BOSCOBEL - Trees are coming down on city-owned lots at Pine Shores. L.J. Logging, a logging company, is removing the trees and paying the city $500 for the harvest.

Originally, Mike Reynolds, City Engineer/Director of Public Works, had hoped to net $2,000 from the timber sale. “I was at the point where I was ready to pay someone to get the trees out of there,” Reynolds told the City Council at its June 19 meeting.

More than a year in the making, the tree removal is the latest chapter in the city’s quest to build new homes on the 10 vacant lots in Pine Shores—in a bid to ease Boscobel’s housing crunch.

An earlier plan to rezone the lots for higher density housing generated intense opposition from neighbors to the vacant lots and was scrapped last year.

New plan for fencing

Neighbors spoke last year against removing the trees because they shielded the neighborhood from J& J Recycling & Salvage Inc, which lies immediately to the west of the vacant lots.

The city has pledged to create some type of new barrier that would protect both the salvage yard and residents.

Reynolds explained that the current plan is to put retaining wall blocks along the length of the salvage lot, with an earthen berm sloping down from the blocks to the level of the yards. A six-foot-high fence would sit atop the berm.

The city has set aside $70,000 for construction.

Nation-wide shortage

Lack of housing is well documented across the country—and is especially acute for middle-class wage earners.

A recent study from the National Association of Realtors estimates that “the market is short about 320,000 listings worth up to $256,000—which is considered the affordability range for households earning up to $75,000 annually.”

In Boscobel, that’s left working families with few options for affordable housing.

Why the shortage? Financial analysts point to a number of factors: After the 2008 recession, home building just slowed down, and never came back up to speed. More buyers and fewer homes rachets up the price.

Other factors include demographic trends—the rise of the huge Millennial generation, as well as the trend of Baby Boomers aging in place instead of downsizing. More recently, supply chain disruptions and rising inflation and interest rates have depressed the market.

In Boscobel, census data indicates that a large percentage of homeowners are over the age of 55.

Landowner cited

In other business, the city voted to move forward with “abatement” at two properties owned by Gene Freymiller, who serves on the board of the Boscobel Chamber of Commerce.

The properties include his home on Le Grand Street and his business on Morrison Drive. Abatement is a process by which the city can enforce the nuisance ordinance, which requires that garbage and junked cars be removed.

“I have every intention in the world to get it done,” said Freymiller in a phone interview. He did not attend the meeting. “I’ve got it well under way, but I’m working at the prison full time, so I just don’t have a lot of time.”

Boscobel Police Chief Jaden McCullick said that citations and the threat of abatement are normally not necessary. “Ninety-nine percent of people will just get the mess cleaned up when you send them a letter,” he said. Only when garbage or junked cars sit for a longer period, and the owner is non-responsive,

“They’re proving a point, and I understand that,” Freymiller said. “I have no intention but to get it done.”

Other business

In a short meeting that lasted just under a half-hour, the council also approved:

A resolution ensuring compliance with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rules related to the city’s Public Works Department.

Moving forward on the street project on Airport and Chestnut roads.