Campus plan conjures national dreams, local concern

By Sean Ryan

The first public hearing on the Innovation Park plan showed the contrast between big-picture economic development and concerns about how development affects people’s daily lives.

“We have to make sure that everybody gets a piece of the pie,” said Jim Schmitt, Milwaukee County supervisor, “that everybody has their say.”

Supporters of the proposed $250 million Innovation Park in Wauwatosa talked about state and interstate economic development, while city residents worried about traffic in their neighborhoods.

Representatives from the campus talked about the business park and campus cementing University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s status as a research powerhouse.

Local residents said they do not want to lose the natural beauty of the undeveloped property because they drive past it every day.

The foundation plans to buy an 88-acre site from Milwaukee County and develop 59.5 acres of it into apartments and UW-Milwaukee private research buildings.

Wauwatosa Alderman Robert Dennik, a former director of economic development for Milwaukee County, said Innovation Park could give Wauwatosa national and international recognition for medical research. The new campus can generate collaborations with doctors in the nearby Milwaukee County Regional Medical Center and medical businesses in the Milwaukee County Research Park. That will give the site the same momentum Madison has for medical research, he said.

It also creates the potential for researchers in Madison, Chicago and Wauwatosa to collaborate, Dennik said.

“What you are going to have is a world-wide research component,” Dennik said.

Wauwatosa resident Lawrence Kean said he understands the benefits of development, but does not want it to ruin his quality of life. Kean said he drives on Swan Boulevard on the northern border of the proposed site every day, and he is worried about increased traffic from Innovation Park.

“I appreciate the need for economic development,” he said, “but the quality of life for people who live north of the county grounds, and also to the south and east, is also a concern.”

Resident David McCulloch said he’s been living in Wauwatosa for more than 20 years, and drives on Watertown Plank Road, which marks the southern border of the proposed site, on his way home from work. He said he likes it undeveloped.

“It’s kind of like living out in the country as I wrap around there on my way home,” McCulloch said.

Dennik said there are ways to realize the benefits of economic development without hurting the local community. The campus plan preserves 11.4 acres as a butterfly habitat, he said.

Dealing with the traffic will require working with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, he said, to make sure the reconstruction of the Zoo Interchange keeps traffic off of Swan Boulevard and Watertown Plank Road.

“You just have to find all of the different parties that are involved,” Dennik said.