Preschool Proposal Paves Way for Controversy

Ozaukee Christian School officials are hopeful an open house with neighbors next week will be the necessary forum to address concerns about traffic and parking if the group were to open a preschool inside .

School Administrator Kris Austin as well as Friedens Senior Pastor Brandon Lemons spoke to Port officials at Tuesday night's Common Council meeting about the proposal — which the planning commission had already approved — but were met by neighbors concerned about traffic issues the school would bring.

"We love Friedens … I feel like, we don’t want to be negative. However, it is a residential neighborhood and I’d like to protect the integrity of the neighborhood," said Stacy Berg, who lives at 431 N. Milwaukee St. "I’m concerned with traffic, (and noise) ... On a daily basis — that would probably be something that would be detrimental to our residential feel as a neighborhood."

Austin said the school would be small, with only about 10 to 12 students allowed to enroll, and would only take place during the morning on weekdays. There would be the potential for additional growth with more classrooms added, however Austin did not have an estimate as to how big the school could get then — and didn't expect that to happen any time soon. Plus, she said, the longterm goal would be to eventually have the preschool held at the school's current location in Saukville.

Ald. Paul Neumyer said he was not against the idea of the preschool, but he also did think addressing the issue of traffic before moving forward is extremely important.

"I think we went a little too fast with the senior center and we ran into a buzz saw with the neighbors who felt we weren’t open to their suggestions," he said, adding he would suggest that the Port Washington Police Department be involved in assessing the traffic.

From 1992 to 1995  the church was home to the school's K through 8th-grade program, and had about 50 students, and the council plans to ask the police department to see if there was an increase in traffic complaints during that period of time.

Still, that didn't change Berg's opinion.

"Talking to me about being a good neighbor, I appreciate that. But it doesn’t matter … I apologize … but a daily preschool is something that I will not get behind," Berg said.

The open house will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Friedens, Austin said. 

"We are believing that God's going to open the door for us to make this happen," she said.