Aurora, Oconomowoc start talking hospital plans

City planner: They have to do a lot of fine-tuning

Waukesha Freeman, June 15, 2006

By CALEY MEALS
Freeman Staff
cmeals@conleynet.com

OCONOMOWOC Aurora Health Care officials met with city staff Wednesday to present their preliminary plans for the first time for a nearly 500,000-square-foot hospital and medical clinic northeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67 that they hope to begin building this fall.

Presented by Michael Day of the Brookfield-based Hammes Company, plans for the Aurora Medical Center showed a 350,000-square-foot, 88-bed hospital attached to a 100,000-square-foot to 120,000-square-foot medical clinic. Plans for the development also include 1,200 parking spaces and a heliport.

We want to build right in the neighborhood of Pabst Farms, Aurora spokeswoman Renee Bowerman said.

They also hope to begin construction on the project by fall, Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire said. Aurora officials are currently in the process of getting the project approved by Pabst Farms, Squire said.

Generally, most of the developers working within Pabst Farms have gotten approval from them first before going to the city, City Planner Jason Gallo said.

The clinic will replace Auroras existing Wilkinson Clinic on Summit Avenue, which the health care company has said is too small for its current operations.

It will be a benefit to have the clinic and hospital in the same place, Bowerman said.

The preliminary plans also include space for future expansion of both the clinic and hospital, extending east toward Highway 67. If the clinic and hospital were both expanded, the center could ultimately measure about 520,000 square feet, Day said at the meeting.

During the meeting, Oconomowoc Mayor Maury Sullivan voiced concerns about the centers placement on the site and potential traffic concerns for the developments preliminary layout. City staff also recommended that a water main be installed around the perimeter of the development.

Those concerns and others will be addressed in the more detailed plans Aurora officials plan to submit in four to six weeks, Day said.

Due to the developments placement near environmentally sensitive land, Aurora may need some Chapter 30 permits which address the environmental effects of development on wetlands and waterways before going forward, Gallo said.

And because the development includes more than 1,000 parking spaces, approval from the Department of Natural Resources is required, Gallo said.

They have to do a lot of fine-tuning, Gallo said.