Top Stories, July 12th

Jay Hoeft’s Tea Party

7/12/10 - Downtown Beaver Dam tavern owner Jay Hoeft told a group of about two dozen people Saturday afternoon that his building is staying where it is. Hoeft billed the event as a Tea Party, and said that the city and Department of Natural Resources have “conspired” to “extort” the owners of ten downtown properties into selling their buildings, which were demolished last year as part of the redevelopment plan sparked by the 2008 floods. Hoeft, who owns the Fountain Inn Tavern, was the only hold-out. Buildings that are constructed in a floodplain, in this case right over the Beaver Dam River, are limited by state statute to having no more than 50-percent of their value spent on improvements. Hoeft says city and state officials distorted the facts in telling property owners that their land was worthless and the city buy-out -- based on 100% of their assessed value -- was the best option. He said, “After two years the DNR now says I can stay.” Hoeft says he found out that improvements could be made to his building in emergency conditions without it being calculated into the 50-percent rule.

Hoeft also used the platform to accuse the city of burying the rubble from the buildings on-site. He circulated an interagency email dated August 14 of 2008 that he said was obtained from the DNR though an open meetings request. It states, “no waste, exempt fill or not, could be buried in a floodplain.” The email from Barb Palecek to Jim Congdon said, “I am not totally convinced that [Trent Campbell with the Beaver Dam Redevelopment Authority] was on board with that and he hinted that their consultant/ engineer had suggested we would be OK with demolition burial. We would not be OK with it.” Hoeft also said there is no evidence that lead paint was removed from the bricks before the rubble was used as fill. According to a story we broadcast last year, the project contractor was to begin lead paint – and asbestos -- remediation in May.

Kennedy Responds to Hoeft Accusations

7/12/10 - Messages left with the DNR, of course after regular business hours this weekend, have not yet been returned. We did speak with Mayor Tom Kennedy about some of the accusations that were made. In a statement he said: “Unfortunately for the last two years, the city along with others have spent a lot of time and resources and have not been able to satisfy Mr. Hoeft’s wants. I cannot speak for others but I know that he should realize where the city stands by this time…We are not in a position to deal with him, whether it be face-to-face or through the media. It’s my understanding the DNR has had an appraisal done on the property and is still attempting to negotiate with him, so that is where the entire matter sits at this point.” In regards to the accusations about burying the building rubble in the floodplain, Kennedy told us that the “demolition was a permitted project” and there were “no variances with the fill [or rubble] and it was all done legally.”