Oconomowoc to appeal Aurora rulings

Waukesha Freeman, June 2, 2006

By Erik Brooks
Freeman Staff

OCONOMOWOC City officials will appeal a judges ruling last week that opened the door for construction of a new Aurora Health Care hospital in Pabst Farms, Oconomowoc Mayor Maury Sullivan said.

Also, Sullivan said the city will seek potential settlement talks with Aurora regarding the 5-year-old suit brought by the Milwaukee-based hospital system.

Those decisions were reached at a 90-minute closed meeting of city leaders including Sullivan and common council members and attorneys Thursday night.

They make so many sequel movies. Have we had Aurora I and now were at Aurora II? Sullivan said. There is more to come.

Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire, reached late Thursday night, declined comment on the decision to appeal, but issued a prepared statement.

The reasonable and prudent path toward resolving this matter lies in settlement talks, and we encourage city officials to begin these discussions soon, he said.

The closed meeting came one week after Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge James R. Kieffer ruled invalid Oconomowocs efforts at using the zoning process to block construction of the Aurora hospital in 2001. Kieffer also ruled that the city violated state open meetings laws by not properly posting a closed session meeting of the common council where construction of the hospital was discussed.

Sullivan said attorneys will first ask Kieffer in writing to reconsider both rulings, as is customary. Barring that, Oconomowoc will formally appeal them, he said.

We believe well end up appealing, but the first step is to ask for reconsideration, Sullivan said. It gives him another kick at the can.

The decision to appeal casts further uncertainty over Auroras plans to build a new hospital on the 43.5 acres northeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67.

Efforts at building there failed in 2001 with the Oconomowoc City Council voting to rezone the Pabst Farms land from suburban commercial, which allows for a hospital, to suburban industrial, which does not.

Aurora sued shortly after, claiming officials acted illegally and in secret to protect the interests of rival ProHealth Care in using the zoning process to block the hospital.

Last week, Kieffer ruled the rezoning decision invalid and illegal. He said Oconomowoc violated its own zoning codes by not first submitting an application with details of the rezoning plan before it acted to rezone the parcel.

Armed with that ruling, Aurora submitted plans to the city last Thursday three hours after the hearing in Kieffers court to build a 360,000-square-foot, 88-bed hospital and 100,000-square-foot medical office building at the Pabst Farms site.

Court filings have put the estimated cost of the facility at $166 million.

The decision to move ahead in Oconomowoc meant that Aurora was, for now, scrapping plans to build a similar hospital in Pabst Farms in the town of Summit.

Aurora began to pursue the town of Summit hospital as the Oconomowoc case was tied up in the courts. Those plans also fell through and are the subject of a separate lawsuit against Waukesha County.

In the Oconomowoc case, Sullivan said Kieffer misinterpreted the citys zoning rules and set up an impractical standard saying that the city must, in essence, submit a rezoning petition to itself before seeking to rezone a piece of property.

Sullivan also said the city believes it did not violate open meetings law, and that it gave proper public notice of the April 2001 meeting in question.

Sullivan said Oconomowoc officials still plan to meet with Aurora on June 14 to discuss its initial building plans, even with the likely appeal.

He said the Aurora proposal is going to follow the normal pattern, like we treat all other requests that are submitted, and that until a successful appeal, we live with Kieffers decision and treat them as if the decision is the final decision.

Meanwhile, potential settlement talks loom.

Sullivan said the topic of having discussions with Aurora regarding the lawsuit was brought up at the meeting Thursday. He said such talks could eventually lead to a settlement.

We stand ready to talk with them regarding the lawsuit, Sullivan said, adding that no formal discussions with Aurora officials are planned.

City officials had been resistant to settlement talks in the past.

In court filings, Aurora has said the decision by Oconomowoc officials to block the hospital has cost the system $59 million in lost revenues and higher construction costs.