The Lake Country Community Fights to Maintain Nature’s Rural Character with Development in the Right
In the spring of 2006, the 27 acre farm field at the intersection of highways 16 and 83, centered in Waukesha County’s Lake Country, bloomed with rows of alfalfa. In September 2007, the plot’s most verdant space became the misted vegetable isle in the newly constructed 81,648 square foot Pick ‘n Save supermarket. Anne Sheedy Seidel thought “Pick ‘n Destroy” was a more fitting name for the store. She said, “They have no care or concern about the farmland. They pick it and destroy it!”
Seidel refers to Roundy’s Inc., the Milwaukee based supermarket chain behind Village Square, completed in 2007. She is a fervent advisory board member on Tall Pines Conservancy (TPC), a non-profit land trust that works to protect natural areas in the northwestern Waukesha, southwestern Dodge and southeastern Washington counties. Anchored by Pick ‘n Save, the shopping center includes an array of chains from Papa Murphy’s to Great Clips. Yet currently in 2014, Seidel noted, the center still contains two vacant storefronts.
“There wasn’t enough demand for the center, which is still shown today—a lot of the people who lived in the immediate area didn’t really want it. It was built because Pick ‘n Save wanted a store there, period,” stated Ted Rolfs, an active TPC board member. “We just felt like this was a wrong.” With community support, Rolfs led a boycott on the center and has yet to step foot in the now seven-year-old Pick ‘n Save.
Only a mile east, a 30,000 square foot storefront in the lackluster 69,300 square foot Hartbrook Mall sat vacant for nearly a decade before family-owned Sendik's Food Markets LLC transformed the space into a high-end, profitable shopping center in 2014.
“It just fell on deaf ears,” Rolfs said, referring to Roundy’s decision to destroy pristine farmland rather than revitalize the Hartbrook Mall when opportunity called years ago.
“Residents want to maintain the character and the rural heritage in [the Lake Country]; that’s why they live here,” said TPC’s Executive Director, Susan Buchanan. “[TPC isn’t] against development. We’re just for development in the right places, and the right places are according to the municipality’s development plan.” Known as Smart Growth plans, these community agendas are ways to slow development and position it in appropriate places. It’s up to the city’s discretion on whether they will adhere to that plan.
A mere half-mile northeast of Village Square, adjacent to the Highway 16 overpass, another massive development opened its doors in 2009. Following years of setbacks, the Lutheran High School Association (LHSA) drove bouts of community outrage when they built Lake Country Lutheran High School (LCL), a 160,000 square foot facility, centered on 60 acres of farm field. “That was beautiful, untouched, pristine land. I don’t know why they wouldn’t have put a park in,” noted Seidel. “[Developing] didn’t seem like a very rational approach,” said TPC supporter Kathy Rosenheimer, who wishes to “keep the ‘field’ in Delafield.”
The LHSA purchased 60 acres of untouched land from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) with an agreement to fund a new Campus Drive development that would run through the LCL campus and connect to Highway K. The DOT claimed the road would alleviate traffic from Highway 83. Paddy Kieckhefer knows all too well of the issue, saying, “The Lutheran organization sold their souls by agreeing to pay for a road that has nothing to do with educating children.” Campus Drive now divides her 65 acre farm. The DOT seized three acres of her private land through eminent domain to route this connecter road.
TPC rallied $444,0001 of investments between 2007 and 2011 for the purchase of development rights (PDR easements) on 43 acres of the Kieckhefer farmland to thwart further development along Campus Drive. “We had [other] proposals for a lot of money. It was not our values [to sell out], and that’s not what we wanted to do. We certainly did not want a road running through the middle of our field,” said Kieckhefer. “Some fights are worth fighting even though you’re going to lose.”
“I knew even before they built it that the road was unnecessary. Traffic is minimal,” said Kieckhefer. In the Town of Merton, where the Kieckhefer farm lies, Planner Marilyn Haroldson revealed, “The few times that I’ve been on it recently, [the road] has never been highly traveled.” Kieckhefer’s son Trevor noted, “The road didn’t fulfill its intended purpose, but it’s not like they’re going to rip it up now.”
The American Planning Association encourages new development to provide communities with economic benefits, all while supporting principles to aid conservation and preservation of land, water, farmlands, soil and wetlands. Dave Schilling, Chief Land Use Planner of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC), noted the rapid mapping of subdivision plats over the last nine years2. Although figures trend downward due to an economic recession induced development lull, the region yielded 1,347 new plats, all mapped on unadulterated land.
Many of these subdivisions stand today and construction has rebounded especially in Waukesha County over the last six months. Developers recently broke ground on a 76 acre farm field in Pewaukee to construct the 170,000 square foot Christian Education Leadership Academy. Development may be seen as inevitable, however, TPC emphasizes that all can be done through property revitalizing.
This November, lead developer HSI Properties LLC began construction in Delafield on an acre that contained six central business district (CBD2) zoned rental plats with homes in deteriorating condition. The buildings were demolished and the area will be transformed into the high-end 61-unit Well Street Station apartment complex by May 2015. “It’s taking over a decaying area of the city. Improved sidewalks and a future bike trail are a few of the tangible benefits the complex will provide,” said Delafield Mayor Michele DeYoe. She also noted in Delafield, “A1 land zoned for agriculture is likely to be developed in future years, however it will not be subject to high density living, but rather single family housing, which is much less impactful on the environment.”
Mayor DeYoe regards development as a medium that will allow Delafield to reach its full potential, but she’s also aware of environmental costs, saying, “Most community development is driven by zoning; you can always change zoning, but we intend in the City of Delafield to stick to our zoning.” This means CBD2 and A1 zoned land are likely to stay CBD2 and A1 zoned land.
“We’re trying to build community and trying to keep the area rural in character,” reinforced TPC’s Susan Buchanan in regards to development. “We focus on protecting the best farmland, the best ecological resources in the Lake Country. Conservation has no boarders.”
