The Palmer Town Board approved a tentative solution to an on-going dispute over a cartway request for a property in the plat of Lake Julia Park after a lengthy public hearing on the matter Monday night.  The board heard from all parties concerned, as well as legal representatives and real estate agents involved in the potential sale.

 

Supervisor Steve Demeules made a motion to grant the cartway petition brought by property owner David Westby, with damages and purchase and/or exchange of property among the parties involved to be finalized at another public hearing at 7:45 p.m. on Mon., Jan. 12.

 

Township attorney David Meyers said he will collect the required documents and information for the formal order to create the cartway and present  document to the board at the January hearing.  Meyers also said that the motion passed Monday night remains subject to all parties, including the town board, remaining in agreement.  “They could change their minds,” Meyers said.

 

Westby has appeared before the Palmer board on several occasions in the past as a representative of the Phyllis M. Westby Trust, which is seeking to sell a land owned by the family consisting of one 22-acre parcel and one 12-acre parcel in the plat of Lake Julia Park in Palmer Township. The cartway request was made so that, in the event the parcels are sold to different owners, one parcel would not be “land-locked” and not accessible to the new owners, Westby told the board when he made his first appearance before the board earlier in the year.

 

On Monday night, owners of the adjoining properties Cary Becker and Pat Briggs addressed the board at the public hearing with a number of objections to the cartway proposal, including questions involving the original 1912 survey, location of the proposed cartway, traffic problems in the area if a home is constructed on the larger parcel, loss of or limited access to property and the legal standing of the cartway request as to the legal meaning of “land-locked” in reference to the two parcels of land. Becker contended that the parcels are not “land-locked” since the township has approved access to the southern portion of the property already.  The angle of the access on the north end of the property has been an ongoing issue throughout the lengthy debate, with Becker having stated previously that it would be impossible for emergency vehicles to maneuver around the steep angle created by the cartway.  He also proposed a different route for the cartway, which would have gone in the exact opposite direction of the proposed route.

 

Becker and Briggs had also met with county officials the week before the Palmer hearing, seeking clarification on the matter.  During the Monday hearing, Briggs suggested that it would be best if the parties were able to settle the matter privately, rather than involving the town board.  Chairman Mike Ganz said “that horse is already out of the barn” as the matter had now come before the board, and that a decision would have to be made.

 

At their board meeting in July, Meyers informed the board a potential solution had been reached between the three parties, but that agreement was never enacted.  He had also had the matter placed on the December board agenda in the event that a resolution could not be reached, which proved to be the correct decision.

 

Details of the exact location of the cartway, cost of compensation for lost property, access to all parties via the public rather than private cartway are expected to be resolved at the January meeting if the board signs a formal order accepting the Westby petition.  Meyers said all parties have 40 days from that time to appeal the decision through the courts.

 

Following the approval of the cartway petition, the board also approved a resolution to continue the public hearing to the January board meeting.  Both votes were unanimous.