Neighbors fear Franklin school development could endanger their lake

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

FRANKLIN - Tuckaway Shores takes its name from the small, meandering lake that cuts through the center of this 155-unit condo development smack in the middle of the Milwaukee County suburb of Franklin.

It's a draw for waterfowl — loons, blue heron, the occasional kingfisher — not to mention the resident humans. All summer, they can be found there, swimming, fishing, tooling around in pedal boats. They host parties, even weddings, in its island gazebo. And, some winters, they welcome students from the neighboring Forest Park Middle School for ice fishing.

Jim Kerr looks over the lake that meanders through the Tuckaway Shores condominium development in Franklin. Kerr, who has lived in the complex for three years, said he waited several years for a condo that had this view to come up for sale so he could move there.

Those students are about to get a shiny, new school complex, thanks to a $43.3 million referendum that passed by a slim margin late last year. But residents in the condos — whose taxes are going up to help pay for the project — fear the design of the site could diminish their scenic setting and, worse, endanger the health of the lake.

An architectural rendering shows the placement of the new Forest Park Middle School on the 40-acre site at 8225 W. Forest Hill Ave. in Franklin

"This is a gorgeous setting; there's nothing like it in the area," said Karen Grishaber, who has lived at Tuckaway Shores for almost 26 years. "If you impact this lake, you'll negatively impact our property values and our quality of life."

Franklin Superintendent Judy Mueller said in an email to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the site "has been carefully designed to meet all environmental guidelines" and that the district has been "responsive to neighbors' requests."

But Franklin Mayor Steve Olson told residents at a recent Plan Commission Public hearing that "there are no guarantees" in life.

Olson did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

The wooded area on the right buffers the Tuckaway Shores development from the school property and could be reduced to just 10 feet in width, according to the residents.

The Franklin School District is proposing to build the new, 198,000-square-foot building on 40 acres near the corner of S. 76th St. and W. Forest Hill Ave., at the site of the current school, which will be demolished.

Franklin has been notorious over the years for its environmental battles. It has one of the more stringent natural resource protection statutes in the area, but developers often file for exceptions that allow them to fill wetlands and fell trees. And this project is no exception.

"They've got a very challenging site, lots of wetlands, hydric soils" that allow water to percolate to the surface, said 3rd District Ald. Kristen Wilhelm.

The Common Council has approved a special exception, contingent on several conditions and any necessary permits from the Department of Natural Resources, Army Corps of Engineers and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. The exception would allow the district to fill or remove just under 10,000 square feet of wetland, cut about an acre of mature woodlands and construct a new 17,150 square-foot wetland to mitigate the loss of the other — most of that in the southeast corner of the site, just west of the condo complex.

Tuckaway Shores resident Sue Czerwinski (foreground) and guest Lisa Herriges sun on the beach while children swim in the private lake that meanders through the complex in Franklin. Czerwinski is among the residents who are concerned that development of a large middle school on an adjacent property could negatively impact the lake.

Condo residents say the new two-story school building, a corner of which will sit just 30 feet from the property line, will loom over the complex with the tree line diminished. And they fear changes to the natural wetlands and the storm water management plan that will slow the flow of water off the site could affect the volume or quality of water in the lake.

"I asked the developers, 'Can you guarantee me that by altering the wetlands you won't affect my lake?' And they said absolutely nothing," said Melitta Moonen, president of the condo association.

Mark Cloutier, facilities manager for the district, said the district plans to add more trees as a buffer along the border with the condos. And he said the storm water management plan is expected to have minimal impact on surrounding neighbors — those in single-family homes who fear they'll get too much water, and the condo residents who fear they won't get enough.

"It should improve the quality of the water, if anything," because it's slowing its movement off the site, said Cloutier.

"The volume," he said, "would stay virtually the same," though he was reluctant to say, unequivocally, that there would be no effect.

"I can assure them that it has been designed to have no effect," he said.

That's good enough for Mary O'Hara, a Tuckaway board member who is believes the city and district are doing the best they can to address neighbors' concerns.

But others remain worried. Residents have spent tens of thousands of dollars maintaining and enhancing the lake — for such things as algae treatments and bridge constructions — and worry their investment could be lost.

"There are two reasons you live here — the lake and what you have to look at," said Candy Pegoraro, who sits on the condo board. "People want to know what their recourse is if the lake goes to hell."