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The Brookfield Scene

Janet, a Town of Brookfield resident, has lived in the Elmbrook area for nearly 40 years and is an avid gardener and volunteer. Her blog focuses on the city and town of Brookfield – past, present and future.

Since the 1960s

By Janet Wintersberger
Wednesday, Apr 23 2008, 11:36 AM
My family moved to Elm Grove in the 1960s.  We built our home on farmland.  We moved to the suburbs for a large yard in a quiet neighborhood, away from sidewalks and noise.  The village’s population was about 4000.

There was comparatively little development in Brookfield west of Highland Drive.  Local grocery stores included Grasch Foods, Food Farm (in Elm Grove and at Ruby Isle).  Neither Elmbrook Memorial nor Brookfield Square had been built.

Brookfield has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Bluemound Road exploded with business, complete with sidewalks and street lights.   In recent years, homes have become bigger and lots have become smaller. The “Brookfield Concept” described on the city’s website seems to emphasize open, green space.  Check it out at http://www.cityofbrookfield.com/index.asp?nid=66.  It doesn’t seem to correlate with today’s development.

The housing focus in Brookfield these days seems to be on apartments, condominiums and assisted living facilities.  Have you wondered whether there is sufficient demand for these types of development?
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Comments

Practically Speaking   

Janet, I couldn't agree more. The Brookfield I moved to in 1986 is not the Brookfield I live in now. :(

I have spoken before the Common Council/Plan Commission a few times about the danger of having too many apartments and condominiums in a community, but it just fell on deaf ears. If Capitol Heights is any barometer, it seems demand is not there at this time. Retail vacancies lead me to believe the demand for more retail is not there either.

Seeing that my 1 acre lot is valued at $125,000 leads me to believe single family homes are still in demand, however.

April 24, 2008 8:27 AM

Jeff B   

The brookfield concept you cite has NOTHING to do with the number (or size)of houses, apartments, condos, or development. It only specifies the desire to maintain properties and not put up property divisions. I wonder if at some point you need an assisted living facility you will chose one in brookfield that you seem to be against. Where do you want the people that need these facilities to go?

April 24, 2008 10:51 AM

Brookfield1947   

Well Jeff, I think they need to do a better job of spacing commercial/high density from residential.  That's the point, scenes like that in the picture are now contained to pockets within Brookfield while surrounded by increasingly heavy traffic encouraged by the infrastrucure expansion that the city seems to welcome.  I think city officials need to broaden their perspective and look at other communities, even local like Elm Grove where they have maintained the quaintness, almost surreal fealing of being in the country while still in the city.  The way Brookfield is headed it's just another bland suburb with strip malls and dense residential, no differentiation from the rest.  I've lived all over the country and just hate to see a community like Brookfield lose its identitiy for purposes that are very short sighted.

April 26, 2008 8:35 AM

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