Plan commission approves Oak Creek High School natatorium with traffic-calming condition

The Plan Commission on April 8 approved the site plan and architectural review for a building addition to Oak Creek High School at 340 East Pewds Road to house a competition and community pool. Commissioner Oldani moved to approve the plans with conditions; the motion carried in a roll-call vote recorded in the transcript as aye votes from Commissioners Kupchinski, Lorik, Super, Ana and Ochoi.

The approved project calls for a building of a little more than 40,000 square feet and a maximum height of about 34 feet. The design includes an enclosed connection to the existing high school and the ninth-grade center, a natatorium with pools and locker rooms on the ground floor, and a mezzanine of roughly 10,000 square feet with bleachers and concessions.

Site work will remove 68 existing parking spaces and add 92 new spaces in an expansion area, yielding a net increase of 24 parking spaces. Planning staff said the district performed a parking calculation and determined the site would meet its needs; staff characterized the resulting on-site parking as ample.

Commissioners and district representatives discussed traffic, circulation and event management. Several commissioners and community members expressed concern about vehicle speeds and driver behavior on Knights Place, a private drive that provides campus access from Groveland; commissioners asked for measures to slow traffic where that drive approaches the new entrance and parking areas. The commission conditioned approval on two items: that all relevant code requirements remain in effect and that revised plans showing traffic-calming measures for Knights Place and the southwest corner of Henry Miller Park be submitted to staff for review before building permits are issued. City planning staff said they would coordinate the traffic-calming plan review with engineering.

District representatives said they had coordinated with the community center that shares the campus and that the design removes a deteriorated drive loop and ties in old asphalt to create a more continuous parking layout. The school’s facility director (identified in the record only as Steve) said the district will staff and manage ingress and overflow parking during large swim meets, and staff indicated the south parking area will be used for other varsity events to reduce overlap. Project representatives also said required fire separation and equipment access were incorporated in the layout.

Public comments at the hearing raised safety and circulation concerns—parents and commissioners discussed speed bumps, stop signs, bollards and signage—and staff and the district agreed to include traffic calming and wayfinding in revised permit plans. The transcript records the motion and the roll-call approval; the commission’s conditions require the revised traffic-control plans be accepted by staff before permits are issued.