Menasha and Fox Crossing residents clash with Bucklin's Tree Service over noise, dust

FOX CROSSING - Neighborhood disputes are not uncommon in urban areas, particularly when homes abut industry, but it’s hard to imagine a conflict more complicated and bitter than the one between Bucklin's Tree Service and nearby residents.

On one side stands Bucklin's, 936 Appleton Road, which operates heavy machinery, including a wood grinder, on land that once operated as a quarry. The property long has been zoned for heavy industrial use.

On the other side stands residents like Amy Stephany of Menasha, who frequently calls police when she's awakened by the noise of machinery coming from Bucklin's. More than 50 noise complaints have been logged against Bucklin's since 2019.

"It's sucked four years out of my life dealing with this," Stephany told The Post-Crescent.

In-between stands the village of Fox Crossing, which has written citations to parties on both sides of the dispute. Village Manager Jeff Sturgell and Police Chief Scott Blashka have tried to intervene to make peace.

"Those neighbors have got to understand that they bought property right next to an I-2 (heavy industrial) district," Sturgell said. "Now, at the same time, you can't be operating a grinder in the middle of the night. I don't care what the zoning is."

Observing the dispute from a distance is the city of Menasha, which has public works and utilities operations on another section of the former quarry but has no jurisdiction over Bucklin's.

"Unfortunately, we don't have any authority to issue noise complaints for properties that are outside of the city limits," Mayor Don Merkes said. "We've been trying to work with both the village and Bucklin's to resolve the problem, but we have not been able to get any resolution."

What's at the heart of the ordeal?

Noise emanating from Bucklin's is the primary concern, but residents also have complained about flying wood chips and dust landing on their properties.

Stephany lives on 11th Street in Menasha. Bucklin's is located directly across the street in Fox Crossing.

"The problem I'm having is I don't get to sleep," Stephany said. "They start at like midnight, whatever they're doing over there – chopping wood, making mulch, banging trucks, backup beepers – and go to 3 or 4 in the morning. It's super, super, super loud where I'll be in a dead sleep and it wakes me up."

Stephany said she has tried dealing with Mark Caswell, owner of Bucklin's. She also has sought help from Fox Crossing staff and elected officials, the Menasha mayor's office, the Menasha Health Department, Menasha council members and the offices of state Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara and state Rep. Lee Snodgrass. None has led to relief.

She now emails Fox Crossing officials each time she is awakened by the noise. "I know they're sick of hearing from me," she said.

Do others residents hear the noise?

Sixty Fox Crossing residents living east and north of Bucklin's signed a petition last fall stating Bucklin's should be able to grind and chip wood only between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Andrew Watters lives on Mayer Street and signed the petition, which was filed with the village clerk. He said Bucklin's grinds stumps right behind the house he rents. The practice started several years ago after Caswell, who also owns Treeo's, took control of the property.

"They grind all day, and they grind at night," Watters said. "They've been out grinding at 2 o'clock in the morning when I'm leaving for work. I've called the police department."

Watters said he deals with "tons and tons of dust" from the grinding and that wood debris flies over his fence and lands in his yard where his children play.

"They have I-don't-know-how-many acres back there," he said. "Why (grind) right on the property line?"

Fawn George lives on Grove Street in Menasha about five blocks away and can hear noise from Bucklin's between 1 and 3 a.m. when she gets up to let her dog outside. She described the sound as "loud banging noises."

"This is inappropriate for being the wee hours of the morning," George said. "I can only empathize with the residents who live right next door to Bucklin's and how much it impacts them and their sleep and mental health and well-being."

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What does the owner of Bucklin's say?

The Post-Crescent called Caswell to understand his side of the dispute.

He offered to "talk about something good, about how we donated to the Menasha school district recently," but otherwise deflected questions concerning his business operations.

"My choice is to decline any comment," Caswell said.

On July 24, Caswell appeared before the Village Board to talk about improvements he has made in response to the complaints.

"We've installed berms all the way around, which is very costly," he said. "We have eliminated an entire shift of people at night."

Caswell said he alone is not responsible for all of the complaints and pointed to Menasha's public works and utilities operations. "They raise just as much dust as I do," he said.

Caswell also went on the offensive, saying his rights have been violated by neighbors who store vehicles and have placed sheds and firepits on his property.

What's Fox Crossing's take on the conflict?

Sturgell described the situation as "a tricky one."

He said Bucklin's has several operations on the property. In addition to tree services and stump removal, it manufactures landscape mulch for wholesale, and it produces wood chips for sale as fuel for a power plant.

The contract for the wood chips requires delivery outside normal business hours, Sturgell said. He surmised that loading the wood chips into a semitrailer by a front-end loader, including the shaking of the metal bucket to empty it, produces the noises that disturb Stephany.

Bucklin's did grind wood after midnight on one occasion (more on that later), but otherwise isn't grinding wood at night, Sturgell said.

"Some of the neighbors feel like they have the absolute right to everything," Sturgell said. "I don't agree with that. He is in an I-2 zoned area. He has a right as a business to make a living."

The former quarry on which Bucklin's is located dates to 1895 and predates the residences that have been built around it.

What do Fox Crossing police say about all this?

Police respond to the neighborhood about two times a week to investigate noise complaints, most of which come from Stephany, Blashka said. For the most part their findings haven't verified Stephany's concerns.

Officers can hear the backup beepers on machinery, but Blashka said the sounds don't rise to a level that would violate the village's noise ordinance, particularly for an industrial property. He has listened to audio clips recorded by Stephany and said the chirps of crickets were louder than the machinery at Bucklin's.

Stephany is baffled by the police findings. She hasn't noticed officers stationed near her house.

"How are you going to hear the noise? Where are you?" she asked. "Either that or (Caswell) knows they're coming, and he shuts all those machines off."

Have any enforcement actions been taken?

Police cited a homeowner on Ninth Street for damage to property after a party at his house resulted in broken glass bottles being tossed over the property line and onto a pile of mulch at Bucklin's.

Caswell told police the glass contaminated the mulch, costing him $3,000 worth of product.

The case went to a court trial in December, and the homeowner was found not guilty because it couldn't be determined that he, and not one of his guests, was the culprit who caused the damage.

After the vandalism, Bucklin's fired up its wood chipper after midnight, disturbing the neighborhood. Caswell told police his employees needed to work at night to fulfill a large order.

"That made a lot of people mad," Sturgell said. "It's like he opened Pandora's box when he did that."

No citation was issued, but village officials met with Caswell and were assured the nighttime chipping wouldn't happen again.

In July, police cited Bucklin's under the village's nuisance ordinance after its daytime grinding operations during windy conditions coated residences to the east with wood dust.

Blashka said one resident had her windows open and the dust "came through the screen and got all over the inside of the house." The dust covered vegetable gardens and accumulated in window sills and mailboxes.

That case is pending in municipal court.

The Post-Crescent requested the police reports involved in the cases, but the reports haven't been released.

How will this dispute be resolved?

There doesn't appear to be a resolution in sight. The legacy industrial zoning remains in place, and no action is pending before the Village Board to change it.

"You can't just arbitrarily change the zoning on somebody and say, 'You can no longer make noise,'" Village Board President Dale Youngquist said. "We've measured the noise levels. They are not in excess of any typical highway sounds."

Stephany said she can't afford to move. That leaves her and other residents to cope with the situation, much to her frustration.

"People need to be able to sleep so they can go to their jobs the next day," she said.

Youngquist wished people would get along but acknowledged that's not always the case.

"Mr. Caswell has chosen to confront these people rather than work with them, and they have chosen to confront him rather than try to work with him," Youngquist said. "Both sides seem very antagonistic toward each other."

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Noise and dust from Bucklin's anger Menasha and Fox Crossing residents