IRON BELT, Wis. -- Snowmobilers will not be able to access two downtown Iron Belt businesses unless the business owners find a suitable route.

That may be difficult, however, because town officials do not want snowmobilers traveling on the paved roads. Property owners with land that provide access to trail 77, south of town, and trail 6 (North Country Trail) will not grant easements.

In an Aug. 19 letter to the owners of Joany's Sidekicks and Bernie's Hideaway, town chairman Dan Soine informed both bar owners that the town's temporary route on MacKinnon Street from Severance Street up to Snake Track was closed to snowmobile traffic.

He said the board's action was prompted by complaints of exceptionally high snowmobile travel and excessive speed on that route last winter.

Residents complained about snowmobilers going into yards and racing up and down the road, Soine said. "They come into town slow. They go to the bars. As they leave town, when they hit the corner, they pick up speed and they are gone."

That route was temporary, he said, adding, "If there were no complaints, we wouldn't have said anything."

Soine said town officials do not want snowmobiles routed through the town because of the paved roads. The town crew "scrapes roads down in the winter. There's no snow on the roads."

This summer, the town paved the section of Severance Street that was being used as a temporary access route.

The town board wants the bar owners to find a route that everyone can live with, Soine said.

He said the owners of Bernie's looked into a trail coming into town from the north, but "That deal fell through."

Earlier Routes Closed

Two other access routes to the downtown businesses were closed earlier.

On Thursday, Tony DeZur from Bernie's told the Daily Globe that at the onset of last year's snowmobile season, an access route came in from the Island Lake Road, south of town, and traveled north one block down Atlantic Street.

The route then crossed Wis. 77 and traveled one block on Atlantic to Corrigan Street, and extended west to the businesses.

Town officials closed that route.

Noting that that route worked well for the businesses, DeZur said that when he asked Soine why the trail was closed, Soine told DeZur it was because Angelo Luppino had sold the property behind Sidekicks.

"The route didn't come near that property," DeZur said.

Asked Thursday about closure of that route and the possibility of a trail skirting the shoulder, Soine said, "There are no shoulders. People mow up to the road."