News: Abbotsford (Hwy. 29 Bypass -1998)

Contact: Robert Lipprandt
bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Eggebrecht, Grau, Hodd, Wild, Wilde

----Source: The Tribune - Phonograph (Abbotsford, WI) 1/06/2016

Originally published in the Tribune-Phonograph, Wednesday, January 7, 1998

The good news: Colby and Abbotsford ae not going to Marathon County Circuit Court to get a ruling on the conflict concerning their annexations around the Hwy. 29 bypass. At least not yet.

The not-so-good news: Both sided negotiated the issue without attorneys involved during the end of 1997, but were unable to come up with a solution.

Marathon County Judge Greg Grau directed the two municipalities in December to enter “alternative conflict resolution,” which will probably include a third party trying to coax both sided into compromise.

Grau also did not give the municipalities a lot of time in his Dec. 16 ruling.

The Abbotsford council held a closed session after its regular monthly meeting Jan. 5. The attorney said officials review the progress of the conflict and discussed possible scenarios. No action was taken when the group adjourned into open session.

The council allowed Jack Wild and Terry Eggebrecht, both of whom have land in the territory annexed by Abbotsford, to sit in on the closes session. Land owned by Jack and his son, Don Wild, was annexed by both cities, and may be one of the first site developed around the four-lane bypass of Abbotsford.

Eggebrecht’s Welcome Dairy Inc. owns a large town of Hull parcel that was also included in the Abbotsford annexation petition, but not Colby’s.

Both cities also claim land owned by David and Leanne Hodd (the 13-29 Drive-In land) and Gene Wilde (former Wilde’s Paint Store).