Town board members happy with settlement

Waukesha Freeman, August 16, 2006

By CALEY MEALS Freeman Staff

TOWN OF SUMMIT The five members of the town of Summit board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the agreement with Oconomowoc, Aurora Health Care and Pabst Farms.

Everyones a winner with this agreement, board member Jack Riley said. I think its about time this was settled. The five-member board discussed the agreement in closed session for less than an hour before taking a vote.

 Im extremely happy with the results, board member Pat Clifford said. We got out of it what we needed to get. One of the key aspects of the settlement, in the towns opinion, is an agreement between the city and the town that divides up more than 500 acres of town land south of the intersection of Valley and Golden Lake roads, Riley said.

The land was part of a boundary agreement between the two communities agreed to in 2000 that would have allowed for all of it to be annexed into the city by 2020. Now, the town will get to keep 250 acres of it and the city will get 230 acres.

That really helps with the incorporation push, Riley said. Now we have a fixed border. Town officials are currently in the process of trying to incorporate as a village and hope to have the application for incorporation submitted by next spring, town Chairman Leonard Susa said.

Incorporating as a village would provide Summit the ability to control its destiny, Susa said in a statement Tuesday.

The Aurora agreement will also help the towns case in the incorporation process since it demonstrates the town can work well with its neighbors, Susa said.

Clifford said he thinks a majority of the towns residents will be happy with the results of the settlement.

Of course there will be people against it, Clifford said. But a hospital is coming to Waukesha County, period. As long as its coming, lets have it in Summit.