By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Stevens Point officials are trying to eliminate a no-man's land in the city.
The area isn't a crime-filled region, it's a 19-foot by 427-foot strip in the block bounded by Illinois and Michigan avenues and Prais and Stanley streets that was never deeded to the adjacent properties. The strip is accessible only through the yards of adjacent property owners.
The situation apparently developed in the 1920s. On Nov. 1, 1921, the Common Council approved the Trzbiatowski Addition to the 5th Addition of Boyington's and Atwell's Subdivision, covering the lots on Illinois between Prais and Stanley. Those lots show a depth of 153.5 feet.
The lots fronting Michigan, however, were never part of a subdivision plat and were developed by "meets and bounds," that is, by surveyor descriptions. And all those lot descriptions are for a depth of 174 feet, leaving the inaccessible 19-foot strip.
Whether the N. Boyington Co., which developed a portion of the city, intended the strip for an alley is anyone's guess. If that was the intent, the company neglected to retain access to the strip from either Prais or Stanley streets for an alley.
For years, the strip basically went untaxed while adjacent property owners maintained it, most of them assuming it was an undeveloped alley.
John Gardner, community development director, said the ownership of the land remained with the N. Boyington Co. and the strip was never dedicated as an alley.
After discovering the situation, Carol Kuehn, city assessor, said the city had an abstract done on the block and learned that the deed for the strip had never passed from the N. Boyington Co., which has since been dissolved.
"It's a very odd circumstance that it has finally come to the surface after all these years," she said.
After receiving the abstract, taxes were levied against the property and Portage County assumed ownership because the taxes were delinquent. Since the property was land-locked, the county reverted the title of the land to the city to handle the situation.
Now the city wants to transfer the property to the adjacent landowners on Michigan. Gardner said it seems logical that the city transfer the title to the Michigan Avenue property owners because many of them have been maintaining the area, and a fence line and utility line are along the west edge of the property. If the Illinois Avenue owners acquired the property, their property lines would be jagged.
The city would then charge each of the property owners who takes the property about $12 for a quit-claim deed. The additional land may also increase their property tax bills by $20 to $30 per year.
Gardner said two property owners along Michigan are not interested in the strip. An adjacent property owner on Illinois is interested in one of those, Gardner said, and the city could transfer the title to that strip.
He's recommending that the city retain ownership of the other strip until the adjacent lot on Michigan is sold, and the new owner could be approached about taking that strip.
The Plan Commission will take up that proposal at its meeting at 4 p.m. Monday in the Water Department Administrative Building, 300 Bliss Ave. The commission and council have to act on the matter because it involves the sale of city-owned land.