Minimum bid $300: Affordable roadownership is now possible in Door County with the tax auction of Pine Tree Road in Sevastopol
This is one of the most charming private roads in the county; the photo shows how it is surrounded by forest.
The part being auctioned is the north-south road in the lower left side, the full and original version which is m_4408705_SE_16_060_20200627 on https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.
https://www.co.door.wi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/6565/Foreclosure-Properties-2023?bidId=#page=8 has a listing for it. Bids may be submitted until November 10, 2023, at 10 AM. The new owner of Pine Tree Road will be determined when the sealed bids are opened on November 14th during a meeting of the Finance Committee.
Several small parts of the road are listed as impaired on the Door County Web Map due to former use as an orchard, but otherwise it is in good shape. The opening pages of the booklet discuss various risks and procedures involved with bidding for this and other tax foreclosures.
Although the listing says that it “is not a buildable parcel”, a close look at the Door County Web Map entry at https://gis.co.door.wi.us/gismap/index.html?call=search_pin&fieldname0=PIN&value0=0220206282643B indicates that there may be a rather small area within the wider part on the north side where a future roadowner could legally park a small camper or pitch a tent, within the limits laid out by zoning and ordinances. (But check for yourself, possibly camping will not work out here.)
This could be an appealing buy for owners of gravel pits or landscaping businesses. The road could become an outdoor showroom for different products, and a testing site to see how different aggregate mixes hold up.
The same is true for snow removal businesses; it could be plowed in the winter and used as an example of what quality work looks like.
Alternatively, anyone who enjoys using heavy equipment, or restoring old equipment, might be interested. If grading gravel roads is an good project for a wet day, this property could be an opportunity. Other maintenance opportunities include periodically trimming branches and picking up fallen ones.
Is there money to be made on the road? Probably not, unless a second purchase of land could be made from a landowner bordering it. Yet if you are a lawyer, properties like this one present an opportunity if you’ve ever wanted to take a case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/InsideTrack/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=13&Issue=5&ArticleID=28245 explains how in Wisconsin, even “perpetual” private easements can expire if they aren’t properly re-recorded every forty years. The details of the law surrounding this are complicated, and it seems that a lawyer could buy the road, and then visit the two property information terminals at the Government Center. The records could show which neighbors have expired easements.
If none of them have expired, the lawyer could just keep the road, waiting over the years to see if anyone’s easement eventually expires later on.
The lawyer could try to get a property owner with an expired easement to sign onto a new easement entailing an annual fee. If they don’t feel like paying it, the matter could go to court. It is probably expensive, so only a lawyer looking to argue his or her own case would be interested; such a case could end up in the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Other possible bidders could be the town of Sevastopol, people who own the houses and vacant lots up the road, or the property owners to the east and west of the road.
The assessments from 2017 to 2022 ranged from $2.06 to $2.55 per year. That is still more taxes than there is in heaven. You can’t take tax bills with you to heaven, even if your name is on a deed. Pine Tree Road has a few mansions, but Jesus has prepared the way to his Father’s house, which has many mansions. Just as Pine Tree Road is the only way for motor vehicles to get to the mansions in the woods, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
A closing caution: potential buyers should beware that within the next two years, one or more of his heirs, presumably listed at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/doorcountyadvocate/name/anthony-schlise-obituary?id=22808342, could decide to redeem the property by paying the delinquent tax.