Scott Thompson of Beaver River addressed the Town of Webb Board at its Tuesday, February 14 meeting regarding the possibility of building a new road in Beaver River, and to request that the town overturn Resolution 56, a five-year-old resolution which closed the discussion on overland access to Beaver River.
“We would like to request that the town board consider making a resolution saying Beaver River is untenable and needs some type of overland access,” Thompson said.
Currently, you can only gain access to Beaver River by boat and barge, snowmobile, on foot, or by using the old rail corridor, which Thompson described as “too difficult, too dangerous, and too expensive to maintain.”
Over the past few months, a survey was sent out to the 124 property owners in Beaver River asking their opinions on the matter.Of those surveyed, 60 property owners were in favor of the road and two were in opposition.The remaining 62 were unresponsive.
Town of Webb Supervisor Ted Riehle said that before the board could rescind the resolution, it would need a more definitive petition that would act as a clear indicator that this overland access to Beaver River is what the majority of land-owners want.
“We need to know if this project is going to be feasible, and feasibility studies are not cheap. But to me that is a logical place to start, and again, it is going to take a majority of your group to say ‘we want this,’ and that they are willing to cover the costs.
“I’m willing to listen if the people come forward,” Riehle said.
