Oconomowoc preps for Pabst Farms boom

Developer Maureen Stapleton argues if Oconomowoc doesn't get some cheaper housing by 2010, new workers filling jobs in Pabst Farms will buy houses in other communities.

Then employees will suffer higher gas prices, and downtown retailers won't get their business, she said.

The city isn't sure the situation is that dire.

Stapleton, president of Stapleton Realty Ltd., Oconomowoc, wants approval to build a roughly $20 million project with houses, apartments and condos. The city has concerns because the property is zoned for lower density.

"We approved jobs in this community, and now we have a responsibility to give (employees) a place to live today," Stapleton said.

Mayor Maurice Sullivan said the city needs to obtain hard numbers on Oconomowoc's housing situation, considering it is in Stapleton's best interest to promote her project. City planners caution Oconomowoc shouldn't approve the project until a consultant completes a roughly nine-month study to update the city's comprehensive plan. Sullivan, who also is chairman of the city's Plan Commission, neither supported nor rejected the proposal.

"There is a legitimate argument to say, 'Well, you know, planning should not be done parcel by parcel,'" he said of the recommendation.

Stapleton said she surveyed 40 businesses in Oconomowoc and "all employers said the same thing: 'What happens if gas prices go up? Because right now a lot of our work force has to commute from other areas.'"

Stapleton's project, dubbed Golden Valley Place, is slated for the 27-acre site on the northeast corner of Valley and Golden Lake roads. It would include eight apartment buildings with units with monthly rents of $800, 20 condo units priced from $200,000 to $225,000, and 21 single-family units ranging from $235,000 to $300,000. Stapleton is teaming with Watertown-based Basco Realty Inc., which would develop the apartments.

Stapleton said a survey of available properties through Multiple Listing Service, a nationwide service, found only 29 single-family homes and 14 condos in Oconomowoc priced between $190,000 and $225,000.

Housing affordability is the bigger question, but another concern is that the farmland Stapleton wants to develop is surrounded by land slated for single-family neighborhoods.

Property owners near the would-be development cited concerns about the high-density proposal, Sullivan said.

"You run into the issue of, 'Well, if you planned it this way, and I went and bought my property around it and built a house, and now you are going to change it?'" he said.

Residents will have an opportunity to speak on the issue at a public hearing Wednesday.

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