ELM GROVE NEWS
Not all of Elm Grove's residents are happy about plans to develop the downtown area
Evan Casey
A sweeping plan for the future of the village of Elm Grove's downtown corridor could possibly bring more development to the area.
Not all of Elm Grove's residents are happy about this.
A draft of the downtown master plan calls for an extension of Elm Grove Road, improvements to Underwood Creek, added redevelopment to the Reinder's property, School Sisters of Notre Dame and Elm Grove Park and Shop and creating more parking and public spaces, among many other updates.
Village trustees, who hope to pass the plan as soon as January or February 2020, intend to hold more public input sessions soon.
New plans for the downtown area have been in the works for over a year, with open houses and informational meetings being held throughout 2018 and 2019. The master plan is meant to be a guiding tool for village departments such as the building board and the department of zoning and planning.
Minecraft buildings?
Some residents worry that the new plans could harm Elm Grove's peaceful way of life.
Lisa Becker, who lives downtown, said she frequently lets her kids ride their bikes to the park or nearby ice cream shop.
"I think, for myself and for a lot of my neighbors, we don't want to see a lot of high-density development in the downtown corridor," Becker said after an Elm Grove Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 5. "What I see going on around us in neighboring communities, is you see the same kind of apartment buildings and stick construction…. they look like they were made in Minecraft."
Resident Joseph Coffey said there is a need for something to be done for future generations — but suggested that the plan should be "tweaked."
"We can capitalize on the downtown area, especially with being on Watertown Plank Road. That's a historical road," he said after the meeting. "But I think we need to maintain the charm and the history."
Chris Mason has been a resident of Elm Grove since 1956. He's worried that new developers might have a negative effect on long-term residents.
"A lot of the newer 30- or 40-somethings come in here from some other village and they want to change things, and they stay three to five years and then they move out. What's been here since 1858 is what we're trying to preserve," he said.
Elm Grove Village President Neil Palmer said he hopes to save the "charm" that he and many others love about Elm Grove.
"That's an architectural choice. We have complete control over that," Palmer said in response to some residents' concerns. "But again, we don't build it. We can convey that discussion to a developer, so if they're smart, when they bring in their first development, they won't make an all-glass building and think we're gonna like it."
Palmer said the village will begin work on updating its design guidelines and zoning codes after the plan is approved. The current downtown district site design guidelines were approved in November 2003.
He said a committee could be created comprising board members and village residents with expertise in architecture or similar professions.
"We want (downtown Elm Grove) to sort of look like it looks, but newer and fresher," Palmer said.
Nearly 400 respondents submitted feedback about the plans for the downtown area online. Common terms many respondents used for the biggest strengths of Elm Grove included "quaint," "small" and "walkable." Survey respondents' singled out shops, parking, traffic and coffee as the village's greatest weaknesses or needs.
"A lot of residents think we're doing this 'cause we're trying to change downtown. We're trying to keep it. We're trying to have it not fail," said Village Trustee Pat Kressin during the meeting.
The downtown core is along Watertown Plank Road between Elm Grove Road and Juneau Boulevard, according to the plan.
Trustees discussed the possibility of providing incentives to developers who include public benefits such as green space or public parking lots near their developments. Those incentives could take the form of allowing developers to build more units per acre, for example.
"You don't get any public benefit without giving something back," said Palmer during the meeting. "This is not Venezuela. It won't work that way. Everybody will go somewhere else and spend their money."
Another possibility: raising the current building height limit to allow for more three- or four-story buildings. The current downtown plan limits building heights to 36 feet, or the equivalent of a three-story building with a flat roof.
"No one's going to build two-story buildings. Two story buildings on here, (downtown master plan) you might as well just make them one. It's either three, four, or one," said Kressin.
Next, Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc., along with sub-consultants WiRED and Properties and Place Dynamics, will make changes to the draft. Trustees will then continue to seek public feedback before they meet to either approve or deny the plan in 2020.
Evan Casey can be reached at 414-403-4391 or evan.casey@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecaseymedia.