WEST BEND, Wis. — A West Bend farm owner is speaking out after sediment flowed onto his property during Monday’s rain, and he said the city might be to blame.
WATCH: West Bend farmer worries sediment from city construction project might hurt business
Gus Witte, owner of Witte’s Vegetable Market, posted a video to Facebook expressing his frustration with the situation.
“This has got to stop!” Witte said. “This is what people see now when they drive around and come past our farm.”
He said the sediment is flowing from the City of West Bend’s property at an industrial park where a construction project is ongoing. He’s frustrated because he believes the problem could divert business from his local farm.
“Even if it’s one person who chooses not to buy at our farm or support us because of that?” Witte said. “It’s one person too many.”
City of West Bend Administrator Jesse Thyes said staff responded to the construction site after becoming aware of the video Thursday.
“In response to this video,” he said, “staff did immediately go out to the site, walk the site and did not find anything out of compliance.”
Thyes said the city found no current issue and is complying with DNR standards. However, the construction project has not yet completed plans to build a stormwater basin, which is part of the project.
He said the city was not aware of the issue until now and wants to work with Witte on a long-term solution.
“There’s got to be more to this, I believe, and so whatever we can do to foster a constructive conversation to find that root cause, that would be great and a win-win on both sides,” Thyes said. “We are here to help rectify the situation the best we can.”
Thyes hopes to schedule a conversation with Witte and possibly a site tour. Witte said he appreciates the issue being brought to light.
“A lot of the time, you shout at the clouds and you never get a response,” Witte said. “So maybe if this picks up a little momentum, maybe in the years following, they’ll finally fix stuff.”
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