Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

The Supercenter Cometh

Once again, modern retail designed to serve TRAFFIC and not the COMMUNITY.

"Lisa Nelson, Wal-Mart's senior manager for public affairs for Wisconsin, declined to comment for this story."

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

If Wal-Mart decides to build, locals request they 'do it right'

Residents in the Town of Port Washington worry about plans to build a Supercenter near their homes and the effects it would have on noise, traffic and local business

By LAWRENCE SUSSMAN
[email protected]

Saukville - A proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, which is planned for the east end of Saukville, has raised concerns about how the 24-hour retail business might infringe on the peace and quiet of nearby residents who live in $400,000-plus homes in the Town of Port Washington.

The Supercenter is expected to be part of Heritage Crossings, a 149-acre commercial and condominium complex on the east side of Interstate 43 immediately north of Highway 33. The Supercenter would be at the north end of the complex, about 0.8 of a mile north of Highway 33.

At a recent hearing, residents of the Lange Estates subdivision said the Supercenter might lower their property values and add unwanted noise, light and traffic to their neighborhood. The subdivision is about an eighth of a mile east of the Supercenter site.

Journal-Sentinel photo by Benny Sieu

Saukville officials "need to think about restrictions for any big-box operation, such as hours and screening," said Greg Welton, who is developing Lange Estates. "Wal-Mart has enough money. If they want to do it, they can do it right and be concerned about the neighbors." He also lives in the subdivision.

Roughly half of the 37 homesites in the subdivision would face the Supercenter.

Community concerns

Christa Karrels, whose family has lived in Lange Estates for 2 1/2 years and who has three children 5 and under, said she was concerned about traffic going to and from the Supercenter and cutting through the subdivision.

"We have a lot of kids here," she said.

She and her husband attended the hearing on June 5.

"We went out from the meeting very displeased," Karrels said. "The majority of the people who spoke had concerns regarding the flow of traffic. But within two minutes after they closed the hearing, they (the Village Board) voted. All this discussion, and they didn't hold up the decision."

She said her family does not live in Saukville but added, "I would just hope that the communities would work together to find what's best for the entire community."

Some people support the Supercenter in some ways.

"I understand that the towns are our neighbors, and you want to be a good neighbor," said Saukville resident Brian Peschel, who attended the hearing. "But at the same time, what's good for the village may not be good for the towns.

"By bringing in a large big-box store," Peschel said, "they tend to become destination type stores that will attract people outside the community and which will only be beneficial to other retailers inside the community."

Lisa Nelson, Wal-Mart's senior manager for public affairs for Wisconsin, declined to comment for this story.

But earlier, Nelson said: "We have a serious interest in Saukville, and we have a business (at 825 E. Green Bay Ave.) that has been there for a while. . . . There is a customer demand for the Supercenter model."

Saukville Village President Barb Dickmann recently chaired the 90-minute-long hearing on the possibility of changing the zoning for Heritage Crossings to allow for development of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. After the comments, the Village Board unanimously approved the zoning change.

Many who attended the hearing, Dickmann said, "don't live in the village. We listened to everything they had to say." Wal-Mart has yet to submit its plans for the Supercenter. Wal-Mart has an option to buy 25 acres in the 149-acre complex.

Dickmann said the Supercenter issue is contentious: "There seems to be passion on both sides of the coin."

She added that plans for the Supercenter have not been filed, "but I personally would prefer that it was not a 24-hour store."

The Wal-Mart Supercenters in West Bend and Germantown close only on Christmas Day, store officials said.

Dawn Wagner, the Saukville village administrator, also said the village reserves the right to restrict a business' hours of operation if the business would generate abnormal levels of activity affecting nearby housing.

Development deal

A.N. Ansay & Associates of Port Washington is developing Heritage Crossings. Ansay has spent eight years and about $2 million to develop the plans and get approvals from the state Department of Natural Resources and Transportation Department for the development.

Ansay is negotiating a developer's agreement with Saukville for the development.

Ansay also plans to complete a road, Market Street, to go through the development and will pay to extend water and sewer lines to the property lines of the various businesses in the complex.

It will be up to each business within the complex to get the village to approve their individual site and building plans.

Fountains of Franklin Sendik's is first out of the box

The race in on ...

From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Franklin's first Sendik's grocery expected to open in autumn

By TOM DAYKIN
[email protected]

Posted: June 15, 2007

The first Sendik's supermarket in the southern portion of the Milwaukee metropolitan area will open this fall, one of the store's owners said Friday.

Work began this week on the 57,000-square-foot Sendik's at Fountains of Franklin, a Franklin retail and office center north of W. Rawson Ave. and west of S. 51st St. It will be the fifth Sendik's store operated by Ted Balistreri and his siblings.

"We can't wait to be here," Balistreri said during a groundbreaking ceremony. He and his family operate Sendik's stores in Whitefish Bay, Wauwatosa, Mequon and Grafton.

The supermarket is being developed by Devo Properties and will be leased to Sendik's, said Devo owner Greg Devorkin. He said Fountains of Franklin recently landed another tenant, a 4,000-square-foot Bank Mutual branch.

Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor said the Fountains of Franklin site a year ago had empty, deteriorating buildings.

"We are literally moving from eyesores to gems," Taylor said.

Franklin's population, estimated last year at 33,000 by the state Department of Administration, has increased 11.9% since the 2000 census. The city has about 40 residential developments under construction. Its population is expected to reach 45,000 by 2020.

Sendik's is an upscale grocery chain rooted in Milwaukee's affluent North Shore and western suburbs.

Other members of the extended Balistreri family, who own the Sendik's at 18985 W. Capitol Drive, in Brookfield, plan to develop a Franklin store at The Shoppes of Wyndham Village, a new retail center planned for the southeast corner of Highway 100 and W. Drexel Ave. Developer Mark Carstensen has not yet started construction.

Another branch of the Balistreri-Sendik family operates Sendik's stores in Milwaukee, Bayside and another Brookfield location, while John Nehring and Anne Finch-Nehring own a Sendik's in Shorewood.

WSJ.com: In many cities, the hottest development is taking place along the train lines

While the Milwaukee metro area seems firmly gripped in enforced mediocrity when it comes to mass transit and connectivity to Racine, Chicago and Madison, (see the latest anti-train screed from local righty Patrick McIlheran - - he manages to deploy the word "whiners" by the second paragraph) other more enlightened  parts of the country are now reaping development benefits from their "choo choo trains."

To quote:

These developments can pay off for cities in several ways. Research shows that the value of commercial and residential properties close to transit stations often rises -- and that translates into higher real-estate tax revenues in that area. Economists from the University of North Texas, for instance, found that between 1997 and 2001, office properties near suburban Dallas Area Rapid Transit stations increased in value 53% more than comparable properties not served by rail. Values of residential properties rose 39% more than a control group not served by rail.

In addition, cities can extract fees from these developments, including levies on the developers, sales taxes from retailers and fees for business licenses and parking. Those funds can be reinvested in the transit system or in the development, or anywhere else in the city.

Or suburbs can continue to "whine" (if I may appropriate Mr. McIlheran's term) about property taxes ...

The fact that the Milwaukee-Racine-Chicago corridor is not served by effective commuter rail (Amtrak doesn't count) is an ongoing embarrassment.

By the way, the Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Watch for today. Enjoy your ride.

From WSJ.com

The Little Engine That Could
In many cities, the hottest development is taking place along the train lines

By KEMBA J. DUNHAM
June 11, 2007; Page R3

In cities across the country, mass-transit lines are the new frontier in urban development.

In dozens of cities -- from Charlotte, N.C., to Denver to Portland, Ore. -- the hottest redevelopment project is happening next to the local train station. Aging transit hubs and stops along new and expanded train lines are being transformed into multi-use developments that offer housing, retailing, restaurants and offices.

This transit-oriented development, as it's known, is being promoted by local officials and developers as a way to counter sprawl, reduce traffic on the roads and revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods. By some estimates, there are about 100 such developments in the U.S., with 100 more in the pipeline. Reconnecting America, a national nonprofit group that works to spur development around transit stops, forecasts that by 2030 the number of households near transit stations will rise to 16 million, from six million today.

Demographic and lifestyle shifts are among the primary reasons many cities and developers are willing to bet on transit-oriented development. A growing number of households include singles and retiring baby boomers who are opting to live in smaller homes in urban areas.

"I think we have a collision of things going on -- a desire to revitalize our cities connecting with the growth of smaller households that are desiring denser and more-convenient living choices," says William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "This isn't to say that the traditional suburb is going away," he says, but there will be more housing built "for this demographic who desire walkable communities with easy access to transportation."

Most successful transit-oriented developments are public-private partnerships. Local governments build or refurbish rail lines and surrounding infrastructure like roads and parking facilities. Private developers then build in the surrounding areas. "There's a lot of research that shows that if the public sector puts money into a transit system, they can expect three to five times that amount in private money" for adjacent development, says Marilee Utter, president of Citiventure Associates LLC, a Denver firm that has worked with a number of cities on development around light-rail systems.

These developments can pay off for cities in several ways. Research shows that the value of commercial and residential properties close to transit stations often rises -- and that translates into higher real-estate tax revenues in that area. Economists from the University of North Texas, for instance, found that between 1997 and 2001, office properties near suburban Dallas Area Rapid Transit stations increased in value 53% more than comparable properties not served by rail. Values of residential properties rose 39% more than a control group not served by rail.

In addition, cities can extract fees from these developments, including levies on the developers, sales taxes from retailers and fees for business licenses and parking. Those funds can be reinvested in the transit system or in the development, or anywhere else in the city.

Plans for Naugatuck

One developer is betting that transit-oriented development can help revive Naugatuck, Conn. Naugatuck, a town of 30,000 people located 70 miles northeast of New York City, was once a thriving industrial center, home to rubber, chemical and candy manufacturers. But over the past 30 years, the town has languished as its biggest industries have moved to other states or offshore. One of the final nails in the coffin was Hershey Co.'s April announcement that it would close its Peter Paul plant, where it churned out Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars.

Now, developer Alex Conroy is planning a $700 million transit-oriented development that will include housing, offices, retailing, hotels and entertainment on 60 acres in downtown Naugatuck. The Conroy Development Co. plans call for rubber-tire trolleys, jitneys and buses to provide connections to the Naugatuck stop on the commuter rail line that runs into New York, so that cars won't be necessary for those working, living and shopping in the development.

Towns like Naugatuck can take some encouragement from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Arlington County, Va., which has transformed its economic base through transit-oriented development. During the 1970s, Arlington was in decline, like many of the suburbs nearest to major cities. In response, the county planned five closely spaced metro stations along its aging commercial corridor, stretching from Rosslyn to Ballston. The plan was for these stations to anchor medium- to high-density, mixed-use development, generally within a quarter mile of each stop.

The project has spurred approximately 40 million square feet of development so far, and the area around each station has an urban feel. From 2002 to 2006, land values in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor grew 84%, to $4 billion from $2.18 billion, says Dennis Leach, Arlington County's director of transportation. Although the corridor is only two square miles in area -- less than 8% of the county's land area -- it is the source of more than 30% of Arlington's real-estate taxes, he says.

"Arlington's approach to focusing transit-oriented development around its Metrorail stations has been central to the county's economic health," says Mr. Leach. "This approach has allowed Arlington to continue to expand its tax base, expand local services and invest in the conservation of existing neighborhoods."

Challenges Loom

For all their promise, transit-oriented developments can be tough to get off the ground. For one thing, public funding for transit systems and the surrounding infrastructure often is severely limited. Land is more expensive for projects in established communities than it is in low-density areas. The involvement of city governments and transit agencies and sometimes state and even federal officials, as well as representatives of the communities where developments are planned, can make reaching agreements on details difficult and time-consuming.

"It's not that these challenges are insurmountable, but for some places, this is new and takes a more focused effort to really see this idea come to be," says Shelley Poticha, president of Reconnecting America.

Others suggest that some cities clamoring to build extensive development around transit may be misinformed about the potential economic rewards. Ms. Utter of Citiventure says that a lot of cities that are mainly funded by sales taxes are desperate for transit-oriented development because they are betting on a windfall resulting from the retail component. "But there is a great misunderstanding that transit attracts a lot more retail than it actually does," she says. "On the other hand, things like cinema, museums and ballparks really attract riders and generate economic activity."

And in some cities, proponents may have to confront opponents who worry that transit-oriented projects are a recipe for deterioration rather than development. "In many parts of the country, it's the poor, people of color and the young and old" that take public transportation, says Robert Cervero, an urban-planning professor at the University of California at Berkeley. In some places, he says, mass transit carries a stigma that "reflects a deeper racial and class divide that continues to plague American cities."

A few years ago, Mr. Cervero heard an owner of a mixed-use project say that he didn't want tenants who specifically wanted to be located near transit because those tenants tend to attract an undesirable element. This owner not only believed that these patrons would drag down rents, but he also expressed concerns about having to absorb higher costs for security and cleaning the buildings, recalls Mr. Cervero.

"In his mind, transit-oriented development was a deterrent to economic development," he says. "This obviously doesn't hold in global cities like New York where people of all walks of life -- from the Wall Street exec to the cleaning lady -- patronize transit." But it does hold, he says, in some smaller cities "where most well-off folks drive."

--Ms. Dunham is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's New York bureau. Write to Kemba J. Dunham at [email protected]

Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) in Franklin: Who will step up?

"New Urbanism" is a term I've never been comfortable with. Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist  - now president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism - was a very "city-centric" spokesperson for the principles of New Urbanism while he was mayor; he was no fan of the suburbs.

"Traditional Neighborhood Design" (aka TND) is a less distressing name for a community-building, anti-sprawl ethic that is much more suburb-friendly, and I'll be discussing it quite a bit in the days and weeks ahead.

Why? Because Franklin has room, opportunity and need for a TND development, yet we see bleak subdivision after bleak subdivision go up, accompanied by malformed commercial developments that serve vehicles and shun people.

Bleak in Oak Creek: OfficeMax in sight of Target, but separated by acres of asphalt that you are not welcome to walk on. The model for Franklin's Shoppes at Wyndham Village.

The drumbeat begins today; I'm advocating for a large scale planned TND community and a resultant gradual end to the piecemeal pod development that has brought us to where we are today.

And where are we? The picture below is a street (dead end, of course) here in Franklin, created about five years ago. It's in proximity to... nothing. It has connectivity to... nothing:

Now, here's a picture of a street created about five years ago in the TND community of Middleton Hills. Multiple parks are in walking distance, as well as a grocery store, coffee shop, dry cleaners, etc. built along with the subdivision. The lots sell as soon as they are offered; Middleton Hills does no promotion or advertising because demand is so high.

Almost exactly the same amount of houses on both streets with much, much less space expended on the Middleton Hills street. Where do you want to live? And, guess which houses are worth more per square foot?

Once again, SITE PLAN is very, very important (though the design of the houses in a TND community is integral as well); I'll discuss specific elements of TND site plans here in days ahead.

Click to see "Providence" in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (website here)

To get things started, here's an overview of TND excerpted from a presentation by architect and designer Andres Duany to the American Institute of Certified Planners:

NEOTRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD -- PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES:

• The Neighborhood is a comprehensive planning increment: When clustered with others it becomes a town, when standing free in the landscape, it becomes a village.
• The Neighborhood is limited in size so that a majority of the population is within a 5-minute walking distance of its center (1/4 mile). The needs of daily life are theoretically available within this area.
• The streets are laid out on a grid or network, so that there are alternate routs to every destination. This permits most streets to be smaller, with slower traffic. They are equitable for both vehicles and pedestrians.
• Streets are spatially defined by buildings which enfront the sidewalk in a disciplined manner uninterrupted by parking lots.
• The buildings are various in function, but compatible in size and in disposition on their lots. There is a mixture of houses, large and small, outbuildings, small apartment buildings, shops, restaurants, offices and warehouses.
• Civic buildings (schools, meeting halls, theaters, churches, clubs, museums, etc.) are often placed on squares or at the termination of street vistas. By receiving important locations, these buildings serve as landmarks.
• Open space is provided in the form of specialized squares, playgrounds and parks.

SUBURBAN SPRAWL -- PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES:

• Sprawl is unlimited in size, disciplined only be separate "pods" dedicated to single uses such as "shopping center", "office parks" and "residential clusters", all of which are inaccessible from each other except by car. Housing is strictly segregated into large clusters of equal cost, hindering socioeconomic diversity.
• Open space is often provided in the form of "buffers", "pedestrian ways", "planters" and other ill-defined residues.
• Vehicular traffic controls the scale and form of space, with streets usually being wide and dedicated primarily to the automobile with parking lots dominating the public space. Civic Buildings do not normally receive distinguished sites.
• Buildings are often rotated on their lots and set back from streets with the result that spatial definition is lost, thereby destroying the sense of place.

THE TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD -- POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES:

• By bringing most of the activities of daily living into walking distance everyone, but especially the elderly and the young, gain independence of movement.
• By reducing the number and length of automobile trips, traffic congestion is minimized, the expenses of road construction are limited, and air pollution is reduced.
• By providing streets and squares of comfortable scale and defined spatial qualify, neighbors, walking, come to know each other and to watch over their collective security.
• By providing a full range of housing types and work places, age and economic classes are integrated and the bonds of an authentic community are formed.

SUBURBAN SPRAWL -- NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES:

• By assuming that the people will drive to and from all activities, the need for large streets and parking lots is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• By the construction of an excessive asphaltic infrastructure, the natural landscape is destroyed.
• By consigning the bulk of the available public budget to pay for asphaltic infrastructure, the human infrastructure of excellent schools, post offices, fire stations, meeting halls, cultural buildings and affordable housing is starved.

CERTAIN CITIZENS WHO SUFFER PARTICULARLY FROM THE PATTERN OF SUBURBAN SPRAWL:

• The middle class is forced into multiple automobile ownership. The average yearly cost of car ownership is $4,500 which is the equivalent of a $40,000 mortgage payment. The possibility of owning one car less is the single most important subsidy that can be provided towards affordable housing. Furthermore, by forbidding mixed use areas, the investment of personal time in the activity of commuting is mandatory. A person who drives two hours a day spends the equivalent of 8 working weeks a year in the car.
• The young who, below the legal driving age, are dependent on adults for their social needs. They are bused from schools, from which they cannot walk, and isolated with TV at home until their working parents arrive. The alternative is to relegate on parent to a career as the child’s chauffeur. The single family house with the yard is a good place for childhood only if it is structured as part of a Neighborhood, where the child can walk or bicycle to school, to play, to the store, to the movies and to friends.
• The elderly, who lose their self-sufficiency once they lost their drivers’ licenses. Seniors who may continue to live independently within a Neighborhood are consigned to specialized retirement communities in sprawl.

Fountains of Franklin Sendik's still not in synch with their neighbors

Scott Lund, a homeowner in the subdivision adjacent to the Fountains of Franklin Sendik's, reminded me via a comment he posted here that there are still outstanding issues between the Sendik's developer, Greg Devorkin, and the neighborhood closest to the store.

Poor site design again rears its head; the Fountains of Franklin Sendik's site has been designed to serve vehicles, not people or the neighborhood next door. We've come a long way from the corner store.

Hi John,

As a neighbor in the Serenity Estates neighborhood I can tell you we are very displeased by the lack of cooperation we have received regarding our concern over the Sendik's development. While we have met with key city officials & the developer, as of today not so much as a single tree has been added to the site plan to address safety concerns or obstruct our view of the rear of the store, the loading dock & the delivery trucks. To the contrary, the existing 500 ft long mature treeline North of the proposed store was destroyed just over 2 weeks ago.

While we have voiced our issues w/the site plan at planning meetings & common council meetings, not once has a
contingency or stipulation been added to the forward motion of this development to attempt to address our concerns.

Although we are in support of the development & the much needed tax revenue it will bring to the city, the lack of support for the surrounding neighbors has been anything but pretty.

Fountains of Franklin Sendik's Groundbreaking Scheduled for FRIDAY at NOON

... Despite some blatant ankle-biting at last week's Plan Commission Common Council meeting by aldermen from outside this particular district.

Think there's not a race between Shoppes at Wyndham Village and Fountains of Franklin? Think again. And it's pretty obvious who is rooting for who.

Commercial Site Plan: The Three Rules (or, SITE PLAN TRUMPS ARCHITECTURE!)

Many of the principals of good site plan as executed in successful suburban "city center"-type commercial developments are based on old urban concepts. Simply stated, when it comes to creating public spaces, in most cases the suburban model of "single story building surrounded by asphalt" is absolute death. It's unsafe, unattractive, accessible only by vehicle, promotes isolation, non-relational to its neighboring amenities (if any), brings down surrounding property values, promotes noise and traffic, etc.

Good commercial site design, on the other hand, spurs continued desirable development, creates a vibrant (and profitable) public space, lowers noise and vehicle emissions by promoting "one trip-many stops" behavior, spreads prosperity to adjacent commercial entities, makes it possible for the elderly and disabled to move among amenities easily, fosters a sense of community, embraces nearby natural features, etc. A group of haphazardly arranged buildings, no matter how nifty each of them looks individually, won't accomplish any of this.

In short: Site plan trumps architecture.

At a great blog called CITY COMFORTS you can download a pdf chapter of City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village by the blogger, Davis Sucher. Though he concerns himself mainly with city living, his insights into how to create and maintain interesting, useful public spaces are more than relevant in any discussion of a city center district like the one Franklin is trying to develop.

Of course, "The Three Rules" don't apply universally to all aspects of the suburban environment, but they certainly do apply in any portion of town that aspires to be the "city center" or "downtown." That means Shoppes at Wyndham Village, Fountains of Franklin, Legend Creek, etc.

Here's a short excerpt from the chapter, with emphasis and photos added by me.

THE THREE RULES

This is the most important chapter in this book. If the problem is to create a walkable, pedestrian-oriented neighborhood, much of the answer is architectural. Actually, it is not so much “architectural” in the usual sense of the word, for it ignores style. Site plan trumps architecture. That means the basic arrangement of the building on the site is far more important than what usually passes for architecture: the exterior appearance and “envelope” of the structure.

This chapter explains the Three Rules for creating such places. Let’s assume that we agree that the goal is to create this mythical urban village. How do we do it?

The key decision is the position of the building with respect to the sidewalk. This decision determines whether you have a city or a suburb.

1. Build to the sidewalk (i.e., property line).
2. Make the building front “permeable” (i.e., no blank walls).
3. Prohibit parking lots in front of the building.

The decision is a very simple one: place the building alongside the sidewalk. That’s it. Don’t make it complicated. Simply bring the building to the sidewalk. The banal and all too typical strip center below could have contributed to a pedestrian neighborhood had it been designed to work with the Rules rather than
against them.

Where do you want to shop?
TOP: Retail Hell in Minnesota.
MIDDLE and BOTTOM: Nice places to stroll and shop - old and new - in Wausau, Wisconsin. The parking is mainly BEHIND the buildings and in a central ramp, augmented by on-street parking.

If you question this, consider the places that most people like to go on vacation: New York, Paris, London, Aspen, Carmel, Nantucket, Park City, Friday Harbor, and even Disneyland. Every last one of them is built so that the building walls are right next to the sidewalk.

Historically, with only human and animal power to move goods, and with market forces in charge, it made sense to bring the building close to the street in the effort to maximize profit, creating, ironically for modern, often anticapitalist preservationists, the most charming streets.

The Rules are only a start

The Three Rules will emerge over and over again in this book. Their importance cannot be overemphasized; they are the common denominator and leit-motiv of comfortable urban spaces. They are an absolute necessity and precursor to creating pedestrian-oriented communities. But by themselves they are insufficient. There are unhealthy, inner-city neighborhoods that follow them. There are auto-dominated — but healthy — suburbs that don’t. But as a general rule the Three Rules are essential to create human settlements that have any real sense of interpersonal community.

- Excerpt from City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village

Shoppes at Wyndham Village: Part 2 - The issue of site design

Part 2 of my analysis of the special Plan Commission meeting of last week was supposed to deal with the Plan Staff's recommendations and the group referred to euphemistically as "our neighbors to the North." A seemingly inconsequential motion that was passed at this Tuesday's Common Council Meeting has prompted me to change the order somewhat.

Most (if not all) of my personal criticism of Shoppes at Wyndham Village has had nothing to do with the content of the development, contrary to the meanderings of local bloggers who are almost comically fulfilling marching orders handed out in smoke-filled rooms via desperate, adolescent-level taunts and strange innuendo.

No, the problem is SITE PLAN - - - in other words: the relationship of the individual structures in a development with one another and the surrounding natural features; accessibility and usability by elderly and physically challenged people; integration into present and planned surrounding amenities and systems, etc.

In its most reductive state, SITE PLAN is simply the arrangement of buildings, sidewalks, streets and parking.

So, you can have the best architecture available, but if you arrange the site plan like a strip mall, it's dismal and it fails. On the other hand, perfectly average looking architecture can be arranged in a well thought-out site plan and you have something that's fantastic.

But, evidently, criticize a poor site plan and you are "against development." Because, after all, "look at how nice the individual buildings look!" This is painfully true at the Fountains of Franklin Sendik's; a wonderful store with a nice looking building that all but bares it's naked butt in defiance and disdain to the neighborhood behind it - - the neighborhood it should serve! TERRIBLE site design.

A reader emailed me to ask, "So, WHY such a poor, vehicle-centric site plan at Shoppes? I mean, who really stands to gain from not breaking up the uninterrupted parking lot in front of Target and Sendik's as long as they keep the same amount of parking stalls?"

Why not position some buildings and landscaped walkways in that huge, forbidding space to make for a safer and more pleasant public space, you ask?

The answer reared up in an unassuming little resolution passed at this past Tuesday's Common Council meeting. It read as follows (and passed without debate):

Resolution conditionally approving a 3-lot Certified Survey Map, being a division of a part of the southeast 1/4 of Section 8, Township 5 North, Range 21 East, in the City of Franklin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (MEC Holdings I, LLC, applicant) (approximately 7700 S. Lovers Lane Road).

The resolution describes the plot of land that will be Shoppes at Wyndham Village: 4 parcels become one, and then one gets carved into a strangely-shaped 3 parcels. Note the especially odd geometry of LOT 2:

Wait a minute - that's awfully familiar. Let's pop that shape on a site plan:

Ah-HA! Suddenly that shape is not so arbitrary and strange. The lots have been re-drawn so that the Target strip mall and parking block are perfectly delineated - Target's own little world in a tidy package.

Still wonder why there are no buildings in that yellow zone?

PREDICTION: Though Target starts life at Shoppes on a lease (and thereby controlled to some extent by a local owner, Mark E. Carstensen [MEC] Holdings), MEC will eventually sell the building and lot "package" to Target Corporate and make a great deal of money. The "outbuilding area," Lot 1, will be an ongoing source of lease and rental income for MCE while Target is no longer subject to any oversight by MEC Holdings. Have a complaint about round-the-clock trucking and loading? Get in line at Target corporate in Minneapolis; it won't be MEC Holdings' problem anymore.

What if that self-owned Target suddenly wants to sell more groceries (as is the trend in Targets nationwide, in stores called "Target Greatlands")? Sendik's - with another Sendik's a mere three miles away - won't be able to appeal to the Shoppes owner. 

If I'm right, there is no value judgment being made here; it's just good business and a development company has every right to maximize their return on an investment. But, if I'm right, now you know one of the reasons why good, sound site plan principals - - the kind that promote community, interconnect city amenities, make life easier for the elderly and those with mobility difficulties, incorporate natural features, lessen our dependence on vehicles, and create vibrant, welcoming public spaces - - - are often trumped by the bottom line.

And, as you can see below, the Sendik's facade as created for Shoppes at Wyndham Village (top) is eerily ready-made for eventual assimilation into a monster Target Greatland (bottom). Kind of gives you shivers.

ABOVE: Shoppes at Wyndham Village Sendik's

BELOW: Target Greatland

(Target Greatland photographed by John Reed a few weeks prior to store opening on Oct. 10th, 2004. Taken with a series of photographs using a Canon S410 and later stitched together using Canon PhotoStitch.)

 

Pie in the sky?

Call me a pessimist, but here is the quote that will end up being sadly prophetic:

"The inclination is going to be to just put something there to get some tax revenue," [Franklin Alderman Tim Solomon] said. "The key is to say, 'Wait a minute, these are the design standards.' This is the overlay district - stick to it, wait, and they'll come."

"Stick to it." The hardest part (see the Shoppes at Wyndham Village site plan and Oak Creek's recent activities when a corporate office park came calling).

From Franklinnow.com:

Leaders see future of 27th Street

Video gives Franklin, Oak Creek something to build upon

By James Livesey
Staff Writer

Posted: June 6, 2007

Oak Creek and Franklin officials envision two- and three-story office and retail buildings, roundabouts with water fountains and pedestrian friendly walkways with plantings and porous pavement along 27th Street in 20 to 25 years.

The common councils of both cities viewed a DVD containing a video simulation that highlighted those elements at a joint meeting May 29 at Oak Creek City Hall.

High-density office parks have been proposed for the north and south ends of the 27th Street corridor, with a lower-density commercial/retail area in the middle.

The DVD was produced by Eppstein Uhen Architects under the direction of the 27th Street Steering Committee. The video utilizes the Overlay District that the committee intends to use to rezone parcels along 27th Street.

Both councils directed their legal counsel to draw up contracts between the two cities and Zizzo Group to provide public relations and marketing services for the 27th Street corridor. The attorneys were also asked to proceed with contract revisions with HNTB Corp., a design and engineering firm, to prepare modifications to the zoning codes of both cities to implement the 27th Street Streetscape Plan.

Both contracts will ultimately have to be approved by each city council.

Critical raves on video

Elected officials from both cities were wowed by the video representation of the potential future 27th Street from Rawson Avenue to County Line Road. The DVD is intended as a way to attract future developers and businesses to the 27th Street corridor.

Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor praised the representatives from Eppstein Uhen for their work on the video.

"I think that having gone to all the meetings and having listened to all the citizens, you've captured most of the views that I heard from people in attendance," he said. "It does seem to be an ambitious project... So it's good to be ambitious. It's good to dream; and it's good to have a vision. I think you've pretty much captured it."

Oak Creek Mayor Richard Bolender said the video showed what could be accomplished when two communities work together toward a common goal.

"I look at this, and it was well worth the efforts we put in, and sometimes we took a little bit of, shall we say, flak from the audience," he said. "I'm very happy that you gentlemen asked me to come along and get Oak Creek with Franklin and show the rest of the state of Wisconsin what we can do when two cities of our size and our potential get together... and make something worthwhile."

View from Oak Creek

Oak Creek Common Council President Allan Foeckler said both communities had to stick to the agreed-upon standards in order to make the 27th Street project a success.

"We've had a vision that we've bought into over the years of what's going to happen there," he said. "We could have done something down the middle and easy, but this has an opportunity - to be honest - to fail miserably. But I think it's inevitable that this is going to take off. Because of the fact that we were willing to fail, I think we're going to succeed tremendously because we put ourselves in a position to raise the bar."

Foeckler acknowledged, however, that both communities had work to do to make the video a reality.

"Now the tough part happens.... Now we need to get the money and we need to make it happen," he said.

Oak Creek Alderman Tom Michalski said the video representation of the potential future 27th Street was inspiring.

"I think that if we get half of what you've got here, I think that 27th Street will really be a good corridor," he said. "But if we were to see it come to fruition like you've got here today, it would just be magnificent."

View from Franklin

Franklin Common Council President Lyle Sohns was impressed with what he saw as a high-quality development.

"We all had a picture in our heads of what this would look like, and everybody's picture was different," he said. "We now have a picture we can all look at and say, 'Yeah, we embrace this picture.' I think this is really a wonderful animation of what this corridor can be and will be, and it sets the bar. It sets it very high."

Franklin Alderman Steve Olson said the foresight Franklin and Oak Creek had shown on the 27th Street project would pay off.

"As both communities have learned, unless you plan for your future, you'll get whatever comes down the pipe. Fortunately, both have been planning very well. I think this will set the standard," he said.

Franklin Alderman Tim Solomon said the present and future councils of both cities would need to adhere to the plan's design standards to make sure the project comes to fruition.

"The inclination is going to be to just put something there to get some tax revenue," he said. "The key is to say, 'Wait a minute, these are the design standards.' This is the overlay district - stick to it, wait, and they'll come."

Room for skepticism

Oak Creek Alderman Mike Toman was impressed with the presentation, but cautioned that the market would have to support the type of developments seen on the video.

"It can happen, and I'd love to see it happen, but I have to admit I'm a skeptic on some of this," he said.

Although the 27th Street Overlay District calls for two- and three-story buildings along 27th Street, Toman pointed out the Oak Creek Plan Commission recently approved a one-story development for Liberty Property Trust along 27th Street.

"We were told outright that the market won't support (a multi-story type) of building on 27th. Now do we want that? Yes, we do want that, but who's going to build this? Who's going to get this done?" Toman said.

Foeckler said he was actually encouraged by Toman's skepticism.

"If there wasn't one person up here who wasn't skeptical of this, I would be a little skeptical because that means we didn't set the bar high enough," he said. "That means we didn't really push ourselves. As I sit here today, it's certainly my goal to embrace the skepticism and use it as motivation to make it happen."

Ted Grintjes, a member of the 27th Street Steering Committee and Franklin's Community Development Authority, said the committee intentionally set the bar high for the project.

"High quality development is going to come to a high-quality vision, and we have attempted to develop a high quality vision," he said.

Olson said the 27th Street video represented a lofty goal that both communities could reach.

"What's key to this is that it not get derailed before it even gets out of the box," he said.

Contact reporter James Livesey at (262) 446-6606 or [email protected].

Urban vs. Sub-urban illustrated

Click on this handy animated GIF (from the City Comforts blog) to see a rather elegant and simple demonstration of the difference between typical suburban commercial "asphalt island" development and the far more pedestrian-friendly "urban" configuration recommended for Franklin's City Civic Center District.

This is why it's pleasant and enjoyable to walk down a traditional downtown street and unsettling to navigate the wide open spaces between sprawled mall out-buildings.

Try walking from Border's to Southridge Mall or Red Robin once. Now imagine doing it with a cane or walker, or while in a wheelchair.

But pedestrian mobility and safety is not the only benefit. For the residential subdivision to the north of Shoppes at Wyndham Village, the more buildings that can be positioned right up to the sidewalk on Drexel (as City Civic Center District zoning encourages) the more attractive and quiet that side of the street will be.