August 18, 2020 – Town of Erin, WI – About 30 neighbors from the Town of Erin attended this weeks annual meeting and many spoke passionately about retaining the history and charm of the Rustic Roads and rural community.
The hot topic was sparked when elected officials hired a firm to clear cut trees 12 feet on either side of the road on Emerald Drive. Neighbors are opposing the effort saying it will lead to more accidents and ruin the charm of the area they call home.
The effort to save the trees has been led by Shailaja Reddy. “I am here to express my opposition for the ‘nth’ time to the tree cut,” said Reddy. “The roads are in a bad state but the issue is the misinformation and the plan to cut.”
Ann Brower purchased her beautiful home and loved the wooded atmosphere and the Rustic Road. “This is very disturbing; there is no plan,” she said, noticeably emotional while she spoke.
After the hour-long annual meeting Town Supervisors indicated the passion of the neighbors came a little too late.
“It is unfortunate because all these discussions already happened and they weren’t here,” said Town Board Supervisor Maripat Blankenheim. “As far as what’s next… I have no idea.”
Supervisor Dan Coffey was missing from the Tuesday night meeting. Neighbors noticed and Town Chairman Dennis Kenealy explained he had been excused because of an “unexpected issue.”
Kenealy said right now the tree/road project is still moving forward. “What we’re going to do is talk with a couple people who were here tonight and we will go out and try to identify areas of concern,” he said. “Then we will see if we can run what we want without negating our contract.”
Kenealy mentioned the agreement with the tree-cutting service and after the meeting Reddy contended that agreement still could be nixed.
Kenealy said an update on the situation should be available next week.
