Artist fights for land that is his muse

Tom Uttech is many things, although he’s best known as a renowned landscape painter who takes inspiration from nature.

But he’s become an activist of sorts, motivated by the fact his 52-acre property on Highway O in the Town of Saukville could be crossed by high-voltage power lines needed to bring electricity to a hyperscale data center Vantage Data Centers plans to build on Port Washington’s north side.

“It’s all very eye opening,” Uttech said Tuesday as he sat in his studio in a barn on his land. “It’s eye opening to see how nearly impossible it is to stop something like this.

“It’s very discouraging.”

Uttech and his wife Mary bought their land in 1987, and he spent years converting the farmland into a natural setting.

“I planted all those trees by hand, one by one,” Uttech said, pointing to a stand of mature trees. “They were 12 inches tall at the time.”

But those trees, which stand sentinel against neighboring houses, would be cut down if the power lines on the preferred route proposed by American Transmission Co. were approved, Uttech said.

“It’s not going to be fun (if the route is approved),” Uttech said. “The houses on the other side, this line would be right in their backyards.”

But the fact the fight is daunting isn’t enough to stop him from fighting, said Uttech.

“We’re going to at least get the satisfaction of doing everything we can to fight this,” he said. “Everybody’s so upset.”

Uttech has enlisted help in his fight from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit public-interest law firm.

WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said that if the power lines are run across Uttech’s land, which is in a conservation easement, “it would change the nature and character of the property pretty significantly. It would basically thwart what he wants to do, all for the benefit of a private entity.”

That represents a taking of the land, Vebber said, not for the benefit of the public as allowed by law but for one private company, Vantage.

“Powering a data center is not a public use,” Vebber said. “But for this data center being built in Port Washington, this would not have been proposed.

“There are obviously times the public need is so great and there are no options. There are other options at play here.”

Although ATC would pay for an easement to run the power lines across the Uttechs’ property, Vebber said, the land is worth more to the couple than ATC. 

In a letter to ATC opposing the route, Vebber said that Uttech’s career and his work are “inextricably tied to the natural beauty and tranquility of his property. Maintaining the natural beauty and integrity of the property is vital to Mr. Uttech’s work and passion. 

“The project proposes to upend all of this by slicing off part of Uttech’s private property to build a new power line.”

Vebber’s letter notes that the Fifth Amendment and the Wisconsin Constitution prohibit the taking of private property for public use without just compensation, but, he argues, because the project is solely to benefit the data center  it does not fall within the public use requirements.

A 2005 case, Kelo v. City of New London, greatly expanded the definition of public purpose, the letter notes, adding it has been roundly criticized and challenged since then.

“It is just a matter of time before Kelo is overturned. The data center, the project and the unique nature of the property provides WILL with the perfect set of facts to do just that,” the letter states. 

“At this point in the planning process, ATC can still choose to go a different route and avoid the Uttech’s property altogether. We urge you to do so.”

Uttech said that while a data center will provide a benefit to a public that wants to use social media and the internet, there are other values that should count equally, such as the beauty of a natural landscape, the serenity of the area and the connection to the land for people whose families have lived there for generations.

“Those are values we overlook, and I think that’s terrible,” he said.

The impersonal way ATC measures the worth of the land bothers him, Uttech said, noting the real estate value isn’t the way he values it.

“My value and benefit from using that land is different,” he said.

ATC looks at the difficulty in placing the lines in determining the route the lines will take, Uttech said.

“One of the obstacles I’m sure they have to measure is me, ” he said. “I am an obstacle.  The value (of the land) to me spiritually is an obstacle. None of our stories is important, they’re just an obstacle.

“It’s a very inhumane way to look at things.”

The value of his land to him, Uttech said, is incalculable.

“For my business, I look out that window, go up that hill — it refreshes me, it relieves me of the stress of life and painting,” he said. “It’s a source of knowledge. My painting is about what it feels like to be in this natural area vs. what it looks like. I believe it encourages people to try to experience life directly.”

His wife, who said she is almost blind, added that the power lines will take away one of the remaining pleasures of the land for her, the sound of the birds, which will be replaced by the hum of the power lines and the noise of construction while the lines are built.

“I don’t want to not hear the birds at 4:30 in the morning,” she said. “It’s those little things that really do add up.”