Drexel Town Square Dominates 'State of the City'

We tackled a lot of topics in Wednesday night's State of the City with Mayor Steve Scaffidi, who got an unofficial total of 41 questions from the 50 or so people in the audience, those following our live blog and Patch users who submitted questions ahead of time.

Unsurprisingly, the Drexel Town Square development was the top issue on residents' minds, and not just the details of the project itself: the event also showed a great concern about how the development will impact traffic.

Most of the traffic issues—like the placement of new stoplights on Howell and Drexel avenues, right and left turns onto Howell and other alterations—will be worked out over time, Scaffidi said. One thing that is known, however, is that 6th Street will go through and connect to Forest Hill Avenue.

But the overall Drexel Town Square site plan that was presented to the public in February is moving forward, he said. It includes a new downtown for the city, with first-floor shops and second-floor apartments leading to a town square; apartments on the west, a new city hall-library building on the south, a Meijer store on the east and restaurants and other businesses possible.

An Oak Creek Common Council vote on the plan will likely be held in early June, according to Scaffidi. A formal public hearing will be held before then, possibly in May. Construction on buildings is set to start later this year.

Multiple audience members voiced their displeasure over Meijer's inclusion in the proposal, just as many have over the last several months.

For his part, Scaffidi is generally in favor of Meijer at Drexel Town Square but said Wednesday the decision rests with the council.

Leaders of the project have said in interviews Meijer is needed to anchor the site and attract businesses and customers, while opponents feel a big-box store will detract from the uniqueness of the project and not help it succeed.

Apart from Drexel, several questions centered on Milwaukee County-related issues: 13th Street, Bender Park, bus service in Oak Creek (or lack thereof) and the county government structure.

Scaffidi said he is just as frustrated about Milwaukee County services as other Oak Creek residents, particularly when it comes to 13th Street.

Plans call for the street to be fixed in 2016, which most feel is just too long of a wait. Scaffidi said he just joined the county's capital improvement committee and plans to push for construction to get moved up. He also pushed residents to call, write and lobby their county officials.

You can read more about what was said Wednesday in our live blog, which provided coverage of the forum in real time. Thanks to everyone for the turnout and all of the questions submitted ahead of time and at the event (every single question submitted online was posed, and every audience member got to ask as many things as they wanted).

We learned a lot from our first attempt at a forum like this and hope to provide more opportunities in the future.