Group tackles Aurora zoning issue

Waukesha Freeman, October 3, 2006

By LISA M. REED
Freeman Staff

OCONOMOWOC A committee consisting of Oconomowoc and town of Summit plan commissioners is reviewing a copy of the Extraterritorial Zoning Ordinance that was created to set up part of Pabst Farms that will house a new Aurora Health Care hospital.

This area south of Interstate 94, east of Highway 67 and north of Highway DR, Delafield Road, is the area where Aurora Health Care wants to build a much-debated hospital. An agreement between Aurora, Pabst Farms, the town of Summit and Oconomowoc paved the way for the hospital by allowing special zoning that would not require approval from outside agencies like the Waukesha County board.

The preliminary extraterritorial zoning map shows two districts that would be created Business Park Triangle District, which is 133 acres, and an Institutional Triangle District, which is about 82 acres, said City Planner and Zoning Administrator Jason Gallo. The existing Summit cemetery is not included in the ETZ map.

The ordinance regulating these areas primarily mirrors the town of Summit ordinance except certain areas were removed because they did not apply, said Gallo.

Those areas include lake access or frontage, some agricultural uses and nonconforming uses uses that do not apply to the BPT or INT districts.

The 64-page ETZ ordinance was handed out to commissioners during the kick-off meeting Monday night.

Joking about deciding whether to continue the meeting Monday while the Green Bay Packers played the Philadelphia Eagles, town of Summit Chairman Len Susa said, I think we are going to have (reschedule). There is a lot of stuff in here that in the last few days had concerns. This way we can address them.

Since the commissioners did not have a chance to review the ordinance prior to the joint meeting, the ETZ committee will reconvene at 7 p.m. Monday to address any concerns and fine tune the ordinance.

Attorneys for the town, city, Aurora and Pabst Farms are also reviewing the ordinance.

On Oct. 26, the ETZ will meet to act on the final ordinance.

A special common council meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 31. This is when the common council will hold the first and second readings for final adoption in order to grant the zoning.

The creation of the ETZ ordinance was one of the requirements of the memorandum of understanding between the four parties involved and is to be in place by Oct. 31.

The timeline is critical for many reasons. Aurora wants to build a hospital. General Growth wants to build (when the lawsuit is no longer an issue), said City Attorney Bill Chapman.