Oak Creek will move in to Delphi site
Library and city hall will be part of major development
Feb. 8, 2012 | 6 comments
Oak Creek - Mayor Al Foeckler, saying that it was "with great respect" to late Mayor Dick Bolender, cast the deciding vote to relocate the city hall and library to the site of the former Delphi Automotive plant.
The divisive 3-3 Common Council vote Tuesday night came after a lengthy discussion by residents and aldermen about the merits and drawbacks of a move to the redevelopment site at 7925 S. Howell Ave.
About 50 people attended the meeting, at which three city hall and library proposals were considered.
Voting in favor of moving the city buildings to the Delphi site were mayoral candidate and Alderman Tom Michalski, Alderman Dan Jakubczyk and Alderman Ken Gehl. The three mentioned the option that has the lowest construction costs, $21.3 million, and potentially the greatest tax base and job generator, projected at about $250 million.
Enough information?
"From my perspective, we have enough information to make a decision," said Gehl, who is running for Milwaukee County supervisor. "I think the opportunity is immense."
Those opposed - Alderman Steve Scaffidi, who is also running for mayor, Alderman Michael Toman and Alderman Daniel Bukiewicz - said they did not have enough information yet to make a decision. However, Toman and Scaffidi both said they favored moving at least the library to the Delphi site, one of the three options on the table.
"Rash decisions are not good decisions," Scaffidi said.
The other option was that the city hall and library remain on the civic center property, 8640 S. Howell Ave.
Land swap hangup
A sticking point in the discussion was that one option included a land swap with the Oak Creek-Franklin School District. The city would exchange the 12-acre civic center site for 50 acres the district owns on Oakwood Road and Howell Avenue.
That 50 acres then would be swapped for seven acres on the Delphi site, where the city hall and library would be built. The city would also be paid $725,000 from the developer, WisPark LLC, the development arm of We Energies.
Those 50 acres would be added to the adjacent 205 acres WisPark already owns and allow for the development of the Oak View Business Park.
WisPark bought the Delphi site last year for $8 million; the purchase was financed in part with $2 million from the city. Delphi closed in 2008.
At a meeting Jan. 30 between the council and the School Board, WisPark President Jerry Franke said without those 50 acres, the business park would not be viable. With the acreage, the park could generate 1,400 new jobs and add $64 million to the tax base, he added.
Foeckler, appointed to complete Bolender's term, noted the importance of that park.
"The Oak View Business Park is an important component of the land swap," he said. "This is a really special opportunity, and I hope the council doesn't pass it up."
City Attorney Larry Haskin said the next step would be for the staff to begin formal negotiations with the School Board for the land swap. If no deal can be made, he said the council's action "was not cast on stone," and a different siting option could be considered.
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6 COMMENTS
TheRightStuff - Feb 08 at 8:29 PM - Report Abuse
This seems to be about finding a way to spend money that does not need to be spent.
KMFM22 - Feb 10 at 10:21 AM - Report Abuse
I am a library user and imo, the library facility is inadequate for the size of the city. Look at West Allis Library. Larger, Many more materials available much more recreational reading materials available. I would agree that they could possibly build up, but you have to remember why they are willing to move off that site. It is adjacent to the existing HS property and in the center of the city. It is the perfect location to expand the HS
youhavetobekidding - Feb 08 at 9:24 PM - Report Abuse
frustr8ed taxpayer - Feb 09 at 10:25 AM - Report Abuse
vocal local - Feb 10 at 1:48 AM - Report Abuse
administrative offices and storage on the third and keep technology and adult services on the ground floor. If the childrens section is moved up we could add study rooms in that area and if we put laptops and tablets on a cart we could get rid of the PC section. We also need some expensive data bank access instead of wasting the majority of the budget on uneducated employees that don't live in OC. Should we follow the library board presidents suggestion for complete kitchens for cooking classes? Yes, lets all cook herring (fish) and stink the whole place up and while were at it a rock stage for the kids and a future wave event. The expense of building what we have with those windows would be cost prohibitive today so lets stick to the original plan prior councils laid out when the library was built and go up with both city hall and the library at their present locations.
vocal local - Feb 11 at 5:48 AM - Report Abuse
I understand the equation of government square footage for a community but I still fail to see how the present library is so inadequate. The hours of use have sure been decreased over the past ten years now haven't they? Further, I've never seen the library overcrowed but have had to wait at times to get onto a computer. As far as materials one can receive any material owned in the federated library system from our existing library and the internet is surely replacing reference. Do you really want the HS on the most busy street in the city? Generally speaking schools are located in residential areas not the main business street. As far as overcrowding thats not directly related to our children. Resident enrollment has been down for the last five years it just hasn't reached the HS yet and the out of district enrollments are definately contributing to overcrowding and I don't know what if we can do anything about those students when space is getting scarce. I don't think we can send them back to their home districts but maybe. We are in the throngs of a depression. The elect are lying as the funding source is unstable. By the end of this year the city will be apx 23 million in debt without unnecessary building. The school district is roughly 54 million in debt and refinancing debt by sending it further out to balance the budget. People need to attend the meetings, follow the voting records and take back city government. Bolender was not a good mayor. He was a dictator, a bully.