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Liberty Grove Considers Status of Door Bluff Park Road

Remember five years ago when tree removals on Garrett Bay Road caused so much tumult in Liberty Grove that a woman was escorted from a meeting by a Door County Sheriff’s Deputy because things got so heated?

Brace yourself for more high drama. At its Sept. 10 meeting, the town’s Highway Committee heard from Door Bluff Park Road resident Mark Schmitt, who charged that the road is the worst-kept residential road in all of Door County.

Schmitt told the committee it’s long overdue to “upgrade from a third world road to what it should be.” He added that at the same time, crews should remove the ash trees along the road that are dying due to the emerald ash borer, then toppling over onto power lines and regularly taking out power to residents.

Committee Chair Pat Hockers said when he took charge of the committee, his goal was to have every gravel road in the town paved just to make it easier for maintenance.

Jay Olson, who serves on the committee and is also the town employee who plows Door Bluff Park Road in the winter, added “that road is terrible. I know the potholes are bad.”

Olson suggested the committee ask the town board to move Door Bluff Park Road to the top of the list for improvements.

“I want to get it surveyed, see where boundaries are, then start pulling trees out,” Olson said.

“Not everyone is going to agree we should fix the road. In fact, some may violently oppose it,” Hockers said, before asking Schmitt if all his neighbors are in sync with the idea of removing some trees and paving the road.

Schmitt said they are not in agreement, and the ones who will be against it is “the same crew that didn’t want to do the harvesting of the ash trees and now it’s going to cost everybody a lot of money.”

The community unanimously voted to recommend the town board approve work to mark the right of way for imminent work on Door Bluff Park Road.

The committee also heard from several residents of Hill Road who complained that speed signage is inadequate on the road, that motorists are driving too fast, and that enforcement should be stepped up. The committee decided to replicate the signage on the parallel Scandia Road for Hill Road.

A resident of the 2/10s of a mile-long Kenosha Drive asked for the speed limit to be reduced to 25. Several committee members said that may be too slow for the area, but agreed to place one of the town’s speed carts on the road, collect the data and address the issue at the next meeting.

The committee is also asking the town to place $20,000 in the 2020 budget to pay for paving of parking areas just past JJ’s and Yacht Works in Sister Bay when the Department of Transportation repaves Highway 42 in 2020.

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