'These Types of People' Comment Doesn't Stop Apartment Building Approval

After three years of fighting to build two four-unit apartment buildings for people with disabilities on Summit Avenue, Hebron House of Hospitality executive director Bernie Juno celebrated by giving her supporters a hug after the Plan Commission approved final plans for the two buildings Wednesday night.

Several neighbors fought the apartments – without success – with concerns about the people who will live in the apartment buildings.

“I am very happy, I am joyful and relieved,” Juno said. “It has been a very long process and we are very grateful.”

The apartment project is for people with disabilities who have proved they can handle independent living. Hebron House has support services in place to work with the eight residents that will live in the apartments.

Construction is planned to begin this summer after the Plan Commission unanimously approved the project.

But it wasn’t without its difficulties.

Hebron House has made many changes after initial criticism from neighbors. Alderman Joe Pieper, who represents the district, publicly thanked the housing organization for making changes that would help ease concerns of neighbors. He also thanked the neighbors for providing input that helped improve the plans.

Even Mayor Jeff Scrima, who was not pleased with the proposal in August, voted to approve the apartment project.

Some neighbors, however, were less than pleased.

One woman, who lives on Lemira Avenue, described the neighborhood as “quiet, decent.” She doesn’t want that to change by adding “indigents” or “homeless” people to the neighborhood.

“You people, I don’t know what you are trying to do by building this structure,” she said. “I don’t want to live in a neighborhood where I am going to have a squad car parked in my neighborhood every single day. … Introducing this type of thing is just going to create problems. … They have problems? What kind of problems? There is a park right across the street. Am I going to bring my grandkids there? Heck no, if there is these types of people living there.”

Another woman questioned the level of supervision the apartment residents would have.

“We have two group homes the way it is all the way,” the woman said, adding she sees police at the group homes frequently. “Come on, are we going to have more cops on Summit Avenue than we have now?”

Neighbors were also upset that they were not immediately given a notification about the meeting, although city rules do not require the notification. And the comments brought a quick chide from Scrima.

“We do not discriminate, and we accept all people in the City of Waukesha,” Scrima said.

Waukesha Patch readers on Facebook also defended the project against the comments at the meeting.

“Many people with disabilities are productive members of their communities, but may not be able to hold a job that pays high enough wages to be able to afford decent housing and food without some assistance,” one Waukesha Patch Facebook reader wrote.

The Rev. David Simmons of St. Matthias Episcopal Church tried to calm some of the neighbors’ fears.

“We are not talking about building another homeless shelter,” he said. “We are talking about people with physical disabilities.”

Juno added that Hebron House is looking for permanent housing solutions. Only one person will live in each unit, she said.

“We are asking to build eight units of permanent housing,” Juno said. “People can live there for a year. People can live there for the rest of their life. … It is called multi-family housing, but this is only for single adults.”