Waukesha Administrative Review Appeals Board Hearing on Address Appeal - June 24, 2026
Waukesha Administrative Review Appeals Board Hearing on Address Appeal - June 24, 2026
The Administrative Review Appeals Board of the City of Waukesha held a hearing on June 24, 2026, at 7:15 PM, to consider an appeal by the Boucher Group regarding the assignment of an address for their Nissan dealership. The board unanimously reversed the city's decision to assign 1610 Manhattan Drive, allowing the dealership to retain the address 1451 East Moreland Boulevard.
Discussion Items
- Boucher Group Presentation (Appellant): Attorney Daniel Neinheis, Vice President Pat Myers, and consultant Chad Chemnitz argued that the 1451 address has been used for the Nissan dealership for over 40 years and that the building was designed and oriented toward Moreland Boulevard, with direct access and signage. They emphasized that changing the address would cause undue burden, including disruption of franchise agreements with Nissan, digital marketing, and legal contracts, and that the city's safety concerns were unfounded, citing other properties on Moreland with no direct access that retain Moreland addresses.
- City Staff Presentation: Charlie Griffith and Brad Bloomer (GIS Coordinator) presented the history of addressing on the site. They stated that 1610 Manhattan Drive was assigned in 1990 to the existing building, and the 1451 address was retired when the old building was demolished. They argued that the building's primary access is from Manhattan Drive, that the conditional use permit and building permit referenced 1610, and that safety concerns exist due to vehicles blocking drive lanes. A letter from the fire marshal was also submitted.
- Board Questions: Board members asked about the driveway alignment, signage visibility, and the application of addressing guidelines, particularly regarding properties like 1537 East Moreland that retain a Moreland address despite indirect access.
Key Outcomes
- The board, after deliberating in closed session, unanimously voted to reverse the city's decision to assign 1610 Manhattan Drive as the address for the Boucher Nissan dealership. The board found that the city's decision was arbitrary, that no credible health or safety risk was demonstrated, and that changing the address would impose an undue burden on the appellant. The board relied on Section 16 C2 of the addressing guidelines, which allows grandfathering of addresses when a structure was constructed with valid permits and no safety risk exists. The board will issue a written decision in the coming weeks.
Meeting Transcript
It's June 24th, 2026. This is a meeting of the administrative review appeals board for the city of Waukesha. The board members are all present: Richard Hanson, Megan Locke, and Sarah Bondar. So we have the quorum and we're able to proceed. This is the hearing of an appeal of an assignment of a an address that was brought by the Boucher group. The hearing today is in the nature of a sorcerary review. As I've explained to the parties already, the uh proceedings today are not formal. The strict rules of evidence do not apply. The idea is to find out what the facts are, not worry about uh strict rules of procedure. However, uh the state law says that they are not allowed to make a decision based solely on unsubstantiated hearsay. Um I need to make an announcement before we begin, since we are subject to the open meetings law, that we will be going into closed session later on to deliberate pursuant to WISTAT section 19.85 sub-1A. Uh the board will deliberate the decision after the parties have put in their cases, and uh will then reconvene into open session to uh make an announcement of a decision or to make an announcement that a written decision will be forthcoming. Uh we will go in uh the the order of the presentation here today will be uh the boucher group, the appellant putting in their uh evidence first, and then the city staff will uh proceed with theirs. Each party will have an opportunity to ask questions of the other. Uh it looks as though uh the city is appearing by staff members. Uh we've got Charlie Griffith and uh Brad Bloomer. Um could we note for the record the appearance for the Boucher group, please? Yes. Uh Attorney Daniel Neinheis, the general counsel with the Bucheado Group. I'm sorry, I should have told you that there's a button on the side of the base of the microphone there. Okay. If the green light is on, then you're good to go. It's on. Um, Dan Heist, General Counsel of the Buciato Group. I'm here with our Vice President Pat Myers and Chad Chemnitz from PCI Professional Consultants Inc. Thank you. Uh we will swear in witnesses if you're going to present witness testimony, and we will mark exhibits as we go so that they're identified in the record. So we will begin, unless anybody has any questions about procedure. Uh we will begin with the presentation by the Boucher group. Thank you, attorney running. I appreciate that. I don't know if you all have received a copy of our appeal. Yeah, good. I'd like to it's been marked as Boucher Exhibit one. I need to remind you that since we're recording this, and that will be our record of the hearing that you always need to be speaking into a microphone. Okay. Either at the uh, yeah, right. I would just like to offer it into the hearing evidence. Okay, and that's marked as Boucher exhibit one. And you have those so I can refer to it. Thanks. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you for your public service serving on these uh on these boards. It's a it's important. Um this is vitally important to our group, or we wouldn't have brought you here today. So it's extremely important for us. Um, and the sole issue for you to decide is 1451 East Moreland Boulevard the proper address for our Nissan dealership that has been on the parcel of land there for the last 40 some odd years as a Nissan dealership. We've owned and operated that dealership for the last 20 years, so it's always carried the 1451 East Moreland address. All right. So we're we're asking you guys to allow us to keep that 1451 East More than Boulevard address.
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