Future of Horn Hollow Road remains undecided

By Kate Klimesh,

Multiple viewpoints were heard Sept. 11 regarding the possible vacation or sale of Horn Hollow Road land during the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors meeting. 

On one hand, Winneshiek County Attorney Andy Van Der Maaten recommended vacation as a clean method of ridding the road from the county’s property rolls and getting it back into a taxable base. Reason being there has been no documented saleable interest in the property beyond an assumed easement to create the road initially. Van Der Maaten’s recommendation: the only option is to vacate it.

Mike Shimak of the Engineer’s Office noted there were no documents proving the relocation of the road in the 1940s or 50s; it was only marked on a survey in following years in what could be considered a “back-door” way to move the county road.

Jim Wicka, new owner of the Horn House, who had offered to purchase the section of road at the last meeting, disagreed, stating the property was built by the county at the public’s request and would automatically become county property. He requested the Board of Supervisors get a formal opinion on this from the Attorney General to get some firm guidance.

Van Der Maaten noted, “The law is pretty clear. Whether owned by the county or by easement, you still come to the abandonment issue. You have a property-owner with that road on their property. There was the intent to vacate the road 50 years ago, at the built location not at the location it was platted.”

Steve Daniels, attorney for Horn Hollow Road property owner Lucy Schempp, noted Schempp’s abstract from her 1974 land purchase does not show any mention of the road at all. He noted if the property was abandoned, it was long before Schempp bought the property 50 years ago. He also added that there was no usable plat that could be found and agreed with Van Der Maaten’s opinion of vacation of the road to clean up the title.

The board made no decision but will address the issue at the Sept. 25 public hearing for the road vacation. 

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