Mequon’s Open Spaces

There are many things that make Mequon great: its outstanding schools, its low taxes, its diverse housing stock (including some very upscale homes), its array of restaurants and shops and its community events. Together, these make for a unique community.

However, the coup de gras that knocks out its competitors is its amazing open spaces. Mequon is adjacent to the largest city in the state, yet much of Mequon has a rural feel. Part of Mequon is actually rural. We have some beautiful farms and, hopefully, many will remain for generations. However, Mequon has also planned for the future.

The Village of Grafton is 5.1 square miles. Within Mequon, there are approximately 5.1 square miles of land that is permanently preserved (about 3,100 to 3,200 acres). That is about 11% of the City’s total land mass. Those 5.1 square miles do not include our golf courses, the green areas around the high school and MATC, the setback of homes and businesses from roads, wetlands, private soccer facilities and other green areas.

Mequon’s 5.1 square miles of green space is made up of nature preserves, parks and land subject to conservation easements. Click here to see a map (there are a few more properties that should be marked on the map).

Mequon is unlikely to purchase much in the way of additional parks. However, Mequon can balance future development with green space.

Drive north on Wauwatosa Road to the area between Bonniwell and Pioneer Roads.  The entire eastern side of that mile of Wauwatosa Road, and three-quarters of the western side of the road, look like perfect places for future subdivisions. The east side alone has almost 100 acres of open space. What many people do not realize is that all of that land is fully developed. Nothing more will be built there. What you see is permanently preserved.  The developers of Hawks Landing, Hawks Bluff, Legacy Hills and Twin Oaks subdivisions put the home sites in a small part of the land they were developing, and deed restricted the remaining land.

Similar arrangements exist, for example, on the south side (County Line Road) and north side (Donges Bay Road) of Huntington Park subdivision, on the south side (Highland Road) of Cobblestone subdivision and on the north side of Ville du Parc subdivision (Highland Road). These are remarkably different subdivisions, but all of them left green space along major roads, giving the area a rural feel.

It would not be right to take away property owners’ ability to develop their properties or to make all developments fit one pattern. And, new development keeps a community healthy. However, Mequon should balance future development with the preservation of green space.  It might not be right for every development (depending on location and the attributes of the property), but it is right for many, particularly in the un-sewered areas (north and west sides) of the city.