Sloppy property in town to be taken to court

A daily fine might be imposed on a property owner in the Town of Belgium if he doesn’t clean up his land.

Or authorities will do it for David Oelhafen and charge the cost to him.

The Town Board this month unanimously approved sending the issue to court after officials didn’t see satisfactory work done at Oelhafen’s property at the corner of highways LL and A.

“It’s extremely unsightly. It was bad enough when the corn was there. Now, it’s awful,” Town Chairman Tom Winker said.

The town has received complaints about the property and has been trying to remedy the issue since last summer.

The town sent Oelhafen a letter last fall giving him 60 days to clean up  the property or face a daily fine. The deadline passed in November, and the board gave him one more chance to comply before taking legal action.

A letter from town attorney Paul Alexy sent in late January acknowledged that Oelhafen has had some personal setbacks but reminded him “significant action” needs to be taken to remedy the violation of the town code or the issue could be sent to circuit court.

“The ground is frozen now. We have an open winter. It’s just a phone call away from calling a vendor to come out with a torch, a lift, get all the stuff on the truck and get it out of there,” Winker said.