Trust The Best Scott Stewart & Kathy Bartels KBartels@StarkHomes.com SStewart@StarkHomes.com (608) 512-8487 • (608) 235-2927 adno=94057
It’s your paper! Friday, August 9, 2019 • Vol. 6, No. 6 • Fitchburg, WI • ConnectFitchburg.com • $1
Getting aroundabout
Inside Comprehensive Plan rewrite timeline approved Page 3 District 3 alder appointment expected Aug. 13
Fitchrona-Nesbitt closure difficult for neighboring businesses
Page 5
Business
SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Photos of ongoing projects Page 15
Photos by Kimberly Wethal
Fitchburg resident Tom Thayer stands in his backyard, which has been encroached by flooding from Lake Barney and exacerbated by a high water table in the area. He’s put up 800 feet of blue flood barriers around the southern and western parts of his yard, at a cost of $40,000. Behind him, two pine trees have been drowned by the high water table.
Under pressure
Sports
Lake Barney flooding damaging homes, fields; changing ecology KIMBERLY WETHAL Unified Newspaper Group
Record-setting All-City Swim and Dive meet Page B1
Schools
Find out what’s in the plans for the new OSD school Page B7
At first glance, you might think Fitchburg resident Tom Thayer has a lakefront property. He never intended for that to be. When he purchased his home in 1985, Lake Barney was a couple hundred yards away, and there was a sprinkling of small ponds south of his home. “We had two ponds on our property, and this at one point was all wooded,” he said, pointing past a flood barrier in his backyard to a handful of dead trees enveloped by water. Now, Lake Barney, a glacial kettle that at the time spanned 30 acres, has expanded to 800 acres and encroaches on Thayer’s home to the south and west. Its growth has encapsulated smaller lakes all the way to County Hwy. D, more than a mile to the west. Thayer’s predicament is part of a larger, multifaceted problem. Heavy rain patterns late last summer and a large snow melt this spring, combined with a bike path owned by the Village of Oregon that reduced ground water’s natural flow, have put the underground PRSRT STANDARD ECRWSS US POSTAGE
PAID
John Brown, Town of Oregon resident, filled in his basement to accommodate a rising water table that filled his basement full of water. As a result, the door to the basement from the outside had to be cut in half, and the space is around 4 feet tall, about half of what it was prior to the flooding. water table under pressure and caused Lake Barney to swell. Now, homes, wildlife and farm fields all are in jeopardy. And there’s no easy fix. For one thing, seven governmental entities would be directly affected by any solution to the problem. Water flows from the City of Fitchburg to the town and
village of Oregon, and any solutions might require use of state and federal land. And the water has to go somewhere. Simply fixing the problem around Lake Barney could cause flooding elsewhere, including in the Badfish Creek, which has had its share of flooding issues over
Turn to Flooding/Page 12
Betsy Jenkins walked up to the car with Illinois license plates in the It’s Your Party parking lot, almost as dismayed as the driver, who couldn’t get to Bavaria Sausage just 100 feet away. His choices were to walk through a construction area or get back on Nesbitt Road, drive southwest to Maple Grove Drive, north to County Hwy. PD and around to the other side of Nesbitt Road – a 10-minute trip, according to Google Maps. “Every day, we have some,” Jenkins, the owner of the party supply store said as she watched the driver instead turn onto Allegheny Drive. That detour – rather than the one the city prescribes – has been since July 10 the fastest way around from one side of the Nesbitt and Fitchrona roads intersection to the other. It will remain so until October, when the new roundabout is expected to be complete. Business owners near the intersection told the Star they understand a change was needed. The four-way stop has led to backups during rush hour every weekday. But they’re disappointed in some of the city’s communication, including signage now that work is underway. “Better signage would help a lot,” said Bavaria Sausage president Judy Cottrell. Jenkins said she’s had drivers come through as fast as 50 mph, and they have sometimes directed their anger at not being able to get through the intersection at her and her employees. “I just know that this has been really challenging,” she said. The timing adds to the difficulty. Not only is the summer a busy time for It’s Your Party deliveries, Bavaria’s summer brat cookouts and Felly’s Flowers, but the Verona Road reconstruction project is still going, leaving drivers trying to get to Verona or into Fitchburg with limited options. “It’s a double whammy,” Cottrell said.
Turn to Roundabout/Page 15
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