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A monthly publication from the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers
November 2008 Edition
WSPE's President's Corner |
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Fellow P.E.s, On Saturday, October 11, 2008, the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers lost a long-time member and supporter, when Steven K. Van Dyke, P.E., lost his fight with a long-term illness. Steve impacted and left his stamp on the Wisconsin engineering community. The most obvious, of course, is the engineering consulting firm of Foth & Van Dyke and Associates, Inc. (F&VD), currently known as Foth. I began my career at F&VD at the same time Steve did and spent over 20 years working with him. Steve was forward thinking and not afraid to try something new to help the F&VD organization grow and get better. He was not one to sit around and maintain the “status quo.” Much of what Foth is today is a result of Steve’s influence, starting almost 40 years ago. Steve strongly promoted WSPE to his employees. He was actually responsible for my membership in WSPE. On the lighter side, many don’t know it, but Steve was a budding athlete. However, he was probably the only person I could have beaten in a foot race. He was not the fastest guy on the block, but then neither was I. We played slow pitch softball together for many years on the F&VD team. He was the pitcher and I was the catcher. We never won the World Series, but we were able to keep Miller Brewing in production and profitable. For those of you who did not know him, you have missed a lot. For those of us who knew and worked with him, we will miss him, but his memory will remain with us. The engineering community has lost a professional and a friend. Michael J. Lefebvre, P.E. |
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WSPE’s 2009 Governor’s New Product Awards (GNPA) Program and Banquet |
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| WSPE’s official call for entries is now available on our Web site by clicking here. Please consider entering or inform someone else and/or a company that you may think is interested in entering. If you like, please forward the contact information to Dale Swenson and he will contact them directly. The GNPA ceremony and banquet is Thursday evening, April 23, 2009 at Lambeau Field’s Legends Club Room, Green Bay, WI. The GNPA ceremony and banquet will directly follow WSPE’s 2009 Discovery Conference. NSPE has a new look to their Website. To access NSPE NPA PEI 2008 information about this year and previous award winners, please click on the following links: NSPE
Web Site: New Product Award This year, WSPE entered 4 Wisconsin companies into NSPE’s competition and 2 Wisconsin companies won. They were InSinkerator and Cummins. Since 1993, Wisconsin has won 16 times at the National level. |
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Two Volunteers Needed for BEPR |
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| WSPE ‘s Board of Engineers Professional Responsibility (BEPR) is looking for two can-do people to serve. Can you volunteer your time and talent? We prefer representatives from the Fox River Valley Chapter and the Western Chapter. If you’re able and interested, please contact Nancy Short at n.short@wspe.org or 414-908-4950 x135. |
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College of Engineering, Math and Science (EMS) Expo April 2, 2009 |
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Mark your calendars! This expo has two purposes: to inform youth what engineering, mathematics and science are all about, and to provide incentive for the challenge awaiting those of you who choose a career in one of these fields. You will have the opportunity to observe students and faculty “in action” and to see what people educated at UW-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science can do. Look for more information soon at: http://www.uwplatt.edu/EXPO. |
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How are Public Ways in Subdivisions Lawfully
Discontinued? |
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For professional engineers and for surveyors a discussion of a recent decision of the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin is relevant. Even for professional engineers who are not engaged in professional tasks involving subdividing of land or establishing or protecting access to navigable water, the Court of Appeals decision in Vande Zande v. Town of Marquette decided on August 13, 2008, is interesting. In Wisconsin, title to the beds of navigable lakes and rivers is held in trust for the public’s use and enjoyment. In Vande Zande v. Town of Marquette, the Court of Appeals noted that since 1923 the Wisconsin legislature has required the developers of riparian land to provide, at half-mile intervals or less, access to navigable waters. The Court was called upon to decide whether “public access” to Lake Puckaway in the Town of Marquette as provided in an approved subdivision was either never properly created or whether the town by inaction had abandoned it. It seems that Fred Stamm and his wife owned land on the shore of Lake Puckaway and began to develop the land in 1970 when they filed a certified survey map which showed the disputed parcel designated as “public access.” Ultimately, 14 parcels were created by subdividing additional land and each purchaser of a lot received an undivided 1/30th interest in the “public access” parcel. In 2006 the town board advised the lot owners that they had no valid claim to the access because it was “public access,” available to all. The lot owners asserted that the access parcel was not a public lake access because no public access was ever created; that the Stamms in dividing the property did not dedicate the disputed parcel as public access; that the town did not properly accept the dedication even if it was made; that even if the “public access” did exist when created, it has ceased to exist because of the town’s inaction to maintain it as a public access, which the lot owners argued, constituted a discontinuance of the “public access.” The Court of Appeals observed that there was no dispute that the Stamms had created the plat and that it was approved with the disputed parcel marked as “public access.” The Court rejected the lot owners’ claim that the label “public access” was not equal to the label “dedicated to the public” which was used in Chapter 236 of the Wisconsin Statutes of 1973. The Court held that the word “public” was obviously intended to mean “public,” thereby establishing a “public access.” The land owners’ argument that the town failed to take the necessary steps to accept the dedication was also rejected because when a final plat of a subdivision has been approved by the governing body of the municipality or town in which it is located, Wisconsin Statutes expressly state that the approval constitutes an acceptance for the purpose of designations on the plat of lands shown to be dedicated to the public. In addressing the land owners’ argument that the public access had been discontinued by lack of use or improvement, the Court discussed the statutes that involve the discontinuance of highways and compared them with the statutes that provide for discontinuance of public areas in subdivisions. The Court noted that under Chapter 82 of the Wisconsin Statutes (previously Chapter 80 of the statutes), a highway may be discontinued in one of two ways: if it is not opened, traveled or worked within four years of being laid out, or if it has been entirely abandoned as a route of travel and no highway funds have been spent on it for five years. The lot owners contended that those highway statutes applied because the “public access” was never opened and it was abandoned as a route of travel and no highway funds were expended on it for five years. The town did not dispute it but argued that the “public access” was not a highway and argued that Chapter 236, relating to the platting of land, controlled the discontinuance of the public lake access. The Court held:
Section 236.43 of the Wisconsin Statutes provides for the vacation of areas dedicated to the public by court action. The statute states:
The court concluded that § 236.43 provided the sole means for vacating a public access. Curiously, the Court of Appeals did not discuss the degree to which the circuit court examined § 236.43 of the statutes in deciding that the lot owners had no private property right in this “public access” parcel. However, what is clear from the decision and the rule of law it produces is that land dedicated as public access to navigable waters in approved subdivisions may only be vacated or altered under Chapter 236 of the Wisconsin Statutes. Attorney Robert J. Kay is the senior partner in the law firm of Kay & Andersen, S.C. and devotes his time to representing professional engineers, architects, contractors, material suppliers and owners of construction projects. Please feel free to contact him at (608) 833-0077 or visit www.kayandandersen.com. |
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Welcome New WSPE Members |
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The WSPE board of directors would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to the following new WSPE members:
New members contribute to the growth, strength and leadership of the WSPE in enhancing its recognition as a leading voice for Professional Engineers throughout Wisconsin and promoting excellence in engineering. |
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