Developer seeks annexation to Waukesha for Walgreens/Aldi proposal

May 25, 2012

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

May 25, 2012 0

Waukesha - Owners of a four-acre parcel at Highway X and Sunset Drive proposed for a Walgreens pharmacy and Aldi grocery store have asked the City of Waukesha to annex their property after the Waukesha Town Board turned down a zoning change for the project last month.

Mark Lake of MRED-Cummings Commercial Development Corp. filed the petition, which was signed by all eight owners of the five properties Monday. Lake did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

City planner Doug Koehler said the petition would appear on the Plan Commission's June 13 agenda. Common Council approval is required.

While the developer is proposing a commercial development, the city's land use plan has identified the parcel for residential use and a zoning change would be necessary.

"It does go against our land use plan," Koehler said.

MRED-Cummings has submitted plans for a 15,808-square-foot Aldi store on about two acres with 81 parking stalls and a 15,168-square-foot Walgreens on 1.8 acres with 80 parking stalls. The stores would be surrounded by residential lots, part of about a 50-lot subdivision.

Lake has previously said the development would add $8 million to $10 million in tax base and 45 to 50 jobs.

The developer has been working with property owners for nearly four years, offering to acquire their homes and build the commercial development. It is across the highway from Fox Run Shopping Center to the north and Waukesha State Bank to the east. The Shoppes of Fox River are slightly farther east, along Sunset Drive.

The town's comprehensive land use plan has already been changed by both the town and Waukesha County to indicate the low-density, residentially zoned property would eventually accommodate mixed use. However, the Town Board rejected the necessary zoning 4-1 in April.

Some town concern has centered on how the development would be affected by a proposed Waukesha west bypass. One bypass alternative uses the Sunset Drive-Highway X intersection as part of its eventual route between I-94 and Highway 59.

Last fall, Waukesha County engineers issued a letter stating that the development could be accommodated even if that turned out to be the chosen bypass route.

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.