Posted: June 4, 2009

Muskego — An artist rendering from a developer showing two big-box stores where Muskego officials had envisioned smaller buildings caused some alarm for one Muskego Plan Commission member.

"This was going to be a buffer," commissioner Jerald Hulbert said at the commission's meeting June 2.

The city's 2020 plan shows that the 22 acres on Moorland Road south of College Avenue is best suited for a business park as long as homes in the Glenbrook subdivision farther east are shielded, said Jeff Muenkel, community development director. The 22 acres are between the proposed Super Wal-Mart store and the Glenbrook subdivision.

The site should be ready for potential builders this year, Muenkel said.

The rendering shows how the area could hold two big-box stores of 200,000 square feet each, he said after the meeting.

Hulbert asked how the city can let developers know that the city wants to protect the residential neighborhood nearby so it is looking for something smaller.

Developers work with city staff who can tell them, Muenkel said. But he added that developers tend to want to put land to work the way they want to.

The idea at the time the land was changed from residential to business was that developers would have to come back to the Plan Commission, commission member and 7th District Alderman Noah Fiedler said. Then the commission would tell them the city is thinking in terms of something smaller or quieter or better architecture than a big-box store, Fiedler said. Under some circumstances, however, a big-box store might be acceptable, he said.

But Hulbert still wanted some sort of flag to warn big-box developers.

The discussion came as the commission debated recommending adding the 22 acres to Tax-Incremental Finance District 10. The commission unanimously recommended the addition, which was likely to be voted on by the Muskego Common Council on Tuesday, after NOW's deadline. The proposed addition also would have to be approved by the Joint Review Board of city and school officials.