Town tackles tree overgrowth problem

Town of Saukville supervisors last week authorized spending $5,000 to clear ditches of undergrowth and will likely be spending much more to do more of the same and cut back trees that hang over roadways.

John Zausch of Forever Green Landscaping Inc., who contracts for snow plowing with the town, told the Town Board last week that because of undergrowth alongside many town roadways, ice melt and run off is not getting into ditches and staying on or coming back onto roads.

The worst example, Zausch said, was a stretch of Willow Road where a sheet of ice three to six inches thick covered the roadway for about 150 feet, Zausch said.

“It’s impeding the flow of water” off the road, Zausch said.

The ice dam also damaged a culvert there, he said.

The other problem in the same location and in other places are tree branches that hang over the road, forcing vehicles to drive down the middle of the road or even cross over into the left lane to avoid striking tree branches.

“I’m finding some roads that are unsafe,” Zausch said.

Beside Willow Road, those problem areas include Hawthorne Drive near Blueberry Road, Blue Goose Road and Knollwood Road.

Zausch proposed that the town rent a forestry grinder, at $300 an hour, which can quickly  trim back and even cut down trees and grind them to mulch.

Zausch and supervisors deemed the priority would be to clear ditches as quickly as possible and voted to authorize Zausch to begin clearing brush from ditches at a cost not to exceed $5,000.

The board also directed Town Clerk Raquel Engelke to research the width of right of ways on town roads so Zausch knows how far he can cut back trees and vegetation.

“We have to figure out the right of way on a road-by-road basis,” Supervisor Curt Rutkowski said. “There’s no map that shows us the right of way. 

“In some places it’s 33 feet, other places it’s more and other places it’s nothing — the road itself isn’t even in the right of way.”