Storm Golf & Fountain Square

This is the event that got Alderman Berg interested in Brookfield city government and eventually to run for Brookfield City Council. Alderman Berg didn't just wake up one morning and decide to run for Alderman, but instead got involved with the city planning process for a project literally in his own backyard, learned about the issues, talked to the city staff, and got well prepared before he ran for office in 2000. Alderman Berg hopes his story will inspire other people to become involved as well.

This project was revised many times and is now knows as "Fountain Square."  The current plan is a high end shopping center, one story tall.  The developer is seeking final approval in Spring, 2004.

Brookfield's Almost High Rise Hotel, by Scott Berg

As so often happens, my latent interest in local politics heated up on a NIMBY issue. NIMBY means "Not In My Back Yard" and refers to some proposed change to the area very near your house that you don't like.

I lived in the Indianwood subdivision from 1987 to 1998. It's a wonderful place to buy live, with neighbors you actually get to know, lots of kids and affordable housing. The only reason we moved was because a three bedroom ranch style house isn't nearly as big with two kids as it is when you're a newlywed!

In late 1997, Continental Properties proposed the construction of an 11 story hotel complex (shown below) on the Blue Mound Driving Range, which is just south of Indianwood. That area is one of the last large undeveloped parcels on Blue Mound Road and we all knew something would happen there. The proposal was so dramatic, so different from anything in Brookfield, that the entire neighborhood banded together to state in no uncertain terms our opposition to the project and our insistence that it be scaled back. Way, WAY back.

I chaired a neighborhood task force that conducted polls, wrote letters, attended plan commission meetings, contacted the newspapers, and generally rallied the whole neighborhood to the cause. The other key people on that task force were Chris and Sally Blackburn, Don Kern, Jim McGavock and Randy Randall.

To our great relief, Mayor Bloomberg and the city staff listened to our concerns and insisted the developer work with us to come to a more palatable development. Even better, we learned that the land's owner, Leon Storm, was a true gentlemen and wanted what was best for Brookfield just as much as he wanted to realize the value of his property. Also, the developer, Continental Properties of Menomonee Falls, was very receptive to our comments and met with us several times to explain alternatives.

The saga of this project has about another 50 chapters and is still far from over. However, it has now been scaled back to much more modest buildings, extensive landscaping and lower traffic generation. Nearly every one of the concerns raised by the neighborhood were addressed.

It was a true lesson in the little guy confronting the big guy and finding out he was pretty reasonable after all. It was the start of my realizing that I could make a difference in the community, a realization that has now led me to run for city alderman.

The hotel site after a typical March rainfall. The Dousman house is near top center. The drainage problems were one of the biggest obstacles to the project.

This stormwater drain takes the water from the Brookfield Square mall parking lot, carries it under Blue Mound Road, and dumps it behind the North Shore Bank building, right onto the Storm property. It is a great example of how standard stormwater management practices of 30 years ago are causing tremendous problems now. If the mall were being built today, this type of drainage would not be allowed. Also, note the graffiti, possibly gang related, inside the drain.