Elmbrook’s 9 Acre Property Sale In Play Again With An Even Lower Bid for Residential or Condominium Development
Despite community feedback to keep the property as a public park, the Board is voting on 1/14/25 for a $750,000 sale of the property to Miller Marriott Construction.
The Elmbrook board is voting on selling the 9 acre Hillside property on 1/14/25 despite previous community feedback to keep the property as a public park.
An initial $900,000 offer in the fall of 2024 was for an adult day care center. The new offer is for $750,000 for residential or condominium development with a deed restriction preventing a competing school being built in the location. The 9 acre lot is tucked within a residential neighborhood and was listed for sale at $1.125M.
Robust community feedback on this property has been shared in listening sessions on 11/18/24 & 4/4/24 and the board meeting on 10/29/24.
The district is pointing to survey feedback to support the sale and deed restriction. They stated a “desire” expressed in the survey for housing, although the district does not disclose what percent of survey responses support this desire. The district comments are below:
“Additionally notice, including a survey, was sent to all staff and current families. The theme from much of this feedback included a desire to have the property return to single family housing. The survey also indicated a strong desire to have a deed restriction in perpetuity on the property. Specifically, respondents were asked if the deed should restrict another school from purchasing the property and perhaps compete with the Elmbrook Schools. Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated a deed should be placed on the sale, with 49.3% indicating the deed restriction should have an indefinite duration, and 16% supporting a 10-year deed restriction. About thirty-five percent (34.7%) of respondents favored no deed.”
In the listening session on 11/18/24, some community members expressed their opinion that that the survey presented to the community had leading and/or biased information presented with questions to nudge responses towards a specific outcome.
The survey is shown below:
Previous Community Feedback
The property sale previously had feedback about insufficient communication, lack of transparency, narrow communication to the public, the desire to use the site as a community playground as well as concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
Comments were also shared that because a realtor was already engaged when the first listening session occurred, it was viewed that the community may be speaking to deaf ears.
In addition, discussion brought into question if cost estimates to demolish the building were accurate and it was revealed that $10M that was previously set aside for Hillside repairs was reallocated in 2022.
Prior Board Member Comments
Board member Kathy Lim pointed out that the board never voted on selling the property; they only voted on engaging a realtor to see what the market might provide. She expressed her opinion that the board often gets pushed into taking action when simply gathering data. She spoke about how she advocated earlier to get better communication to the community near Hillside and wanted the process to be done appropriately, even if it took longer. She received applause from the community in attendance for her remarks. Later, Kathy reiterated that the board needs to make decisions for the whole community, not just those that attend Elmbrook schools.
What’s Next?
The board votes on 1/14/25 on selling the property. Board member contact information is available here.
Update: Thank you to the Freeman for their story on this sale. Ultimately, the property was sold and public comments possibly indicate that Brookfield aldermen were working with the district on the sale.
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