Plan Commission recommends conditional-use amendment to remove historic right-of-way requirement for Buick GMC property

The Oak Creek Plan Commission on Sept. 23, 2025 recommended that the Common Council approve a conditional-use permit amendment that removes a historic condition requiring the dedication and construction of a frontage road/right-of-way across a Buick GMC dealership property at the northeast corner of Rawson Avenue and South 20th Street.

Christie Lane, community development director, explained that a prior conditional-use permit from 2018 included language carrying forward a requirement that the property owner dedicate right-of-way and construct a section of an envisioned future road. Lane said staff researched records and found no memorandum of understanding recorded that obligates the current owner to construct the road. She told commissioners that a DOT-fronted grant program that once might have subsidized frontage-road construction is no longer available and that constructing the road now would require multiple property owners to coordinate, possibly create a road through a stormwater pond, and impose large costs on a single applicant.

Dax Conley, director of development for Dalvin Holdings (identified in the meeting record as the applicant’s representative), told commissioners his group would be open to cooperative solutions if neighboring property owners approached them with a feasible plan, but that building an expensive road “to nowhere” now would be impractical given wetlands, tree preservation ordinances and cost. Conley referenced a 2005 MOU on file that provided an access driveway promise for the parcel but said no later recorded MOU obligates the current combined dedication and construction language.

Resident speakers asked clarifying questions about whether new development is planned on the subject land and whether the change would landlock adjacent properties. Lane and commissioners said existing residential driveways could remain and that the DOT would not allow new commercial driveways directly onto South 20th Street; a future commercial frontage road would be required if commercial development were to be assembled in the corridor, but that would be a later-stage requirement tied to any future redevelopment.

The planning commission’s recommendation was formalized in a motion moved by the clerk (as recorded) to recommend that the Common Council approve the conditional-use amendment for the Buick GMC property at 7020 South 20th Street and 2420 West Rawson Avenue, after a public hearing and subject to conditions and restrictions. The motion was seconded and passed on a roll-call vote recorded in the meeting minutes.

Lane summarized the practical concerns that led staff to propose the amendment: the prior DOT funding opportunity is no longer available, a required frontage road would have crossed wetlands in places and would have placed a substantial construction and maintenance burden on a single property owner, and the city’s records do not show a recorded MOU creating a binding obligation to construct that leg of roadway. Commissioners expressed agreement that leaving the outdated right-of-way condition in place would likely create an impractical requirement and could produce a road segment that would not connect as originally intended.

The commission will forward its recommendation to the Common Council; a public hearing on the amendment could be scheduled for Oct. 21, according to staff.