Approval sought for housing near marsh

Town of Waukesha land zoned for farms

Jan. 12, 2011

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Jan. 12, 2011 0

Town of Waukesha - Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc., which purchased 334 acres near the Vernon Marsh Wildlife Area for development five years ago, goes before the Town Board on Thursday to seek land-use approval for a planned 94-acre subdivision of 48 one- to three-acre lots.

If the town agrees to reclassify the land from agricultural to suburban residential on its land use map, the Waukesha County Board also would have to approve the change. A zoning change also would be separately needed.

A joint Town Board and Plan Commission public hearing on the request begins at 6:30 p.m.

Fiduciary's project manager William Ohm said the actual construction of homes is not likely in the near future.

"Development is purely market-driven," he said. "As you know, the market is not good right now."

The development along Waukesha County Highway I north of the Vernon Marsh, known as the Lathers property for its former owner, has traveled a long and twisted path to Thursday's Town Board agenda.

Fiduciary of Milwaukee twice attempted to annex the land to the City of Waukesha, offering a parcel where the city could site two wells in exchange for its approval of a residential development. Both times the city rejected the annexation.

The Common Council then voted to condemn a 12.7-acre portion for well siting. The city is under orders to remove radium from its water supply by 2018 and hopes to drill shallow wells on the property as a backup supply to Lake Michigan water, the primary water source it is pursuing.

After the Town Board voted to approve a land split separating the city's parcel from the rest of the Fiduciary land, the town chairman and a supervisor who voted for it were ousted in a recall election by residents afraid that high pressure wells could damage local wells and drain the Vernon Marsh.

The board has since gone to court to prevent the DNR from issuing permits for the wells and to contest the city's ability to use agriculturally zoned land for well drilling. Both lawsuits are pending.

On the condemnation front, the city and Fiduciary still are negotiating an end to the process - primarily over price and size of land area included, Assistant City Attorney Julie Gay said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Natural Resources has purchased 189 acres of the original Lathers property for the Vernon Marsh Wildlife Area. The city's proposed well site is surrounded by DNR land and does not adjoin the proposed subdivision.

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.