Town of Colfax seeking permission to widen dump road (810th Street)

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  The Town of Colfax is requesting a temporary easement from the Village of Colfax to widen 810th Street, which is the road to the Colfax collection station west of Colfax off state Highway 170.

Dean Logslett, chair of the Colfax Town Board, spoke to the Colfax Village Board October 9 about widening the road during the public appearances portion of the meeting.

The property across the road from the village’s collection station has been purchased by someone who is planning to build a house, Logslett said.

The road rights-of-way in the Town of Colfax are 49 feet, and that particular road is narrower through the cut in the bank, he said.

The Town of Colfax is proposing to obtain a temporary easement to widen the road and to slope the bank, Logslett said.

The Town of Colfax does not anticipate paving the road beyond the collection station, but there are trees at the top of the bank that will have to be removed, he said.

Village Trustee Mark Halpin asked when the Town of Colfax planned to do the road work.

By the end of the year, or if the ground freezes up earlier rather than later, then next spring, Logslett said.

The Town of Colfax has narrower roads than other townships, noted Gary Stene, village president.

Most townships have 66-foot road rights-of-way.

Because of the narrowness of the road, the Town of Colfax needs permission to widen the road and to take down the trees, Stene said, adding that, personally, he did not see a problem with the proposal.

The other reason the Town of Colfax needs permission to widen the road is the village owns property to the centerline of the road, Logslett said.

In the Town of Colfax, there are no easements, he said.

A temporary easement for working on 810th Street was not on the agenda for the Colfax Village Board at the October 9 meeting and would have to be brought back to the board at the October 23 meeting, said Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer.

Since it’s a town road but it is the village dump and the village owns to the centerline of the road, the village board will have to give permission for the road work, Stene reiterated.

“I think he should take what he needs to do the bank right,” he noted.

The remaining village board members — Dave Wolff, Annie Schieber and Keith Burcham — voiced no objections to the issue of 810th Street being put on the agenda for the October 23 meeting.

Village Trustees Carey Davis and Casey Rihn were absent from the meeting.

According to a sample form for the temporary construction easement for the Town of Colfax, the Village of Colfax would be granting the Town of Colfax, “the right to operate necessary equipment thereon, the right of ingress and egress, as long as required for such public purpose, including the right to preserve, protect, remove or plant thereon any vegetation the authorities may deem desirable to prevent erosion of the soil. This permit shall terminate upon completion of the construction project for which this instrument is given.”