Zoning would create cohesive look, official says
Increased interest by developers in the northwest area of Menomonee Falls has led village officials to seek some control over how areas in the neighboring town of Lisbon are zoned.
The Village Board on May 4 declared its intent to prepare an extraterritorial zoning ordinance for three areas of Lisbon.
Under state statute, a city or village with a plan commission and a zoning ordinance may exercise extraterritorial zoning, or create zoning, in town areas beyond municipal limits but bordering on the community.
"The idea is really to make the area look kind of cohesive so you don't have one side of the street done in beautiful Bavarian style and the other with a very modern look," Trustee Dennis Farrell said.
Since towns in Wisconsin do not have independent land-use control, Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said the ordinance would allow the village authority to control zoning regulations in areas of Lisbon along the western border of Menomonee Falls from Germantown and Richfield south to Pewaukee. The breaks in extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction would be located in areas where Lisbon is bordered by Lannon or Sussex, rather than by Menomonee Falls.
Fitzgerald said the reason for having the ordinance is twofold.
"There are pressures in the town for development in those three areas and there are pressures in the village for development along that boundary as well," he said. "What had been kind of a dormant area is now being more actively looked at for development, so this ordinance essentially would allow us to be more precise in terms of what kinds of development work best in those areas."
Fitzgerald said developers have expressed interest in the area near Lied's Nursery, which is on Main Street in Sussex bordering Menomonee Falls and Lannon to the northeast.
The ordinance would essentially freeze existing zoning in areas of Lisbon along the western border of Menomonee Falls, and allow the village to become part of a Joint Plan Commission, which likely will include representatives from Lisbon, Menomonee Falls, Sussex and Waukesha County
"There are certain reasons for doing this in terms of land-use decisions," Jeff Musche, town of Lisbon administrator, said. "It makes sense because the village can assure that new development on the border would not have adverse affects on the community and its residents."
Ty Finke can be reached at (262) 446-6621.
NEXT STEP
WHAT: discussion and possible action by the Village Board on an extraterritorial zoning ordinance
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 18
WHERE: Village Hall, N8480 Pilgrim Road
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