Aurora hospital approval finalized

Oconomowoc council completes unique zoning

Waukesha Freeman, November 1, 2006

By LISA M. REED
Freeman Staff

OCONOMOWOC Following a public hearing to consider rarely used zoning, the Oconomowoc Common Council on Tuesday formally voted to rezone about 215 acres of Pabst Farms land in the town of Summit, allowing for the construction of an Aurora Health Care hospital and other development.

City Attorney Bill Chapman said the purpose of the change called extraterritorial zoning is to allow a hospital to build in the 41-acre parcel and the memorandum of understanding covered basic housekeeping.

The damage to the city in the lawsuit if Aurora prevailed would be considerable, Chapman said.

The council vote capped years of legal wrangling over the hospital that ended with officials from the city, town, Aurora and Pabst Farms agreeing in an out-of-court settlement in August to employ the unique zoning process to ensure that the hospital is built.

The process allows for cities to rezone land within a certain distance of their boundaries and does not require approval from outside agencies such as the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors, which voted in 2004 to block construction of the Aurora hospital in the town.

Basil Mroz of Oconomowoc, who spoke at the public hearing, said he feels aldermen were forced to make the zoning change and forced to pass it to maintain the fiscal responsibility of Oconomowoc.

I am saddened by the actions being taken. America is founded on the principals of free, representative government. I see the rules being abrogated to the demands of corporations. I feel that is wrong, said Mroz. Consider the history of the United States to maintain our freedoms, and now we are forced to submit to the greed-drawn corporation being part of the community.

George Faherty of Oconomowoc said he and his family depend on the Wilkinson Medical Clinic an Aurora-run clinic in Oconomowoc. During the hearing, he asked aldermen to make the necessary zoning changes so that they could have a facility they need for health care.

Seven of the eight aldermen passed the first and second readings of the ordinance and map that establishes zoning designations for the lands located north of Highway DR, east of Summit Avenue and south of Interstate 94 in the town of Summit.

Alderman Joe Snyder was absent.

Wording in the 75-page ordinance includes the specifics of what is allowed and disallowed in the two districts created on the extraterritorial zoning map: the Business Park Triangle District, which is 133 acres, and the Institutional Triangle District, which is about 82 acres.

Aurora Health Care can now submit plans to the town for the construction of a hospital. General Growth, which plans to build an open-air concept mall, will attend the November plan commission meeting to address conceptual plans to build on land in Pabst Farms.