Neighbors won't oppose Lisbon incorporation

Posted: June 2, 2009

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Robert Williams - Lisbon Town Supervisor

Robert Williams - Lisbon Town Supervisor

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Whatever roadblocks supporters of Lisbon's incorporation as a village might find in their way, opposition from their neighbors won't be among them.

Sussex Village President Tony Lapcinski said he didn't think Lisbon's incorporation would have "any effect on Sussex in any way."

George Hall and Erich Schmidtke of the Wisconsin Department of Administration told Lisbon officials and incorporation supporters at a two-hour meeting May 19 that the department, which oversees the incorporation process, would look at whether incorporation would leave Sussex "landlocked" – unable to expand beyond its current borders to expand its tax base and service its residents.

"We're landlocked already," Lapcinski said in an interview last week.

He pointed out that the border agreement between the two communities allows Sussex to expand into land now part of Lisbon (about 1,200 acres, according to Lisbon Town Engineer John Stigler), "so we're landlocked regardless of where the borders are ultimately fixed."

The boundary agreement requires Sussex and Lisbon to abide by its provisions regardless of any change in Lisbon's status. It also forbids the village from opposing any efforts by the town to make Lisbon a village or a city.

Lisbon has a similar border agreement with the Village of Merton, and Lisbon's other neighbors – Menomonee Falls, the two Pewaukees and Hartland – have not indicated any interest in annexing town land or opposing any change in Lisbon's status.

Menomonee Falls Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said he expected the committee to be up and running and all issues between the town and village resolved long before Lisbon's incorporation quest is settled.

"From our experience with Richfield," he added, "incorporation is a long and arduous process." (Richfield lies across Menomonee Falls' and Waukesha County's northern border.)

He noted that Menomonee Falls did not object to the incorporation of Richfield as a village and he did not "foresee any objections" to Lisbon's incorporation either.

"Our intention is to work cooperatively with Lisbon officials," he said in an interview last week. "We have no intention to expand our borders."

The citizen effort to incorporate Lisbon might face more hurdles from the impact of current economic conditions on the town than from any external objections.

Town Chairman Matt Gehrke has said he will not support town funding for the effort unless he can be assured that the petition effort is likely to succeed.

He also said at the May 19 meeting that more research is needed on several issues before the Town Board can decide what role – if any – it will play in the efforts to incorporate.

The group organizing the incorporation drive – led by Denise Wenger and former supervisors Wendy Landry and Bob Williams – wants the town to have the power to make land-use and zoning decisions on its own without requiring approval by the county or neighboring villages.

Williams said in an interview last week that Lisbon could more easily encourage economic development as a village because incorporated municipalities have the authority to create TIF districts and towns to do not. He said the Village of Lisbon could expand its tax base, lightening the tax burden on homeowners, with industrial parks that included "light industry and business offices – like Sussex has done."

Landry said the group plans to raise the funds necessary – perhaps as much as $300,000 – to hire lawyers and consultants to persuade the state and circuit court to allow the incorporation effort to proceed to a referendum and to pay the Department of Administration's $25,000 filing fee.

Some of the benefits of village status might be more psychological than material. Once Lisbon incorporates, Williams said, "Our neighbors' attitudes would change. We wouldn't be the ugly stepchild anymore."

Staff writer Kelly Smith contributed to this report.