Time for Aurora, Oconomowoc to bury the hatchet (editorial)

Milwaukee Business Journal, August 11, 2006

The time has come for Aurora Health Care and the city of Oconomowoc to settle their long legal battle over Auroras efforts to build a hospital in western Waukesha County.

The two sides appeared to be moving toward a resolution last week as the city wisely put off a move to block the new hospital by rezoning Auroras proposed site in Pabst Farms. Representatives of Aurora and Oconomowoc began negotiations in May after a court ruling that declared illegal the citys 2001 rezoning of the 43-acre Pabst Farms site. After the ruling, Aurora resubmitted its zoning request for the hospital.

Too much money has been spent on legal fees and public relations in Auroras attempt to build the hospital. After Oconomowoc rejected Auroras proposal in 2001, Aurora moved to the town of Summit, where it gained approval, only to see the proposal defeated by the Waukesha County board after intense lobbying by Waukesha-based ProHealth Care.

In the meantime, a 1 million-square-foot shopping mall has been proposed for 110 acres of Pabst Farms that includes Auroras proposed hospital site.

The likely compromise would be for Aurora to drop its zoning request for Oconomowoc in exchange for the city not opposing Auroras effort to build the hospital in Summit.