A Madeline Island homebuilder is facing fines of $500 a day after allegedly failing to respond to demands that he keep a fence erected around a structure he is involved in constructing a new basement for and failing to obtain a building permit for the project.
According to Town of La Pointe Administrator Pete Clark, a stop work order has been issued by Town Building Inspector James Price against builder Gene Nelson because the project could constitute a hazard to children who attend school at the La Pointe School across the street from the construction project and also because no building permit was obtained by Nelson for the cellar construction.
Town Zoning Administrator Lisa Potswald said Monday that Nelson, who serves as president of Nelson Builders on Madeline Island, could be hit with fines of up to $500 a day for every day he is in violation of town building ordinances.
“He also can be charged an additional $100 a day for every day there is debris on the highway in front of the house,” Potswald said.
Potswald said the conflict between Nelson and the town came up because the town received complaints from the Bayfield Schools Superintendent David Aslyn over what he said were potentially hazardous conditions at the building site.
“There were concerns about the safety of the students who go to school right across the street,” said Potswald.
Potswald said she was uncertain when the project began, noting that Nelson had never obtained a building permit for the work.
There is no question that the project has been ongoing for some time.
Minutes of the Town of La Pointe Town Plan Commission indicate that the issue came up at their meeting on Feb. 20, 2013. That discussion came about following a complaint filed by La Pointe resident and Town Plan Commission member Suellen Soucek. Soucek, who recused herself from the Board’s discussion of the issue, asserted in her complaint that open doorways and windows created a direct access to a drop to the basement, creating a hazard for children and animals. The second portion of the complaint was a question over whether permits for the project had been obtained.
Appearing at the meeting, Nelson denied that there was a fall to the basement, and that because the walls had collapsed there was a 45-degree slope to the basement. He also asserted that he only needed a permit for the additional square footage of the basement, which he had obtained. He told the board that because he was just doing repair work, no further permits were needed.
Nevertheless, the Plan Commission voted to require fencing be erected to address the safety issues, and also voted to require the filing of a permit extension
However, according to Clark and Potswald, neither of those two things ever happened.
Potswald said Nelson has raised the structure on wooden cribs to do the cellar work without permits.
“Mr. Nelson had the appropriate land use permits from the county and from the Town,” Clark said. “Mr. Price, who does Uniform Development Code work for the Town, informed us that Mr. Nelson had the appropriate county and town permits, but Mr. Price had no record of a building permit.”
The stop work order was issued Friday, and remains in effect.
Clark agreed that it was easy to see why there would be complaints about the project.
“Particularly being right next to an elementary school,” he said. “These are young children. These are not high school kids. They are first through sixth grade, I guess.”
Aslyn said the district became involved when a “small handful of parents” came to the district with concerns that the building could be a danger to children.
“What they described was that it was a house that has been lifted in the air and placed on pilings and had a basement put on underneath it,” he said. “It is adjacent to the school, although the children don’t have the opportunity to play on that property. But certainly the concern was that a child could get over there and get into the basement.”
To address those issues, last winter the Town of La Pointe contacted Nelson in Florida and spoke to him about the safety issue. Nelson gave town officials permission to use some fencing he had on the island, and that appeared to satisfy concerns. However, when Nelson returned from Florida, he removed the fencing preparatory to going back to work on the structure.
Town officials then got in touch with him about leaving the fence up when there was no work ongoing at the site, but Clark said Nelson told them that it was too much trouble to reinstall the fence.
“We spoke with the town attorney to discover what recourse we had, because we were concerned about the young people across the street,” Clark said. “At that point it was suggested that we bring in Mr. Price, our building inspector.”
Clark said they communicated with Nelson by phone and e-mail, and finally, early on Friday, Price issued the stop work order, until such time as the appropriate permits were obtained.
Since the stop order was issue, Clark said he has spoken with Nelson.
“We tried to come to some accommodation with him over the weekend,” he said. “His concern was to stabilize the structure and in our discussion, we asked if he could accomplish that over the weekend before school starts.”
Clark said the town agreed to hold off on enforcement of the order if that could be done.
However, by Monday, the situation was unchanged.
“At this moment it doesn’t appear as though that was done, nor is there a fence up,” Clark said.
“We sent Mr. Nelson in October, November and March, asking him to put a fence up, prior to receiving the complaint from the superintendent,” said Potswald. “He came into the office in November and told me when he finished working on the property for the winter, he would put a fence up. Well, he never put a fence up.”
Earlier this year, she sent him a letter asking him to install a fence. She said she got no response from that letter.
Potswald said the main goal of the Town was to protect the public.
“Our purpose is to respond to the complaint that we received concerning the safety of children,” she said. “So our purpose is to come to some resolution so the property is safe,” she said.
Potswald said the town is in discussions with their attorney as to what course to take next.
Could the matter wind up in court?
“I guess we can’t make a comment to that, because if that is what in fact happens, there is a point at which we can’t disclose information,” she said.
The Daily Press was unable to contact Gene Nelson for comment on Monday.