Cardinal Stritch wins preliminary approval for development plans

The city of St. Francis Planning Commission voted unanimously Nov. 20 to recommend rezoning 129 acres of the current archdiocesan Cousins Center and adjacent We Energies properties to a Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Cardinal Stritch University plans to purchase both properties to build its south shore campus, which eventually would serve up to 1,870 students and house 800 traditional undergraduates.

The commission’s recommendation is contingent upon the results of a public hearing, which will be scheduled no earlier than Jan. 6, 2009.

After the public hearing, the St. Francis Common Council has to approve the PUD zoning, which would be like “a big blank sheet of paper” on which Cardinal Stritch and the city of St. Francis can negotiate outside the bounds of the standard zoning code, said St. Francis Mayor Al Richards, who chairs the commission.

The conceptual plan presented to the commission is not a site plan for the development. Actual development plans would go back to the Planning Commission and Common Council before final approval.

“Buildings could be moved. They could be in different places on the property,” Richards said.

At the meeting, eight Stritch representatives and consultants pitched the advantages of the state’s second largest independent college establishing a campus in St. Francis.

Joanne Williams, vice president of public relations and marketing, said Stritch would bring consumers, jobs, and arts opportunities to southeastern Milwaukee County.

The status of the Seminary Woods was never far from the discussion, with proponents and commissioners alike referring to the phrase “reverencing creation,” one of Stritch’s four stated Franciscan foundational values.

The eastern 12.4 acres of woods would be part of the new Stritch campus, said Tom VanHimbergen, special assistant to Cardinal Stritch’s president and the south shore campus point person.

That’s an eastern 4.4-acre portion of Seminary Woods currently owned by the archdiocese, plus, VanHimbergen said, eight acres of woods from the We Energies property.

VanHimbergen vowed that Stritch is committed to preserving the woods. And Terry Higgins, Performa Higher Education director of site development for Stritch, said the preliminary plan was to hold the woods portion of the campus “in perpetuity as a preserve.”

The Conservation Fund and other partners have been seeking federal, state, and other funding to acquire the whole 56-acre Seminary Woods to preserve it.

Stritch’s proposed preserve overlaps the partners’ proposed acquisition boundaries, as identified at seminarywoods.typepad.com. It is unclear how that might affect acquisition efforts.

Proposed We Energies Development

VanHimbergen confirmed Nov. 20 that Stritch reached an agreement with We Energies in September that its approximately 86-acre parcel will be sold, but he said Stritch and We Energies have not yet agreed on a price.

Stritch’s proposed development of the We Energies land was a surprise to many at an Oct. 8 Friends of Seminary Woods group meeting.

An email sent by South Shore Park Watch about a Nov. 12 informational meeting on the Stritch development summarized the sentiment of those concerned:

“Hopefully we can dissuade them from this development on the We Energies land!” the email read. “For 20 years Friends of St. Francis Green Space has been trying to protect and preserve this area as a green space buffer for Seminary Woods. If they go ahead with these plans, the woods will not have any buffer. The W[e] Energies land was just recovering from fly ash removal which was done a couple of years ago. Now it will be doomed to concrete parking lots and sports fields.”

The preliminary conceptual plan places a fieldhouse, 558-space surface parking lot, soccer track and stadium, practice fields, a baseball diamond, a softball diamond, and a public nature trail on the We Energies parcel.

Commissioner Eric Stemwell, who disclosed he owns a lot in the Siepmann neighborhood development just west of the We Energies property, passionately argued Nov. 20 not to convert the prairie on the We Energies land into parking lot and playfields.

He said he walks through the prairie every day and that “by August, that place was buzzing with life.”

Stemwell also suggested the city use its leverage to encourage Stritch to keep development to the north of the We Energies property, leaving the prairie alone. He pointed to what he described as the underutilized St. Francis De Sales Seminary and Marian Center to the north of the Cousins Center, suggesting that Stritch develop its campus on those properties, which are not currently for sale.

“This vision that you’re telling us is ideal for those properties,” Stemwell said.

“We’re not buying the seminary,” said VanHimbergen. But he said Stritch would be a leading partner in “urban planning” for the region, including the properties Stemwell mentioned and the vacant Sacred Heart building on Kinnickinnic Avenue.

To preserve the prairie, Mayor Richards suggested that as an alternative to building its own baseball and softball fields, Stritch could instead invest in and make use of the underutilized Greene Park, just a few blocks south of the would-be campus. Greene Park is a county park with one baseball diamond, two softball diamonds, and three tennis courts.

Other Questions & Details

“We’re looking at this being a green project,” said site planner Higgins, adding that such campuses appeal to the millennial generation Stritch hopes to attract.

When later asked by City Engineer Melinda Dejewski if that meant Stritch would build LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings, Higgins hedged but gave a preliminary “yes.”

Other commissioners asked about parking, the impact of additional foot traffic on Seminary Woods, and environmental testing of the We Energies property, whose groundwater is contaminated with selenium and cadmium, according to Stritch’s consultants.

VanHimbergen said Stritch has not studied the impact of foot traffic. He said the preliminary plan estimates Stritch will have to move 90,000 cubic yards of soil on the capped We Energies property.

The preliminary concept plan places an 800-space parking structure just east of the Seminary Woods.

Higgins said all buildings, including the parking structure, would be at least 75 feet from the environmental corridor, essentially the dripline of trees, as staked by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

When asked about the possibility of underground parking, Higgins told the Compass it would not be pragmatic.

He said the southeast corner of the existing Cousins Center property was not considered for structures because it is a city of St. Francis drainage right-of-way.

Future use of the existing Cousins Center building itself is another unknown. Williams told the Compass one-third would be reconstructed for traditional student classrooms. But the fate of the remaining two-thirds is unplanned.

Higgins told the Compass that as phases of development commence, the Cousins Center space could be reconsidered for different uses.

VanHimbergen said Stritch plans to negotiate a two-year lease for the archdiocese to remain in one wing of the Cousins Center so they would have time to move into the neighboring St. Francis De Sales Seminary offices.

The first phase of Stritch’s six-phase development would build the capacity to move 600 students to live and study at the south shore campus, VanHimbergen said.

VanHimbergen said he was discussing with the St. Francis Police Department a possible satellite police station on campus, but confirmed there would be a private security force.

Dejewski said from an engineering perspective, the site would support Stritch’s conceptual plan. She said stormwater, traffic, and landscaping would be specific challenges, as well as constructing field and campus lighting so as not to disrupt residential neighbors.

Over 40 members of the public silently observed the proceedings for over an hour, as no public comment was allowed, though many applauded when Stemwell pined for the prairie.

VanHimbergen said Stritch plans to put between $100 million and $150 million into capital costs.

When asked by Richards, VanHimbergen said Stritch was willing to sponsor another public informational meeting prior to the public hearing. He said Stritch sent out between 200 and 300 postcards for the Nov. 12 meeting, which 130 people attended at the Cousins Center.

Prior to Stritch’s offer to purchase the Cousins Center property this year, VanHimbergen said the Cousins Center had received nationwide interest, mainly from nonprofits, but only received one serious offer.

Full disclosure: The Conservation Fund has hired Michael Timm to research and write about Seminary Woods.