Delavan resident questions weed harvesting practices

By Michael S. Hoey

Correspondent

A Delavan Lake resident recently lodged some complaints about the weed harvesting the Delavan Lake Sanitary District does on Delavan Lake. Erik Tonge, who lives near the end of Lake Shore Drive, contacted the Enterprise about weeds being left overnight on a harvester near his home resulting in an unbearable odor.

Tonge said similar incidents happened twice last summer so when it happened again on June 8, he decided to bring attention to the issue. Tonge said weeds should never be left on harvesters overnight and he took issue with the sanitary district purchasing lots zoned for residential use and using them for business purposes.

“Leaving stinky weeds overnight on a warm summer night in a zoned residential community is a public nuisance and poor management,” Tonge said.

He said residents don’t fill their boats with weeds and leave them overnight for neighbors to have to smell and he did not believe the DLSD should do so either. Tonge acknowledged weed removal from the lake is extremely important, but so is proper management of the process.

The DLSD owns two lots on the west side of the lake at 2502 Manor Lane – the property close to Tonge’s – and 4453 South Shore Dr.

Lake Manager Charlie Handel said the DLSD had parked its harvesters at the shore of land owned by Shodeen, and the people who owned it prior to that, for years. Shodeen recently developed the land, so the DLSD had to find new places to park. Handel said the district had the opportunity to purchase the land it had been parking the boats but chose not to.

Handel said the harvesters, which travel around the lake cutting and removing weeds, are parked in places to make the process more efficient. One of the places weeds are offloaded from the harvesters is between the two lots the DLSD now owns making those locations very convenient. According to Handel, the harvesters would likely remove half as many weeds or less than they currently do if they had to be parked at Community Park because of the distance they would have to travel. The Community Park board launch is also busy, so it would be difficult to constantly maneuver the harvesters around boat traffic near the launch.

The only other alternative, Handel said, would be to use more barges, but three would have to be used to keep up with the harvesting and they would be even more difficult to maneuver in and out of the boat launch area.

Parking issues

Handel said the properties are used to park the harvesters overnight Monday through Wednesday only and are not kept there on weekends when more residents are in attendance.

“We try to be good neighbors,” Handel said, though he admitted the harvesters can be loud at 7 a.m. when they are started up.

Handel said the only time weeds are left on a harvester overnight is if there has been a mechanical issue of some kind. If the breakdown happens early enough in the day, an attempt can be made to remove the weeds by hand.

On June 8, Handel said the dump truck that was going to be used for that purpose got stuck in mud and could not get there by the end of the day. The weeds were removed as early as possible the following day.

District Administrator Jim Deluca also said weeds are only left on harvesters overnight when unforeseen mechanical problems force them to be but it’s not the DLSD’s plan or desire to leave the weeds overnight.

Tonge was not satisfied with the responses he received from the DLSD. He said more effort should have been made to remove the weeds even if some workers had to put in overtime. He said Deluca needs to do more to focus on the issue to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

In Tonge’s opinion, there has to be a better place to store the harvesters but Handel said there isn’t.

With a fully developed lake, there aren’t vacant parcels not located next to existing homes along the shoreline to park the harvesters, according to Handel.

Tonge said he’s not a fan of having the harvesters parked overnight near his home but is willing to accept that. However, weeds are left on them overnight is unacceptable and the DLSD needs to do more to prevent it from happening.

Regular breakdowns

Deluca said mechanical issues like a fuel line or hydraulic line failure cannot be predicted and if it happens at the end of the day the harvesters are parked and fixed as soon as possible. Deluca said the DLSD does not permit overtime and many of the workers, who Handel said work 10 hour shifts, leave at the end of their shift for second jobs.

“Failures are the nature of these pieces of equipment as they work hard,” Deluca said.

If a mechanical issue happens early in the day, Deluca said an attempt is made to remove the weeds by hand, but that’s difficult, can take up to eight hours, and has led to injuries. He said weed harvester injuries are the top rated claim for workman’s compensation for most of the municipalities that have them.

Limited options

Deluca said if the Town Board requested it, he could ask the DLSD commissioners to consider no longer parking the harvesters at those two locations, but it could mean an end to weed harvesting on that end of the lake.

Town Administrator John Olson said he was quite sure the board wants weed harvesting to continue on the west side of the lake and he does not expect the board to make such a request. He did say the town would be willing to support other ideas or options that might help out unhappy property owners if any are presented.

Town Chairman Larry Malsch said he has told the DLSD to empty the weeds daily and not leave them overnight.

Deluca said the DLSD has the right to park its harvesters at those properties based on DNR rules for lake front property owners and he was not aware of any law that prevented it.

Heather Marquardt, Walworth County Zoning Administrator, said as long as the harvesters are parked in the water, they are not violating county ordinances. She did say no harvesting activity should be happening on the property itself including the parking of employee vehicles. Marquardt said parking business or commercial vehicles on a residential property to conduct business from that property is not consistent with residential land use. Handel said one employee vehicle is typically parked on the property when the harvesters are in use.

Marquardt said the DLSD has not yet been cited for that but has been cited in the past for installing a gravel parking area on the South Shore Drive lot and she herself posted a stop work order at the Manor Lane location last summer for activities related to harvesting.

Deluca said the county seems to want to stop the weed harvesting that has been going on for 117 years. He said the weeds that are removed are given to local farmers to use as fertilizer and the DLSD is one of the few to make an effort to remove and save fish that get caught on the harvesters.

“The Town and the DLSD will continue to work under our DNR permit and serve the public with these operations as it has since 1903,” Deluca said.