Oshkosh council delays vote on stormwater easement after homeowners object

The Oshkosh Common Council on Sept. 9 laid over consideration of Resolution 25-480, a city proposal to acquire and execute relocation orders for stormwater easements affecting properties at 3820 Jackson Street, 3835 Somerset Way and 3847 Somerset Way.

The matter drew a lengthy public comment from Connor Miller of 3835 Somerset Way, who said the proposed 20-foot easement would take “nearly 15 to 20% of our entire lot” and would affect a garage, patio, fence, mature trees and newly planted landscaping. Miller said the pipe running under the yards has existed since the late 1980s and that homeowners had not been offered alternate stormwater solutions; he asked the council to consider alternatives and to put themselves in the homeowners’ position.

Council members pressed staff for alternatives before making a final decision. Several members — including Council Member Bulow, Nichols, Flom, Larson and others — said they supported delaying a final vote while staff completes additional routing, cost and constructability analyses. City staff said preliminary work had identified three possible reroute options but that those were high-level and would require further study of utility conflicts and receiving infrastructure capacity. Staff and the city attorney…