use this shoreline for partying, campfires, and even overnight camping?
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To the Mayor. what is your stake in this game? I watched and I don’t see what you are seeing
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and what I mean by the Mayor is the one on this blog not the real Mayor. The one who apparently will blog as the Mayor. Maybe I should blog as The President. Geez
If you want to use that title I suggest you run for the office
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This issue smells like typical small town politics. The only reason it hasn’t been resolved already is because of the tight connections these property owners have with city officials (past and present). The thought of selling almost 2000 ft of St Croix River frontage (in the city of Hudson) to only the adjacent property owners for 100K total is an insult to every citizen of Hudson. I commend my council representative (Rich Vanselow) for doing an admirable job of representing my interests. Shame on you Mary, Kurt and Alan for even considering selling such a major asset of the City of Hudson.
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Actually Joe, the commenters seem to be saying that only a few having an illegal dock and not paying for it is wrong when the rest of us can not enjoy the same luxury… So I say what is your point? And why are you so interested with the repeated “hmmmmm’s” yet you point out that you have “zero interest” in this and “have better things to worry about” yet you were interested enough to comment three seperate times without giving an opinion about the dock issue or any suggestion on how to solve it.
In my opinion, the council is ignoring the sound and reasonable advice of thier own attorney and dragging this out way to far in an attempt to satisfy a couple land owners who are on or connected to the council.
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No vendetta here Joe. I just think it should remain park land for everyone to enjoy. My problem comes into play this way. What’s to stop the people who live next to Williams Park from placing a fence half way across the park and stating we own this area of the park. I feel the city is setting a very dangerous presidence.
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Am I the only one the sees this as a fairly cut and dry issue? You can’t put a private dock on a public land….period. How does taking public land out of the public’s hands benefit the public? Furthermore, if you justify that question how does the selling that property at a price well below market value benefit anyone? I just don’t see how allowing the owners of the dock to keep them at little to no cost benefits Hudson overall in any way. Additionally, the liability of it alone would make any insurance company run for the hills…the legal liability here is reason enough to remove the docks.
I’ve watched the Council meeting and i have to say I commend the Council for finally addressing the issue that has long gone un-addressed, but the fact remains, the docks are there illegally, plain and simple. If the land next to my house is a park, I can’t just annex the land and call it mine.That wouldn’t be anymore possible even if the Realtor who sold me the land told me it was my land. Its my responsibility to figure out what I’m buying.
Just because you enjoyed private docks for so long, doesn’t make it right. 1, Correct the mistake, take the docks out or 2, sell the land at market value to the owners (all or nothing basis). Clearly the answer is 1 because taking public land from the public without their input is wrong and given their input it would never hold water.
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