Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

Shoppes at Wyndham Village/Temple of Target scheduled to open. Anticipated asphalt temperature at ribbon cutting: 112 degrees

The temple of Target, originally uploaded by johnruexp.

I imagine we'll soon see a big gong installed on top of this monstrosity so the native inhabitants (some sort of parking lot cult) can summon King Kong.

We get what we deserve.

Ribbon cutting for the Shoppes is July 7th. Target opens on July 24. Whether human sacrifice is scheduled for either event has not yet been announced.

UPDATE: For a look at yet another local monstrosity proposed by a different developer, be sure to visit Metro Milwaukee Today.

They really have our number, don't they?

Has Fountains of Franklin peed on local blogger's lawn?

ABOVE: A recent picture of the Fountains of Franklin site. Or an old one - - it doesn't really matter, as nothing has changed.

How does one begin to dissect the folly of the latest manifestation of Republican senate aide Kevin Fischer’s fixation with the baby-step progress of Fountains of Franklin?

True - nothing is going on over there. I've had a little fun at Fountains' expense as well; there's no great glory in tagging a slow-moving beast, however. But Mr. Fischer seems deeply, personally offended by the lack of earth-moving equipment on the site. He is asking the city of Franklin for no less than “an analysis of the monthly lost tax revenue to the city of Franklin caused by the continued dormant site at 56th and Rawson. How much tax revenue is it costing the city of Franklin each and every month that site fails to operate with open businesses?”

He equates this request, you see, with the conjecture that Alderman Sohns' disastrous grandstand play wherein he displayed property values and taxes for Franklin bloggers was prepared by a city employee. Therefor, thinks Mr. Fischer, this same employee can run some numbers for him as well.

This is not a matter of retrieving numbers from a database, however. Evidently Mr. Fischer imagines an Excel spreadsheet sort of thing that the city of Franklin can fire up on their Dell computers (because I just know they don’t have Macs at city hall) and spit out a neat and tidy number that somehow perfectly conjectures not only what kind of businesses would be operating in Fountains of Franklin, but exactly how much revenue they are taking in per month: “By gar - - that idle land is costing us $7,267.54 per day, and $7,976.21 on double-coupon days! Let’s get a Walgreens planted, stat!”

The answer, perhaps, is an evening's session on the computer game SimCity. Punch in some data, do some terraforming, get rid of pesky plan commission input and UDI nonsense, add permanent tax cuts - DONE. Here's what Fountains of Franklin should look like in, say, 2010:

Will you just LOOK at the tax revenue we're losing as Fountains stands idle! No wonder Mr. Fischer is typing with such righteous ferver and purpose! Compare to the "before" photo:

Thank goodness for Mr. Fischer's vigilance, born as it is out nothing more than a pure and overwhelming concern for his community.

(Pause as laughter subsides....)

Fortunately, since "just a concerned citizen" Mr. Fischer has begrudgingly emerged from stealth mode (we are now told in his blog bio - - though not in print - - that he is an employee of state senator Mary Lazich, but only after I admonished the concealment) readers can fairly easily supply context. His employer has received (and undoubtedly hopes to continue to receive) financial contributions from Mark Carstensen, the developer of the troubled, no-announced-tenants Target-Shoppes at Wyndham Village (that's the one I fixate on, but I wear my bias on my sleeve), which is a direct competitor of what is planned for Fountains of Franklin. Nothing wrong with that, but smart businessmen don't lay out dough without expecting results. For her part, Senator Lazich has delivered, writing in support of Carstensen’s development sight unseen. She's a little inaccurate, however, in her effusive 1/6/07 letter to Secretary Frank Bussalacchi of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation:

I am pleased to add my support for the project to the unanimous support off [sic] the City of Franklin Plan Commission and Common Council.

Not unanimous. Plan Commissioner Kevin Haley voted against the development's crummy site plan - - hence, I submit, his momentary (more on that later) ouster from the commission.

So, bad for Fountains of Franklin is good for Carstensen and Shoppes at Wyndham Village. You don't think he'd like the tenants that are talking to Fountains to reconsider and come over to the currently Shoppes-less Shoppes at Wyndham Village? (How's this for a sales pitch: "Hey, Azana Spa - wouldn't you love to be located in the Target parking lot? it's, uh, really warm in the Summer!")

So, here's an idea: Plant seeds of doubt in the competing development. The only question is: Do Mr. Fischer’s marching orders come via fax, email, or over the phone? Bluetooth receiver in his ear? Bike messenger?

On the other side of the "methinks he protests too much" continuum is Fountains of Franklin's de facto champion, Greg Kowalski. His reaction to Mr. Fischer's post is virtually a Fountains press release. Having met with Fountains developer Dave Hintzman and apparently made privy to some Top Secret Information, Mr. Kowalski appears to have embraced the project and takes criticism of it somewhat personally. 

Who said municipal planning has to be dull?

Boomgaard: Relax - "professionals" have the situation in hand

The May 22nd Franklin edition of the NOW community paper printed a letter to the editor from Casper Green. As I've noted here previously, Mr. Green is a familiar fixture at various city meetings, keeping tabs on issues and reporting back to the senior community. Deservedly so, he was inducted into the Milwaukee County Senior Hall of Fame this year; to call him an asset to the Franklin community is quite an understatement. If anyone has earned the right to publicly register an opinion, it's him.

Mr. Green is not, in other words, simply an otherwise-disengaged attention-craver lobbing spitballs from the peanut gallery.

The grain of salt ...

I recall a conversation I had with Mr. Green almost a year ago regarding Shoppes at Wyndham Village development, and I was left with the overwhelming impression that he nurtures almost unshakable faith in "the professionals" and almost anyone in city government. The mayor "assured him" that the Wyndham Target would be "best in the state"; that was good enough for Mr. Green. He said of Doug Wheaton, Franklin’s Director of Economic Development: “He’s sharp. He could have taken lots of other jobs; he’s a lawyer. You heard his remarks, how he recommended going ahead. And he has nothing to gain from saying that.” That sealed the deal for Mr. Green.

I was especially taken with his response when I brought up the poor Shoppes at Wyndham Village site plan - - a layout that is distinctly unfriendly to persons with limited mobility such as the elderly. Mr. Green took this as a personal attack on Mark Carstensen, the developer of the project and, Mr. Green noted, a generous contributer to programs for the elderly:

"People fight him with excuses, not reasons," he said.

“You said 'they' fight him. Not 'they' fight the development?" I pointed out. "You said 'they' are actually fighting Mark Carstensen the person.” Mr. Green clarified that he didn’t mean to make that implication.

But then, later in our conversation: “When someone is against Mark, we …”.

I interrupted to call attention what he'd said; “It appears that you feel that a criticism of the development or elements of the development is personal criticism against your friend Mark Carstensen.” Once again, he assured me that that was not the case. Yet I could not help feel that, in Mr. Green’s eyes, if you hinder the progress of Shoppes at Wyndham Village, you hinder his friend personally.

Mr. Green's "Boomgaard" letter again reflects a rock-steady faith in "the professionals." Apparently, membership on a civic committee and/or employment at a PR firm(!) bestows special powers of perception that we should defer to without question. To wit (with emphasis added by me):

The name Boomgaard is thought, by professionals, to be a name which would attract businesses from all over the world...

In this case, they have started rumors that are not true and have no foundation, according to those on the committee and the Zizzo Group.

The committee expects to eventually attract $2 billion worth of tax-paying businesses to the corridor with only $300,000 budgeted for advertising.

...[M]aybe instead of second-guessing professionals, we amateurs ought to pull in our horns and allow the name to be used.

Let me, with all due respect, remind Mr. Green of some other great (and expensive) ideas dreamed up by professionals:

New Coke
Edsel
Miller Clear Beer
Betamax
Titanic - UNSINKABLE!
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge
The Green Bay Packers game plan in Super Bowl XXXII

All designed and conceived by "professionals." Some "second-guessing" would have been welcome in retrospect, yes?

Here's Mr. Green's letter from the FranklinNOW Public Forum:

Boomgaard! After culling through hundreds of names, that is the name chosen by a steering committee of two Franklin residents and two Oak Creek residents for the South 27th Street corridor. The Zizzo Group, a professional advertising and public relations firm, was also involved.

Now the second-guessing has begun.

I've lived in Franklin for 24 years. I've accepted leadership responsibility in helping run organizations, so I can tell you that no matter what decision one makes, second-guessers show up. Seldom do these second-guessers take on a responsibility of any magnitude, but to hear them talk you'd think they've been around the world at least twice and seen everything and done everything.

I happen to know, very well, the two Franklin men - Ted Grintjes and Jim Rhiner - who are on the 27th Street Corridor committee. I do not know the two from Oak Creek; however, one can bet they are also of upstanding character.

And one would think all four people are concerned citizens who are giving of their time for the good of both cities. These people have given thousands of hours of their time. Yet, when their committee comes up with a name, someone has to complain.

The name Boomgaard is thought, by professionals, to be a name which would attract businesses from all over the world, but that doesn't matter to the second-guessers as they shower committee members with ridicule. How sad.

What bothers me most, personally, is the way second-guessers work. In this case, they have started rumors that are not true and have no foundation, according to those on the committee and the Zizzo Group.

Yes, the name Boomgaard is different, but certainly not offensive.

The committee expects to eventually attract $2 billion worth of tax-paying businesses to the corridor with only $300,000 budgeted for advertising. If the committee is successful, it would be a very small price to pay.

The name Boomgaard is strange to those of us who have lived here all our lives. Some of us have never gone outside the United States and maybe have not even ventured outside of Wisconsin. But if we intend to further 27th Street's long-term image and status, maybe instead of second-guessing professionals, we amateurs ought to pull in our horns and allow the name to be used.

Casper T. Green

Franklin

Franklin's Plan Commission now useless by design

ABOVE: It's ok, we planned it that way....

Allow me to begin by quoting a blog post from last September:

On the Plan Commission, Kevin Haley has been an ongoing beacon of wisdom. Never afraid to express the truth, no matter how unpopular, his was the sole dissenting vote against approving Target's building. After praising Target's efforts and execution, Haley said he would nonetheless have to oppose the motion:

My concerns are with the big picture, the quality. The Civic Center District guidelines tell us that this is supposed to set a higher standard. This is the standard by which all of Franklin will be evaluated in terms of architecture, site planning, many amenities. You did a great job on spiffing up the building, but as I tried to make apparent in our previous meetings, I have issues with the site plan, with the massing of the buildings, the fact that many of the third and fourth sides are very plain.

Haley is not soothed by a pretty facade; he's aware of the root of the site plan problem: Everything is built around the self-sufficient Target. This will ultimately be the undoing of the entire development as a true public space and commercial success beyond the Target parking lot border.

Mayor Taylor noted after Haley's comments:

Commissioner Haley, I’ve said it before -- I very much respect that you are sticking to your guns and principles. And I understand that you’ve made it no secret for some time that perhaps this could be done or that could be done. I do appreciate your position, and I also very much appreciate you being a plan commissioner.

As should we all.

Well, forget all that.

News comes to me that Mayor Tom Taylor has removed Kevin Haley from the Franklin Plan Commission. His three-year term has been given to present one-year appointment Shari Corrigan Hanneman. No replacement for the vacant chair has been announced as of now.
 

Kevin Haley was, without question, the single member of the Plan Commission who could be counted on to advocate for the COMMUNITY, understand the site plans, and vote with his conscience.

It was Haley who recognized the bald cynicism of Mark Carstensen's  11th hour addition of a single-family residence behind the Target loading dock of Shoppes at Wyndham Village - - after Carstensen had asked for and gotten re-zoning that would not permit such a dwelling in that location. (Incredibly, even as Carstensen's lucrative development endangered this family's property, he was able to make them think it was the Plan Commission they needed to fear!)

Kevin Haley was often a burr in developers' saddle, and - - barring an announcement that he's being named to a consequential planning post I've not yet heard of - - he has been removed so the rubber stamp can fall more efficiently.

In the days ahead I will be posting the backgrounds of each remaining Plan Commissioner. Prepare to be underwhelmed.

In the meantime, realize that one sitting plan commissioner, George Torres, was comfortable writing a letter dated 1/2/07 to WISDOT in support of Carstensen's Shoppes at Wyndham Village before seeing any definitive plans and before Carstensen's development had appeared before him in his role as plan commissioner - - a role in which Torres would and should be expected to show no positive predisposition toward a project that has not yet demonstrated compliance to the city's requirements.

Download TorresLetter.pdf

An especially cuddly passage from Torres' letter:

Mr. Carstensen has also proven to be committed to ensuring his developments meet all State and local requirements. He remains open and receptive to ideas and suggestions that must be met in order to allow his projects to move ahead.

Really?

Dateline 6/4/07: At the eleventh hour, Carstensen foists a single-family residence on the land he had re-zoned to City Civic Center District by making it seem as though the city would be the bad guy if the family had to leave. Meanwhile, the city of Franklin has on file a letter of permission from the homeowners dated 2/13/07 for Carstensen to apply for a Site Plan And Certified Map approval on their behalf. The letter states plainly: "Mr. Carstensen is currently under contract with us for the purchase of the property." (My emphasis). The city was clearly fooled.

Dateline 6/7/07: I report the Common Council's rubber-stamping of an odd boundary re-draw - "odd geometry," I call it - on the Shoppes at Wyndham Village site plan. I make a prediction borne out below.

Dateline 11/23/07: Carstensen  agrees to pay $46,000 to avoid a federal lawsuit over the destruction of wetlands at the site Shoppes at Wyndham Village.

Dateline 1/12/08: This blog unearths the agreement between Target and Carstensen that basically laughs off the City Civic Center District ambitions Carstensen touted when attempting to get rezoned so his project could go forward. Even the mayor was unaware of the document's existence.

How can a Plan Commissioner hold a developer to his/her promises and responsibilities when he's already on record as ready to rubber stamp whatever strip mall the developer spits out?

Kevin Haley asked the hard questions and raised issues that served the interests of this community and its future rather than that of the developers and their next Big Deal. He was the Plan Commissions' greatest asset.

And now Mayor Taylor has removed Mr. Haley from the Franklin Plan Commission.

More on this later.

Third place coffeehouses and coworking sites as economic development tools

Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist from Florida (and author of the book The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community) writes about the importance of informal public gathering places: "Houses alone do not a community make, and the typical subdivision proved hostile to the emergence of any structure or space utilization beyond the uniform houses and streets that characterized it." Oldenberg argues that "third places" are central to local democracy and community vitality.

But can a community MONETIZE this vitality?

One major commercial development here in Franklin,  Shops at Wyndham Village, has already cynically sold out the promise of a true community space - - in what is supposed to be Franklin's City Civic Center District - - as illustrated in restrictions listed in this document, which the City of Franklin had no knowledge of until I brought it to their attention. (Wyndham Village's poor design is compounded by the inclusion of a DRIVE-THRU Starbucks!)

Missed opportunity, to say the least.

As I've noted here before: Why not encourage, through subsidies and other incentives, LOCAL cafes and coffee houses that support a growing population of entrepreneurs and telecommuters as coworking sites while at the same time provide commercial and community vitality in our public spaces? The area surrounding City Hall and the Library is crying out for amenities that would take advantage of the popularity of the Library, proximity to Legend Park, and connections to new commercial developments at Wyndham Village and Legend Creek.

Time to think CREATIVELY.

From Neil Takemoto at CoolTown Studios (emphasis added):

I first profiled Tryst back in 2003 as a popular coffeehouse third place in Adams Morgan, Washington DC. But five years later, ten years after it first opened, it's not only become a neighborhood institution, but it really should be seen as a contemporary model for job creation.

Here's the big picture:

1. A majority of big businesses come from small businesses, and small businesses are started by entrepreneurs... from their homes.

2. Many (not all) entrepreneurs who tried working exclusively from home will tell you one thing - it sucks. No human interaction, no place for meetings, no escape from spending most of your life stuck at home.

3. Coworking sites are ideal, but are often too pricey for the budding entrepreneur.

4. Thus, enter coffeehouses with free wifi and staff trained not to bug you too often if you've decided to park there for most of the workday. The good news is they're packed with entrepreneurs all day. The bad news is that they're not very profitable until they leave.

In the meantime cities are investing tons of capital in contrived business incubators that often fail. Why not redirect that capital into economic development tax breaks for coffeehouses that provide evidence of effectively acting as free workplaces for entrepreneurs?

On the one hand, Tryst makes no money before 6 pm. On the other hand one can't get a seat during the day. It seems to be an economic travesty not to have enough workplaces for the neighborhood entrepreneurs. Proactive cities will overcome this, but it obviously hasn't happened in Adams Morgan yet.

See also:

- Milwaukee's Bucketworks coworker site

- Wausau's CitizenDesk coworker site

- the Coworking Community Blog.

- Coworking wiki

- BusinessWeek: "Where the Coffee Shop Meets the Cubicle" and photo profiles

- Sprawled Out: The "Paradox of Sociability" and "The Third Place"

- Sprawled Out: "Are we turning into self-absorbed silos with little to no time to care about others?" Getting back "the third place"

 

Time for an audio upgrade at city hall

I often get cassette tapes of city meetings. First thing I do is DIGITIZE them to make them practical - - no one has time to wind through analog linear tape to find that instance when, for instance, developer Mark Carstensen promised two-story buildings in Shoppes at Wyndham Village that are now forbidden by semi-secret agreement with Target .

I've been prodding the Franklin city clerk to make the jump to a digital recorder, thereby eliminating the need to actually pause the proceedings in order to flip the cassette (a familiar ritual at city hearings).

Add to that requisition some additional (and better) microphones.

From Franklinnow.com:

Audio vacancy nearly halts construction plans for hotel

By JOHN NEVILLE
jneville@cninow.com

Posted: Jan. 30, 2008

The Franklin Plan Commission last week averted a construction delay on the city's first upscale hotel.

Foundation work on the $10 million Staybridge Suites extended-stay hotel is scheduled to begin next week in the 9500 block of South 27th Street, but a gap in an audiotape from a fall commission meeting could have put that work on hold.

The issue came to light recently when city planning staff noticed a difference between plans submitted by hotel management firm Bricton Group and a site and architecture plan approved last fall by the commission.

The problems originated from a few missing sentences from a Sept. 20 meeting. Mayor and Plan Commission Chairman Thomas Taylor said the culprit was people not speaking into the microphones, not a malfunctioning recording system.

The missing dialogue concerned brick and stone surfaces as part of the hotel design.

In the original plan, the hotel's outside walls did not have enough brick and stone to meet the zoning "preferred" standards for the South 27th Street overlay district, City Planning Manager Joel Dietl said.

Within its purvey, the Plan Commission allowed those masonry materials to be relocated from the hotel's interior courtyard to north and south walls on the exterior facade.

Although Bricton Senior Vice President P. Michael Cohen and Plan Commissioner Shari Hanneman recalled having a conversation about the switch, it wasn't recorded or transcribed. City Attorney Jesse Wesolowski said there was no record of the conversation.

The issue prompted Bricton representatives to request clarification of the commission's OK of site and architectural plans.

Commissioners initially considered putting the issue on its February meeting agenda so the site plan amendment could be considered, but Cohen said preliminary construction would have to be halted for weeks, putting their projected summer opening in jeopardy.

After about 45 minutes of discussion, the commission unanimously passed a motion to eventually have city building inspectors verify relocation of brick and stone from the courtyard to the hotel's north and south facades to ensure the project is done to the commission's standards.

The commission's action allows an early construction permit to be obtained, but Dietl said Bricton has to prove that it has made the switch before a full-fledged construction permit would be issued, which would allow work on the building to begin.

 

John Neville can be reached at (262) 446-6609.

The city and developer on one side of the table, the citizens on the other: Shoppes/Target update

As I posted last week: on Tuesday the 15th Mayor Taylor invited to a meeting some concerned citizens (mainly homeowners from the Wyndham Hills subdivision) regarding the document I'd posted that week which outlined the true extent of Target's influence on the Shoppes at Wyndham Village, and contained material contrary to assurances made by developer Mark Carstensen when he was pitching the project to the city.

I was not invited to the meeting. However, persons present for the meeting gave me some insight into the nature of the gathering.

The physical setup of the room was telling. On one side of the table: Mayor Taylor; a VP from Carstensen Construction and Development; and director of city development Doug Wheaton.

On the other side of the table: Franklin citizens.

Get the not-too-subtle message? And note: No Plan Staff were at the meeting.

The meeting wasn't recorded, so I'm going on the recollections of two people in the room. However, it seems clear that Mayor Taylor called the meeting in direct response to information revealed on this blog. He referred to me repeatedly by name, suggesting that I was "wrong," or that I wasn't being truthful when I said the document in question was not available at Franklin City Hall, or that I should have called him first before letting the public see the document.

What was specifically "wrong" or "mistaken" in my post? A participant in the meeting asked that question directly and could get no answer.

The Mayor seemed to think the document in question ("Operation and Easement Agreement Between Target Corporation and Wyndham Village Retail, LLC for Shoppes of Wyndham Village Shopping Center, Franklin, Wisconsin") was available to the public at Franklin City Hall all along rather than being buried at a County office.

I'd written:

This is a document on file with the Milwaukee County Register'€™s Office. You can't get it at Franklin City Hall, and you can't make an Open Records request for it unless you know it exists

If he still doubts me, I'd be happy to show Mayor Taylor the email I received from the Franklin City Clerk when I made the request on 1/11/08. You see, I knew the document probably wasn't available at Franklin City Hall, but I also knew I'd eventually need to  show someone this particular sentence from the City Clerk's email response to me:

The City does not have an Operation and Easement Agreement between Target and Wyndham Village.  (We have easements with Wyndham Village Retail for sewer, etc., but nothing that is between Target and Wyndham Village Retail.  The only document we have with Target is a Certified Survey Map.)

 Further, Mayor Taylor made it clear in emails he sent in advance of the meeting that he'd never seen the document, and that he knew of no way to get a copy.

The impression conveyed to me from those who attended the meeting was that the unified City of Franklin/Carstensen Developments retort to the contents of the document amounted to nothing more than claiming that Carstensen's people wrote the document - - I guess that's supposed to mitigate the content.

Not as far as I'm concerned - - but, that's for each individual to decide for themselves now that the document is exposed and available to the public. And that's the point here: Transparency. When you have a free flow of information between local government and the public, it makes it much, much harder for developers to play fast and loose with the actual facts when they are in full-on sales mode.

For the record:

• I have never met the Mayor;
• My repeated attempts to sit with Doug Wheaton for a short interview at the outset of this project were repeatedly rejected (and never by Doug Wheaton personally - he tasked Franklin Planning Manager Joel Dietl with keeping me at bay); and
• My calls to Mark Carstensen Construction and Development went unanswered.

So, if I'm "wrong," it's not for lack of trying to get answers and the city's perspective. And, if I'm "wrong," no one has been willing or able to point out what I'm "wrong" about.

Also, I suggest we ask for a show of hands at the next Plan Commission and Common Council meeting: How many people seated at the Big Table were aware of the "Operation and Easement Agreement Between Target Corporation and Wyndham Village Retail, LLC for Shoppes of Wyndham Village Shopping Center, Franklin, Wisconsin" document and its contents before it was revealed on the "Sprawled Out" blog?

And while we have their attention, ask them this: Would you still OK a big-box commercial development in Franklin's "City Civic Center District" if it was presented to you with the Target-mandated restrictions we've now learned about?

Pabst Farms "tweaked": "I didn't want to see people crossing parking lots."

A few cosmetic changes here and there, but Pabst Farms is still big box heaven. On the plus saide, the developer has evidently made some strides in indicating internal roadways and pedestrian walkways through the mall.

"That was one of my concerns," city Planner Jason Gallo said Thursday. "I didn't want to see people crossing parking lots."

[Plans are posted at the Metro Milwaukee Development News blog.]

Not the case here in Franklin. The central feature of Shoppes at Wyndham Village (aka The Target Strip Mall; c'mon, let's be honest here) is a huge parking lot.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Pabst Farms plans tweaked

Shopping area developers drop hotels, move stores back, add small pond

By AMY RINARD
arinard@journalsentinel.com

Oconomowoc - In revised plans submitted Thursday, developers of a proposed shopping mall at Pabst Farms have eliminated two hotels, moved some big-box stores slightly and added a small pond at the corner of I-94 and Highway 67 after city officials objected to the original site plan.

Two weeks ago members of the Plan Commission sent Developers Diversified Realty back to the drawing board. Commissioners concluded that they did not like the way several large big-box stores planned for the I-94/Highway 67 corner turned their backs to the intersection, which is considered a key gateway into the city.

Pabst Farms spokesman Thad Nation said Thursday that the revised plans provide for an attractive entrance not only to the city but to the shopping mall. The I-94/Highway 67 intersection would have considerable landscaping and a large sign that would read "Pabst Farms Oconomowoc."

"This is the gateway to Oconomowoc, and we want to treat it in a way that respects the type of development we're trying to do and the image the city is trying to project," Nation said.

The stores now are back farther from roadways, but the plan still calls for the backs of the buildings to face Highway 67 and the I-94 westbound exit ramp at that corner of the mall, he said. However, he said, the buildings would be built in such a way that each side would be equally attractive.

Developers had told Plan Commission members that the locations of those big-box stores were "sacrosanct" because retailers wanted to be at such a visible spot along major highways.

Commission members also had questioned the proposed height of the two hotels in the previous plan. A variance from the city's zoning code for residential buildings would have been needed to build the two 65-foot-high hotels.

"At this point, they're out of the plan," Nation said of the hotels. "If there's demand in the future, we would come back before the Plan Commission."

In the revised plans, developers have better indicated the system of internal roads and pedestrian walkways through the mall.

"That was one of my concerns," city Planner Jason Gallo said Thursday. "I didn't want to see people crossing parking lots."

New developer, new vision

Developers Diversified took over the mall development after its previous developer, General Growth Properties, bowed out of the project last fall.

In their plan for the more than 1 million-square-foot Pabst Farms Town Centre, Developers Diversified officials proposed what they called a community shopping area along Highway 67 and the westbound I-94 off ramp.

It would feature a string of large and smaller, single-story big-box stores rounding the I-94/Highway 67 corner.

The project's upscale lifestyle shopping area, complete with small lake, would feature specialty shops anchored by three larger stores and a cinema, and would be located behind and slightly east of the big-box stores that would be lined up along the project's most visible area.

A public hearing on the revised mall plan is scheduled for Feb. 7 before the Plan Commission. Commissioners are expected to decide that night whether to advance the plan to the Common Council.

Franklin mayor: Let US see that Wyndham Hills/Target document

As one might expect, residents of the Carstensen-built subdivision across Drexel from the Carstensen-built Shoppes at Wyndham Village commercial center reacted rather negatively to the revelations in the newly unearthed "Operation and Easement Agreement Between Target Corporation and Wyndham Village Retail, LLC for Shoppes of Wyndham Village Shopping Center, Franklin, Wisconsin."

The mayor has scheduled a meeting with Wyndham Hills homeowners association rep Jaime Maliszewski and other concerned parties for 2pm this afternoon. I was forwarded the email from Maliszewski to mayor Tom Taylor that prompted the meeting,  and the mayor's response.

Evidently, the mayor and Franklin plan staff have not seen this document. Mayor Taylor writes:

Please bring with you the entire 82 page document so that I can have the staff review it to see if it is a document that carries weight and is timely. ... It is imperative that the 82 page agreement that has caused so much discussion and accusations be made available for the staff to review if a meaningful discussion is to happen.

It is now 9:45 am. No one has yet contacted me asking for a copy of the document (a hefty 39mb file as a PDF).

Shoppes at Wyndham Village: Handing the keys to Minneapolis, Minnesota

Think I exaggerate?

Well, you won't after taking a little stroll through a document entitled "Operation and Easement Agreement Between Target Corporation and Wyndham Village Retail, LLC for Shoppes of Wyndham Village Shopping Center, Franklin, Wisconsin."

This is a document on file with the Milwaukee County Register'€™s Office. You can't get it at Franklin City Hall, and you can't make an Open Records request for it unless you know it exists (thank you to the tipster).

Also, the cost to procure records from the Milwaukee County Register's Office is $2 for the first page and a dollar for every page after that. This is an eighty-two page document - - not exactly chump change. In other words, the information is "freely available," but it's far from free.

Selling out the city center

As a reminder, the map below (which is from the "Operation Easement Agreement") shows how the Shoppes site is divided between Target and Carstensen (click any image to enlarge):

And below is my now Nostradamus-like map from last June, when I predicted the "Target sell-out":

To read this "Operation and Easement Agreement" is to understand that, in the end, it all comes down to The Deal. All that talk about "doing what's best for the community"€ and "looking to Franklin's future"€ can be bought off for ... well, just over $2.5 million, it turns out.

When Mark Carstensen sold the land and building on the "Target Tract"€ to Target Corporation Property Development, he did more than redefine the relationship of Target to the City of Franklin's nominal City Civic Center ("Our downtown," said mayor Tom Taylor); he gave Target Corporation nominal control of the entire Shoppes at Wyndham Village property.

The "Operation and Easement Agreement" spells out in no uncertain terms that we answer to Target Corporation when it comes to what we want to accomplish with this central "incubator" for future commercial growth. Make all the noise you want about the details of the City Civic Center District as "mandated" by the City of Franklin; this is Target's strip mall now.

Pie in the Sky

While petitioning to change the property from R-8 Multifamily to Commercial, Mark Carstensen appealed to a combination of elitist fears ("You could have -shudder -€“ multi-family apartments in that field!") and pretty pictures of city center commercial developments with multi-story buildings (and no big-box in sight). He asked to be rezoned as a City Civic Center District. "You can count on me to deliver quality and what's best for Franklin."€

There were people who doubted his vision, and they were poo-pooed and called "ungrateful."€ When Target was brought on board, there were additional objections and warnings. The dissenting voices were called "anti-Target" and shouted down as "elitist."

Welcome to the consequences of blind faith.

The Target-Carstensen agreement contains some sensible prohibitations that any retailer would ask for, of course: No establishments selling obscene materials; no "smelly" businesses; no gambling facilities; no head shops.

But that's not all. Under "ARTICLE V  - OPERATION OF THE SHOPPING CENTER," the following uses are prohibited by Target in the entire Shoppes center:

• Bowling alleys
• Skating rinks
• Movie theaters
• Live performance theater
• Bars or taverns
• Any restaurant or other establishment "whose reasonably projected annual gross revenues from the sale of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption exceeds thrity-five percent (35%) of the gross revenues of such business."
• Any training or educational facility including but not limited to: beauty schools, barber colleges, reading rooms, places of instruction or other operations catering primarily to students or trainees rather than to customers; provided, however, this prohibition shall not be applicable to (I) on-site employee training by an occupant incidental to the conduct of Its business at the Shopping Center or (II) up to two nationally recognized learning centers that are commonly located within first-class shopping centers such as a Sylvan Learning Center, Kaplan Learning Center not to exceed 4,000 square feet of Floor Area In the aggregate.
• Any "€œsecond hand"€ or "€œsurplus"€ store

In other words, we are prohibited by our "extended government" in Minneapolis from opening a neighborhood pub, or a restaurant with a lounge (which would be any high-end restaurant), or a live-music venue with an open-mic night, or a locally-owned used-book store (or a Half-Price Books, for that matter), or another martini bar.

We are prohibited from doing this in OUR OWN CITY CIVIC CENTER.

Community-type businesses, and the kind that can be locally owned, are "targeted" for exclusion, see?

Want to open an independent, locally owned coffee shop? Forget it - Target has a Starbucks inside its store; Starbucks will have a (Lover's Lane-clogging) drive-thru outside. And you won't be allowed to offer local live music in your cozy cafe, anyway. Comic and collectibles shop? Nope - that's virtually a "second-hand" store.

Neighborhood pub that you can walk to and from? No, all bars should be out where you have to drive home.

There’s more.

Target decrees that, except for "Building 3," you cannot build a two-story structure in Shoppes at Wyndham Village, contrary to Carstensen'€™s assurances that his buildings were designed for another floor if and when demand dictated. On page 22 of the document, Target slaps that notion down, hard:

No building shall exceed one (1) story (except within Building Area 3 as shown on the Site Plan, within which the building may be two (2) stories, nor the following height restrictions:

(A) On the Target Tract       -45 feet
(B) On the Developer Tract (exclusive of Building Area 3)    -25 feet
(C) Building Area 3   

    (I) Two (2) Story Building    -30 feet
    (II) Any Other Building    -26 feet

So forget the idea of efficient use of space and additional utility by putting offices above commercial. And no living quarters or apartments, either, to create eyes on the street for increased security. And the subdivision across the street's wonderful view of the Target strip mall will never, ever, be relieved by classy storefronts, nor will parking lot noise be abated by the height of handsome two-story buildings facing Drexel. Sprawl enforced.

Got a problem with that? Take it over the border to Minnesota, because we answer to them now.

What about Sendik's?

And what about Sendik's?

Well, plainly the deck is stacked against this particular store in a market that is suddenly flooded with grocery stores. It was bad enough when they were the second Sendik's in Franklin; now they're the third Sendik's in a pretty tight radius, and I have it on good authority that another Sendik's(!) will be announced just to the west of Shoppes.  I haven't even mentioned Woodman's in Oak Creek, which, as a giant, no frills warehouse-style operation, will be a monster in this market.

Add the fact that the Shoppes Sendik's is farthest from a freeway, has poor east-west access, is in a much less dense part of the region, is not pedestrian friendly, and you have tough sledding. Pile on the Target aggressor next door, and you're Mike Holmgren in Green Bay last Saturday (that is to say, eliminated).

Target will sell a great many of the same things you can get at Sendik's, up to and including refrigerated and frozen foods. On top of all the brand names under the sun, Target has an entire private label aimed at health conscious consumers called Archer Farms.  And, as any specialty grocer will tell you, you make your money on those piles of incidentals that shoppers put in their carts along with the nice cut of meat or deli item. Shoppes customers will get their incidentals at Target while picking up tube socks and sneakers.

Consider this: Target Corporate knows all of the above, and their preferred business model is to construct Target Greatlands and SuperTargets - - the Target stores that offer full-service groceries. But Franklin's retail space restrictions wouldn't allow a structure the size of a Super Target or Target Greatland.

What to do, what to do ...

Be patient, that's what. And wave big bucks in front of the developer so he creates - and clings to -  a site plan and property delineations that facilitate the long term plan (see above).

What if you built next to a grocer whose building is attached(!) to your "standard Target"? And what if the square footage of that grocer almost exactly matches the typical square footage that Target allot to groceries in its Super Target and Target Greatland locations?

So much the better if you get the builder to make the grocer's facade look pretty ... familiar.

ABOVE: Shoppes at Wyndham Village Sendik's

BELOW: Target Greatland (photo by John Reed)

If Sendik's begins to feel pressure and needs out, Carstensen will go to the Common Council and say, "You don't want an empty building there, do you? Target needs an exception to the square footage limit."

An alderman might ask: "What about Toys R Us? They want in."

Nope - "Operation and Easement Agreement," page 38, states "No toy store exceeding five thousand (5,000) square feet of Floor Area shall be permitted." Target rules - not Franklin rules.

One particular alderman might say, "You know what would solve all this, buddy? Just let Target annex the building and make a Target GreatLand."

And, bottom line, if that wasn't the plan all along, they would not have included a line in the "Operation and Easement Agreement" that says this:

Couldn't even muster the respect to spell "Sendik's" correctly, much less acknowledge Franklin UDO restriction on retail square footage that clearly prohibits a Super Target in the City Civic Center District.

Another strip mall; more chain stores; more community decay

Those of us who saw this coming are not pleased with being vindicated. Franklin continues to suffer the ills of sprawled development, now further reinforced by this huge missed opportunity:

• Lack of lively public spaces
• Underfunded local infrastructure
• Lack of connectivity
• Overburdened collector streets
• Lack of logical "city center"
• Diminishing sense of community and local identity

But the citizens of Franklin should be aware of how the Common Council was "gamed," and perhaps derive from this experience the indignation required to hold their aldermen - -all of whom tripped over themselves voting "yes" for the project - -  more closely accountable. Ask candidates for contested seats how they will attend to the details differently. And while you're at it, ask your alderman for the guest list at his last election victory party.

Then connect the dots.