Town of Summit hospital near?

Aurora settlement on Oconomowoc, town agendas tonight

Waukesha Freeman, August 15, 2006

By ERIK BROOKS - GM Today Staff

OCONOMOWOC City officials are expected to act tonight on a settlement in its five-year-old legal battle with Aurora Health Care an agreement that will pave the way for construction of a new Pabst Farms hospital in the town of Summit.

The potential for a settlement was referenced on a revised agenda issued late Monday afternoon for the Oconomowoc Common Council meeting this evening.

Mayor Maury Sullivan declined comment but pointed to the two additions to the document: consideration of and action on a memorandum of understanding between Oconomowoc, the town of Summit, Pabst Farms and Aurora regarding a boundary agreement and pending litigation, as well as consideration and action on a resolution initiating extraterritorial zoning powers in the town of Summit.

Sullivan said the city plans to issue a press release about the matter today.

Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire declined comment, and Pabst Farms officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Town of Summit Chairman Leonard Susa confirmed the existence of a settlement in principle between the city and Aurora but declined to say what it might contain.

He said the issue will be addressed at a special meeting of the town board tonight and stressed that the settlement may not yet be finalized.

There is some verbiage in this understanding that has got to be worked out, so its not done until its done, Susa said.

Susa has said that he supports the city using the extraterritorial zoning process to ensure a new Aurora hospital ends up on 53 acres southeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in the town of Summit. When asked Monday if he thought that would be the road ultimately taken to get the hospital built, he said, I hope so.

Susa later added: Do you really think there was not going to be another hospital in western Waukesha County?

Zoning has been at the heart of the Aurora hospital debate for years.

In 2001, Aurora proposed plans to build a new Pabst Farms hospital on 43.5 acres northeast of Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in Oconomowoc. However, the Oconomowoc Common Council voted to rezone the property in order to block construction of the facility.

Then, in 2004, Aurora put forth plans to build a similar hospital across I-94 in the town of Summit. The Summit Town Board backed those plans. The issue then went before the Waukesha County Board, which overturned the towns decision, voting against the zoning and master plan changes necessary for construction.

Todays expected agreement, specifically the potential use of extraterritorial zoning, may find a way around that county board vote.

Extraterritorial zoning allows a city to use its zoning powers on town lands within a certain distance of its borders. So, should the city vote to seek to exercise those powers with the town of Summit parcel, the zoning change would be made, and the town would no longer need county board approval to allow construction of the hospital to proceed.
The rezoning of the town land also should aid Pabst Farms. Officials with the 1,500-acre development in both the town of Summit and Oconomowoc have said they prefer the Aurora hospital on town land because they want the city parcel as part of a more than 100-acre retail center announced in June.

We dont feel the hospital should be right next to the retail anyway, Bill Niemann, vice president of Pabst Farms Development LLC, said last week. Aurora feels the same way. To me, its fairly obvious what the solution is here.

Any settlement also will likely answer what, if any, damages are owed in the two pending lawsuits over the failed Aurora plans: the lawsuit the hospital system filed against Oconomowoc in 2001 following its unsuccessful efforts to build in the city and the lawsuit Aurora and the town jointly filed against Waukesha County after it voted against the town of Summit hospital. Both cases are still active the town suit before the District II Wisconsin State Court of Appeals and the city suit in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Aurora has never put forward a damage estimate in the town of Summit case.

In the Oconomowoc lawsuit, it has said the common council rezoning decision cost the hospital system $59 million in lost revenues and higher construction costs.

However, an expert defense witness countered in a recent filing in circuit court that no economic loss was suffered by Aurora as a result of the rezoning of the land by the city of Oconomowoc. In fact, Aurora experienced an economic gain from deferring its entry into the Oconomowoc market, University of Wisconsin-Madison business professor Belinda Mucklow wrote in a brief filed earlier this month.