Residents asked to share their opinions for developing farmland
Listening sessions that will allow New Berlin residents to tell officials how they would like the last major tract of farmland east of Moorland Road to be developed have now been scheduled.
Sewer and water lines are likely to be in the ground by the end of next year, and before development starts New Berlin officials want to get a read on what the public wants for the area bounded approximately by Sunny Slope Road to the east, College Avenue to the south, Grange Avenue to the north and Moorland Road to the west.
The city's comprehensive plan calls for the western part to be industrial and the eastern part to be residential. The plan calls for a residential density of one house for every two acres.
There also is some discussion about expanding the industrial portion eastward.
But within the framework of industrial and residential, a lot of details can be filled in, said Alderman Ken Harenda, who represents the area. As a result, he has scheduled listening sessions to hear what people want to see and what they don't want to see developed there.
» Read Full ArticleNew Berlin crashes leave motorcyclist dead, teen cyclist in critical condition
Separate accidents in New Berlin left a 22-year-old man dead and a 15-year-old girl in critical condition.
Dustin Hanson of Big Bend died Saturday of injuries sustained in a traffic accident Friday at the intersection of Moorland Road and Coffee Road. Hanson was operating a motorcycle going southbound on Moorland Road when it collided with an automobile turning westbound onto Coffee Road, according to a statement from the New Berlin Police Department.
The girl, from Greenfield, was on a bicycle crossing Sunny Slope Road from the New Berlin Recreation Trail about 4:30 p.m. Saturday when she was struck by southbound SUV. Firefighters transported her to Froedtert Hospital, where she is listed in critical condition.
Police said they believed neither speed nor alcohol were factors in either crash.
Carp shoot May 25 on Little Muskego Lake, two carp worth $500 each
Boats with archers and bright lights will bob on Little Muskego Lake in the evening hours of Saturday, May 25, as the Little Muskego Lake Association and the Wisconsin Bowfishing Association hold a carp shoot.
Specially designed bows and arrows will be used to remove carp from the lake in the state Department of Natural Resources supported activity. More than 3,000 carp have been removed from the lake in five years of carp shoots.
The DNR supports removing carp because they are considered a "rough" fish destroying the spawning beds of other desirable fish. Carp also disturb the bottom sediment of lakes causing cloudy water.
A couple of the carp shooters might get lucky and come home with $500 for bagging one of the two carp that have fin tags placed there by the DNR in cooperation with the Little Muskego Lake District. By tagging two carp and offering a $500 reward for anyone catching one, the Lake District hopes more people will hunt carp.
Newsweek names New Berlin schools to 'America's Best High Schools' list
New Berlin Eisenhower and West high schools were named on Newsweek's 2013 "America's Best High Schools" list.
Out of 55 Wisconsin schools Newsweek selected for recognition, Eisenhower was ranked fifth and New Berlin West was ranked 12th.
Nationwide, more than 2,000 high schools were recognized with Eisenhower coming in at 462 and West at 743.
Newsweek ranked six components: graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB /AICE course (5 percent).
The Newsweek honor comes just weeks after the Washington Post included Eisenhower and West on its lists of "America's Most Challenging High Schools."
Stumbling block cleared for proposed New Berlin Walmart
On a 4 to 2 vote, the New Berlin Common Council approved a rezoning and a change in the city comprehensive plan that will clear the way for Walmart to apply to build a super center on Greenfield Avenue about a block east of Moorland Road.
Most of the site is zoned single-family and is envisioned as mixed use residential in the city's 2020 Comprehensive land use plan.
Walmart will still have to go through the city approval process for its building, site and operations plans, however.
Residents of the area strenuously opposed the rezoning packing hearings and meetings and saying that the Comprehensive Plan clearly says areas that are zoned residential are to stay that way. They also argued that the 2020 plan indicates that big box stores are the least desired type of commercial development for that area.
Many such as Donna Goodrich who helped with the two-year public input process that went into the comprehensive plan felt betrayed.
» Read Full ArticleWalmart rezoning recommended in New Berlin
Before a mostly hostile crowd of about 150 who packed the New Berlin Plan Commission meeting Monday, the commission voted 3 to 2 to recommend changing the zoning and the city land use plan that would allow a Walmart Super Center to be built on Greenfield Avenue just east of Moorland Road.
The New Berlin Common Council will take up the proposed rezoning and land use change on Tuesday.
Mayor Dave Ament left the meeting during the Walmart discussion and vote to avoid any appearance of impropriety because his wife works for the Wal-mart in the New Berlin City Center.
Before the commission vote, Jenny Vellinga, a leader of Neighbors First New Berlin that opposes the rezoning, submitted a petition that she said was signed by 1,800 people in every aldermanic district who oppose rezoning. Currently, the zoning is single-family homes for most of the 16 acres that Walmart has asked to change to shopping center zoning. Commercial zoning is next door on some vacant acres and there is extensive retail building across the street, Walmart officials argue.
Eisenhower shows academic muscle at national competition
The New Berlin Eisenhower High School Academic Decathlon Team took Rookie of the Year and Top Scoring New Team in Division III in the 32nd annual United States Academic Decathlon nationals competition held in Minneapolis.
In addition, the team took second overall in Division III.
Individual honors also went to Jake Zimmerman who took third overall in Honors, Rishil Mehta, second in Honors, and Veronica Diedrich, second in Scholastic. The coaches are Erik Fountain and Jake Misiak.
BuySeasons cuts about 90 jobs in New Berlin
BuySeasons Inc., the New Berlin-based Internet retailer that became one of the fastest-growing companies in the Milwaukee area over the last decade, cut about 90 jobs Wednesday, roughly 20% of its permanent workforce.
One person who lost a job said a supervisor told her that cost-cutting measures were necessary because "our sales are not keeping up with our employee base." The former employee declined to give her name, saying she did not want to jeopardize future job prospects.
As of late March, BuySeasons had nearly 450 permanent employees in New Berlin - two thirds of them full time.
The company, best known as an online seller of costumes, also hired nearly 1,300 temporary employees last fall for the busy pre-Halloween period.
A BuySeasons spokeswoman confirmed the elimination of roughly 90 jobs. She said BuySeasons recently reorganized "to better position the company to respond to current demand and growth in our year-round party and costume businesses."
» Read Full ArticleMuskego police seek public's help to identify liquor thief
The Muskego Police Department is asking for the public's help in identifying a suspect who took thousands of dollars of liquor from two grocery stores.
Piggly Wiggly, S7847 Racine Ave., told police that a man had entered the store three times - at 1 a.m. April 20, 5 p.m. April 23 and 5 p.m. April 24. Each time, he filled a cart with liquor concealed by groceries. The store estimates its loss at more than $2,000.
On April 25, Pick 'n Save, W17005 Janesville Road, reported the same suspect committed a similar theft at its store the previous weekend.
He described as white, clean cut, in his 40s, with short dark hair and medium build. The suspect is identified in the Pick 'n Save video as wearing a black jacket with a white stripe down the sleeve.
Anyone having any information is urged to contact police at (262) 679-4130.
It's cleanup time again in Muskego
May is coming and so is Green Up Muskego.
In the annual month-long citywide cleanup during May, homeowners and community groups are encouraged to pick up and clean up their properties.
City officials even are asking people to help out by plucking debris from ditches and along the roads, "so objects don't make their way to storm ponds or lakes," said Mayor Kathy Chiaverotti.
Green Up Muskego also is a good time to plant trees and flowers, Chiaverotti said.
As they did last year, Muskego police will help out by looking for properties with abandoned or unlicensed cars and trucks parked outside. (Such vehicles are supposed to be stored in garages or similar storage facilities.) Neighbors tired of looking at such vehicles are invited to call police.
New Berlin Eisenhower's deteriorated physical condition riles some parents
Monday's community engagement session was held to gather comments about proposed maintenance projects at all New Berlin schools, but it was Eisenhower Middle/High School that attracted the most comment - and it wasn't flattering.
For example, Kathy Quandt said kids are still getting electrical shocks in the auditorium orchestra pit, just as she did before she graduated from Eisenhower in 1980. Other comments suggested Eisenhower isn't up to snuff in the science department, in the auditorium or even in the restrooms, where paint is peeling off the walls.
One School Board member agreed Eisenhower's time has come for maintenance that has, in recent years, been focused elsewhere. Art Marquardt noted that when he joined the board a decade ago, the other schools had more than $100 million in deferred maintenance and nine school buildings that had severe needs.
At the time, Eisenhower was one of the best buildings in the district. Now Eisenhower is in tough shape, he said.
The School Board recently held a community engagement session focusing on the proposed Eisenhower projects. Through the engagement sessions, the School Board hopes to see which projects the community cares most about before it prioritizes the list according to criteria it already approved. The first parts of that list should come to the board in May.
Carp has a bounty put on its head in Little Muskego Lake
The carp, which some see as a lake villain, will now have a price on its head in Little Muskego Lake.
As an incentive to get more people to fish for the undignified species, the Little Muskego Lake Protection & Rehabilitation District will pay $500 "bounty" to each person wo catches carp previously tagged by the state Department of Natural Resources.
The lake district didn't provide an exact number of carp that will be tagged by the DNR and then put back into the lake. Larry Lefebvre, district chairman, simply put that number at "a couple."
The real point of the lottery-like bounty approach is to encourage carp removal in general. Carp eat the eggs of walleye, northerns and other game fish and stir up the water, which is bad for lakes and why the district is trying this new idea to get them out, Lefebvre said.
The effort - which has been used successfully in other lakes, including Eagle Spring Lake near Eagle - recently received the blessings of the DNR. The program will start as soon as the DNR is able to catch and tag the carp.
'Man-trap' entrances OK'd for all Muskego schools
By this fall, all the schools in the Muskego-Norway School District will have what is known as a man trap to make school entrances more secure against intruders, if the Muskego-Norway School Board has its way.
A so-called man trap allows school visitors to come in from outside, but then they must be seen and spoken to by office staff before they are buzzed into a facility's interior.
Muskego High School is already secure, the board decided, and man traps already exist at Lake Denoon Middle School and at Mill Valley Elementary School. Work has already been approved for Muskego Elementary School for this summer.
The School Board on Monday liked the entrance security plans for Lakeview and Tess Corners elementary schools, but sent the staff back to come up with a combined entrance option for the Bay Lane Middle School/Country Meadows Elementary School building. The middle and elementary schools share a building.
The board plans to look over the combined entrance option for Bay Lane/Country Meadows on April 29.
Scrap of land will be rezoned in Muskego
Opting to let the Plan Commission find middle ground between a land owner and a neighboring restaurant owner, the Muskego Common Council has approved the rezoning of a small piece of property to again make it legally buildable.
The site is the former Shell gas station that was recently removed by Waukesha County on the northwest corner of Lannon Drive and Janesville Road. It will be rezoned from "business" to "downtown revival district," a new zoning category the city created just before the Janesville Road widening project.
The land owner, who lost so much of his land to the Janesville Road widening project, has no specific plans to build on the lot, but asked for the rezoning to make the property more marketable.
The owner of Tres Locos restaurant, S7505 Lannon Drive, is afraid that if the lot does become buildable, his business could be harmed by an encroaching new structure. The rezoning will allow a building to go up only five feet from the property lines instead of the normal 10 feet, the attorney for the restaurant noted.
Nevertheless, aldermen unanimously felt that the Plan Commission is a sufficient safeguard against such harm and approved the rezoning unanimously. Any issues will have to be dealt with by that panel when and if a building project is proposed.
» Read Full ArticleQuad/Graphics plans to hire up to 130 for new plant in New Berlin
Quad/Graphics Inc. says it will hire between 120 and 130 people at a new plant in New Berlin.
The Sussex-based printer said the plant at 5600 S. Moorland Road will serve as a regional mailing center for direct-mail customers.
About 150 full and part-time employees will work at the facility, including the new hires and the rest transferring from a Quad plant in Pewaukee.
The company is accepting applications now, and hiring will begin late this month.
Quad is leasing the 205,063 square foot plant from Ace Distribution Leasing.
Brookfield, New Berlin to host joint information meeting for proposed Walmart
The New Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce will host a joint information meeting to review and discuss the proposed development of a new Walmart store in the 15300 block of West Greenfield Avenue in New Berlin.
The meeting will take place April 23 at Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie, 15375 West Greenfield Ave, New Berlin, in the lower level banquet room.
Free registration will begin at 7:15 a.m. with the presentation to start at 7:30 a.m., and a question and answer period at 8:30 a.m.
Because the new Wal-Mart is proposed for the corner on Greenfield Avenue and Moorland Road, adjacent to the city of Brookfield, the New Berlin Chamber has invited the Brookfield business community to join in this discussion.
The proposed development would occupy a 15-acre site, which also holds part of the Charcoal Grill & Rotisserie.
» Read Full Article
