MEQUON, Wis. — Mequon is planning a comprehensive revitalization of its civic campus that could dramatically alter or eliminate some of the community's longtime recreational spaces.
The city hosted an open house Wednesday evening to present initial 30-year master plan concepts for the new "Mequon Commons," revealing that significant improvements to the civic campus may require difficult choices between preserving the baseball field or the pool.
Of the six options presented to the community, only one preserves and upgrades both the pool and baseball field. Other proposals eliminate one or the other, or both, in favor of adding more community gathering spaces, plazas and parks.
Kevin Clark, who works with the Lakota Group, the city's contractor for the planning, says it is hard to include everything, given the relatively small size of the campus.
"Those pieces are hard to fit together on the site with the library and city hall also being there," Clark said. "I think you try to find the most value for the most people. To me, this should be multi-generational."
The potential changes have sparked concern among supporters of Rennicke Field, a decades-old baseball facility named after Homestead High School's legendary coach Don Rennicke.
Scott Rennicke, the coach's son, understands both the attachment to the field and the inevitability of change.
Watch: Rennicke family reacts to proposed changes to Mequon's historic baseball diamond
"I look at the Bradley Center. It's gone. County Stadium is gone. It can happen," Scott Rennicke said. "The ball field's never been in better shape. When I was playing on it, I would have killed to have what they have now."
The community has been actively engaged in the planning process since February, when residents first raised concerns to TMJ4 at our Mequon Let's Talk listening session.
The Mequon Common Council will make the final decision on the civic campus plans. According to the mayor, the proposals will be presented to the council next month, though any actual changes remain well down the road.
"For us, it's maintaining the ball field. For others, it's going to be improving the pool. For others, it's going to be open-air concept," Scott Rennicke said. “[I] wouldn’t be happy… We’d love to see it continue, but we’re not going to stand in the way of progress."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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