Hemlock Street will be rebuilt with new utilities, curb and gutter and a consistent 30-foot width — but no sidewalk — after the Rhinelander Common Council voted 6-2 to side with residents who opposed the plan. The Oct. 26 vote followed the defeat of a motion that would have added a sidewalk along the west side of the street, a feature some council members said had been part of an earlier compromise on the city’s Spruce Street area design project.
Council President Carrie Mikalauski made the motion that ultimately passed. It calls for widening the narrower stretches of Hemlock to 30 feet with curb and gutter, leaving the intersection at Balsam Street at its current width of about 36 feet, and omitting sidewalks. Mikalauski, Linnaea Newman, Steven Jopek, Thomas Barnett, Leanne Felton and Bob Lueder voted yes. Luke Kramer and Gerald Anderson voted no.
“I have to vote with my constituents on this,” Mikalauski said before the sidewalk vote.
Tabled motion revisited
The council took up the Hemlock Street segment as unfinished business after tabling it on Oct. 14 at Mikalauski’s request. The tabled motion called for a 30-foot-wide street, a sidewalk on the west side and parking on one side only. Mikalauski said she had fielded many phone calls and emails from Hemlock residents. Their first choice, she said, was to change nothing. If forced to choose, most preferred a slightly wider road without sidewalks over the alternative.
Residents told her the road already sits close to many homes, that a sidewalk would eliminate parking and that the neighborhood is safe without one, she said. She also questioned the need for pedestrian access to nearby West Side Park, which she described as underused. The Phillip Street side of the park is largely swamp until mid-summer, she said, and would take extensive drainage work to improve.
Anderson read the final two paragraphs of a letter from resident Tom Jerow urging the council to keep the sidewalk. The letter said the subdivision was laid out more than a century ago with a 60-foot public right of way, and that garages, decks and even homes now encroach on it. It argued several council members had agreed to forgo sidewalks on other streets in the project with the understanding that Hemlock would get one, giving West Hill neighborhood children a safe route to West Side Park and its BMX track. Anderson said he supported the motion as written. Hemlock, he said, is probably the most significant street in the project for moving pedestrians through the area.
Width and right of way
City Engineer Mark Barden said the existing street is reasonably close to the center of the right of way, though property pins vary and a right-of-way plat is expected this month. He said no land acquisition is anticipated.
The current pavement width varies, the engineer said, from about 24 feet without curb to 30 feet with curb. The only wider section is a roughly 36-foot radius on the north side of Balsam Street, built when Balsam was reconstructed in anticipation of Hemlock eventually being rebuilt to the city’s 36-foot standard.
The engineer also said the overall project could be completed without Hemlock. Utilities under the street are likely in poor condition given their age, he said, and pipe has collapsed in at least one area. Mayor Kris Hanus warned that if Hemlock were dropped from the project and those utilities later failed, repairs would fall to the city’s water and wastewater utilities without state or federal grant or low-interest loan assistance. Mikalauski said Hemlock residents do want the utility upgrades — just not a wider street or sidewalks.
Amendment, then defeat
Kramer moved to amend the tabled motion to keep the Balsam intersection at 36 feet, tapering to 30 feet along the rest of Hemlock. Anderson seconded. Jopek questioned the amendment, noting a garage and driveway sit close to the road at that corner. The engineer said narrowing the intersection to 30 feet would give that property some room, but if a sidewalk were built, its location would not change.
The amendment passed 7-1, with Jopek voting no.
The amended motion — including the west-side sidewalk — then failed. That left Hemlock with no plan in place, prompting Mikalauski’s motion to widen the street without sidewalks.
Debate on final motion
Kramer said he understood the neighborhood’s concerns, having recently gone through road construction near his own home, but that constituents in his district see themselves as part of the city too. He said he did not understand why roughly 100 people should be able to effectively decide access to a park area. Anderson agreed. “These projects are for the whole city,” he said, adding that the council has yet to settle on a consistent approach.
Jopek said he believes the street should be widened for public safety, and that making it a consistent 30 feet is “the minimum we can do” while new utilities go in. Lueder said the council made similar concessions for neighborhoods two years ago. New subdivisions should meet the city’s 36-foot, sidewalks-on-both-sides standard, he said, but older neighborhoods are different.
“A neighborhood that was built 90 or 100 years ago wasn’t designed to accommodate a street that wide,” Lueder said.
The engineer confirmed the original right of way was 60 feet. Mikalauski acknowledged that was the intent, but said past councils had issued permits allowing homes to be built closer to the right of way.
“So now that’s the issue that we have to deal with,” she said.
Neighbors speak
Several residents addressed the council during public comment, nearly all opposed to sidewalks.
A Hemlock Street resident who moved from Pueblo, Colorado, five years ago said the neighborhood’s deer, foxes and other wildlife would suffer from added traffic, and that she grew up playing in the street without incident. Susan Beck, who said she has owned property on the street for nearly 70 years, said the road in front of her home is not centered in the right of way and questioned whether a sidewalk could fit. She also raised concerns about access to homes and utility shutoffs during construction. Another Hemlock resident cited studies showing narrower streets slow traffic and improve pedestrian survival rates in crashes. Another speaker said West Side Park sees little use, noting part of the land belongs to the school district near West Elementary, and that nearby duplexes have their own play areas.
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