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].