After this Suamico house was hit 3 times in 7 years, family asks village, county to do something
SUAMICO - They bought the house at 1410 Riverside Drive shortly before they were married in 1962. More than 50 years later, they still call it home.
The home has been good to Cornelius and June Vannieuwenhoven. First, it was a place to raise their children, and later, it featured visits from their children's children.
But one thing has kept the home from being ideal: Periodically, vehicles crash into it.
It's happened three times in the last seven years, county and local officials say.
"You can still see the tire tracks from the last one," Cornelius Vannieuwenhoven said this summer, squatting to point out impressions of a car tire on the property left several months prior, when a vehicle going faster than the 25 mph speed posted for the curve left the road and entered their yard.
The curve is just past the Lakeview Drive and Riverside Drive intersection as the roadway turns to the northeast.
The couple has asked the village of Suamico to do something. The village referred the issue to the county because the roadway is also a county highway — Brown County J. The county told them there's nothing it can do.
County Board member Tom Lund brought the issue before the Planning, Development & Transportation Committee and his communications went to the County Board, but they were kicked back. The committee next meets at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday and is scheduled to listen to possible safety measures for the Vannieuwenhovens.
Meanwhile the Vannieuwenhovens have spent tens of thousands of dollars on repairs to their home. Suamico village records show a $25,000 building permit application in April.
How does one home get hit 3 times in 7 years?
Vannieuwenhoven, 81, would like a guardrail or something similar installed, thinking the obstacles would interrupt out-of-control vehicles at the curve where his house sits.
"If we planted some trees there," he said, indicating a spot where tire tracks were visible on the lawn further to the west, "that would stop 'em." But trees take time to mature. He's open, though, to anything that would stop a skidding car before it struck and damaged his house — like the SUV last March, or a car in 2021, or the vehicle in 2016.
No cars hitting the dwelling for the first several decades they lived there. Then, the county turned what was a T intersection near the Vannieuwenhovens' house into a gentle curve.
As often happens, Brown County Highway Commissioner Paul Fontecchio said, drivers enter curves faster than what's recommended, which is 25 mph.
Intoxicated drivers are also an issue.
In the 2016 crash, authorities concluded that the driver's ability to drive a car was impaired by alcohol. In 2021, the driver who lost control of the car had intoxicants in the vehicle. Last March, deputies also charged the driver with being under the influence.
"There are a lot of things a highway official can do to stop a car in certain circumstances," Fontecchio said. "I'm not aware of anything that will keep a driver from drinking."
Vannieuwenhovens forced to leave house after March crash
Diagrams drawn by Brown County deputies show cars in 2021 and 2023 enter the curve northbound, and skidding out of control across the lawn before hitting the house. In the March crash, the car had to be removed from the couple's living room, Vannieuwenhoven said.
This meant the couple had to live in a hotel for eight days, said June Vannieuwenhoven. They then spent three months in a rental townhouse while workers hired by the couple's insurance company "put the house back on its foundation," her husband said.
June Vannieuwenhoven said the couple's insurance covered much of the cost, and they hadn't gotten a bill yet, but living in a rental property "was uncomfortable."
Meanwhile they wait to hear if anything can, or will, be done to make it less likely a vehicle hits their house.
Who can help? It is far from clear
Officials from the village of Suamico sympathize with the couple, but say their hands are tied. Suamico Village President Skye Van Rossum and Brown County Board member Tom Lund, who represents the area, have seemed willing to do something to make the curve less dangerous.
Lund brought it up to the Planning, Development & Transportation Committee at its May 23 meeting.
Lund told the committee that the Village Board suggested a yellow flashing light and some trees and “there had been other talks to a boulder,” according to committee meeting minutes.
Fontecchio said it’s a 25-mph curve and that these were “three drunk driver situations,” the minutes say. “They could put up whatever signs they want but if a drunk driver is going to fail to negotiate a curve and hit a house, he didn’t think anything flashing at them will get their attention.”
According to the meeting minutes: “Fontecchio sent an email to the village of Suamico, the best thing that could probably be done, was behind the sidewalk on his private land, was to plant some trees and briefly explained why. (Committee Chair Dave) Landwehr felt some big timbers behind the sidewalk at the homeowner or village’s expense as he’d hate to set a precedent where the county was doing this because he would guarantee that if they did one, they’ll get a whole bunch more.”
Legal considerations muddy the waters
Brown County leaders say they'd love to do something, but the county's attorney says there's a prohibition banning a municipality from doing work from which only an individual or family would benefit.
County officials asked Corporation Counsel David Hemery in July to study whether the county could install a guardrail or wall to prevent the Vannieuwenhovens' home from being damaged again. He found repeated opinions from attorneys general that made it clear it would be improper for the county to do something to protect one family — even one that has suffered damage multiple times.
Cars striking buildings is not uncommon in Brown County, Fontecchio said. He said he is aware of six incidents in the county since May 23.
Officials also have considered constructing a concrete wall on the couple's property.
However, Fontecchio said neither would solve a key reason why vehicles strike the house at that curve.
A guardrail "would not be a good solution at this location," he said. It "could hurt more people" in the vehicle than a site without barricades. A concrete wall or similar obstruction would also be dangerous if a driver were to enter the property where there's a gap for the driveway, Fontecchio said.
Suamico President Van Rossum said speed bumps — common for slowing cars down in parking lots — have been suggested, though the village would be prohibited from installing them along a county roadway. Rumble strips could also work to warn drivers of the reduced speed and the curve by generating noise as cars bump across them.
Fontecchio said he has visited the rebuilt house, and spoken with the Vannieuwenhovens. But as far as what the county might do for the couple, he fears his hands are tied.
"If I had a house that had been hit two times, I'd be looking at everything I could so it didn't happen a third. But (Mr. Vannieuwenhoven) has more ability than I do to put something between his house and the road," Fontecchio said. "The root of this thing is drunk driving (by people who struck the house). It's not road geometry."
Email Doug Schneider at DSchneid@Gannett.com, call him at (630) 373-0799 and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Vannieuwenhoven's Suamico house was hit by vehicles 3 times in 7 years
