Sprawled Out: The Search for Community in the American Suburb

No good ever came from planning in a vacuum

Apropos to my post entitled "The city and developer on one side of the table, the citizens on the other: Shoppes/Target update": 

"... the wisdom of crowds is often exceptionally good. And collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects like town and city planning and managing development, subjects where important information is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but is diffused among myriad members of the community. If the job is ... to produce a far-sighted plan for balancing environmental, aesthetic, economic, and social concerns, you’re far more likely to end up with a good answer if you solicit and aggregate the judgments of those who live in the community, rather than rely on a more traditional, top-down planning process. ... Is there a catch to the wisdom of crowds? ... it’s essential to make sure that the crowd is a diverse one, made up of people with different perspectives and different problem-solving tools."

-- James Surowiecki, from "Speaking of Place: The Wisdom of Communities," posted on the Orton Family Foundation web site (you can also access a video clip of Surowiecki's talk at last October's CommunityMatters Conference).

"For planning to be meaningful, citizens must be involved in the process. Planners, regardless of their personal talents and capabilities, working in isolation and apart from the clients of planning, will not be able to craft plans communities will embrace."

-- Michael Chandler, from "The 21st Century Plan" (Planning Commissioners Journal Issue #31)

Both from the Planning Quote of the Day website
 

Apropos to my post entitled "The city and developer on one side of the table, the citizens on the other: Shoppes/Target update": 

"... the wisdom of crowds is often exceptionally good. And collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects like town and city planning and managing development, subjects where important information is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but is diffused among myriad members of the community. If the job is ... to produce a far-sighted plan for balancing environmental, aesthetic, economic, and social concerns, you’re far more likely to end up with a good answer if you solicit and aggregate the judgments of those who live in the community, rather than rely on a more traditional, top-down planning process. ... Is there a catch to the wisdom of crowds? ... it’s essential to make sure that the crowd is a diverse one, made up of people with different perspectives and different problem-solving tools."

-- James Surowiecki, from "Speaking of Place: The Wisdom of Communities," posted on the Orton Family Foundation web site (you can also access a video clip of Surowiecki's talk at last October's CommunityMatters Conference).

"For planning to be meaningful, citizens must be involved in the process. Planners, regardless of their personal talents and capabilities, working in isolation and apart from the clients of planning, will not be able to craft plans communities will embrace."

-- Michael Chandler, from "The 21st Century Plan" (Planning Commissioners Journal Issue #31)

Both from the Planning Quote of the Day website
 

"... the wisdom of crowds is often exceptionally good. And collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects like town and city planning and managing development, subjects where important information is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but is diffused among myriad members of the community. If the job is ... to produce a far-sighted plan for balancing environmental, aesthetic, economic, and social concerns, you’re far more likely to end up with a good answer if you solicit and aggregate the judgments of those who live in the community, rather than rely on a more traditional, top-down planning process. ... Is there a catch to the wisdom of crowds? ... it’s essential to make sure that the crowd is a diverse one, made up of people with different perspectives and different problem-solving tools."

-- James Surowiecki, from "Speaking of Place: The Wisdom of Communities," posted on the Orton Family Foundation web site (you can also access a video clip of Surowiecki's talk at last October's CommunityMatters Conference).

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
[email protected]

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.

Columnist McIlheran willing to spend an extra 50 cents or so to see Franklin's Sendik's Store

I'm kind of surprised Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist  Patrick McIlheran would link back to my post entitled "Today's right wing revelation: Pursuing fuel efficiency will KILL US" with such a thin retort. I appreciate it, though. I think my post lays waste to his column's conceit, and I'm happy to get more eyeballs on it.

In his blog McIlheran keyed on my dismissal of his interpretation of the "rebound effect" in his 1/5/08 column (as "illuminated" by right wing shill Sam Kazman, general counsel for the illustrious Competitive Enterprise Institute). He talked about an excursion to Sendik's in Franklin:

I wanted to see what the posh place in Franklin had on offer. And -- here's the key -- I had it somewhere my head that gas was down to $2.85, so why not spend a little cheaper gas getting there?

Well.

I left a comment, thusly:

Michlig says:

McIlheran's self-serving "I had it somewhere my head that gas was down to $2.85, so why not spend a little cheaper gas getting there?" is utterly fabricated in service to his own loosey goosey thesis.

What's the "not driving to Sendik's today" threshold? $3.10? $3.30?

And, does PM always buy his gas on the day he makes his explore-the-suburbs decisions? PM might regret his notion to venture down Franklin way when the next fill-up is $3.11 a gallon.

Let's say gas wasn't $2.85 (evidently "cheap" in PM's world), but $3.30 instead ("expensive"?) Eight-or-so extra miles, my goodness - - that could be an additional 50 cents out of PM's pocket as a result of that crazy extravagance. (Can't even buy a BUS TICKET for that amount, by the way.)

Wait until you see what REAL expensive gas is, Mr. McIlheran. That "choo-choo train" will look pretty good around the time oil gets to $350 a barrel. 

That was easy enough.

By the way: I'm driving all the way up to Mayfair to the Apple Store today. Haven't checked the price of gas - - I'M GONNA TAKE A CHANCE!

Breaking news: 230,000 square feet of office and retail planned for South 27th Street

27th street finally sprouting as planned?

This item was emailed to me by the eagle-eyed Greg Kowalski of Today's Concerns:

Friday, January 18, 2008
Firm plans $70 million Franklin project

The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Pete Millard

A Chicago development firm is planning a $70 million medical office campus in Franklin that would add 230,000 square feet of office and retail along the South 27th Street development corridor.

Ryan Cos. US Inc.'s Franklin Medical Center would go on 28 acres north of the 275,000-square-foot, $90 million Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare hospital in Franklin near South 27th Street and Oakwood Road.

"There is a gap in the medical office market in southern Milwaukee County that we plan to fill," said Jim McDonald, director of business development for Ryan Cos.

The site plan for the Franklin Medical Center shows 11 buildings that include 180,000 square feet of medical offices and 50,000 square feet of retail space. McDonald said the final plan could include 12 buildings or as few as eight, depending on the size of the buildings. There are six 1-acre lots on the campus that may be developed by other companies for retail tenants.

Ryan Cos. has a contract to purchase the 28 acres from MLG Development, Brookfield. The Ryan site is about two miles south of the Northwestern Mutual Franklin campus.

Milwaukee's Inland Cos. Inc. has been hired by Ryan as the leasing agent for the Franklin Medical Center.

"This demonstrates we were right to project strong potential for the 27th Street corridor," said Franklin Ald. Steve Olson.

Franklin officials estimated more than three years ago that the five-mile stretch from West College Avenue on the north to Oakwood Road on the south along South 27th Street would see $1 billion worth of development on the Franklin side and an additional $1 billion on the Oak Creek side, said Olson.

"In Franklin, we've already got $500 million under construction or planned," Olson said.

The retail portion of the Franklin Medical Center would be marketed to pharmacies, banks, restaurants and locally owned specialty retailers, said McDonald.

The Franklin Medical Center would be Ryan's second health care campus in southeast Wisconsin. The company also developed the North Hills Medical Centre in Menomonee Falls.

In late 2006, Ryan began construction of a three-story, 59,000-square-foot medical office building that is leased by Froedtert Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital. The two hospitals are collaborating to operate a primary care and outpatient clinic in the building located near West Good Hope Road and Appleton Avenue. Froedtert and Community Memorial will use the building for medical imaging, laboratories, rehabilitation services and diagnostic services. The clinic will be open in February.

Ryan constructed a second 59,000-square-foot spec medical office building at the site in late 2007 that is targeted to doctors and other medical professionals. A third building is planned for Ryan's Good Hope Road and Appleton Avenue site and will be completed when the second building is leased.

Pabst Farms and burial mounds: Holy ironic visual metaphor, Batman!

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo

Tire ruts on Native American burial mounds. They should encase the trampled site in Lucite as a visually poetic monument to sprawled development.

Also noted by James Rowen: Historical Site Damage At Pabst Farms Echos Earlier Destruction (where he quips, tongue firmly in cheek: "Looks like the mound-builders were bad planners, too. Imagine putting these structures where an Interstate Highway had to run.")

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Developer must repair, protect Indian mounds

Tire ruts scar ancient figures at Pabst Farms

By AMY RINARD
[email protected]

Summit - State officials have ordered Pabst Farms developers to repair and better protect American Indian effigy mounds near a large construction site after work crews damaged the panther-shaped burial sites.

Workers put up fencing Wednesday along the edges of the three earthen mounds on land that Pabst Farms Development owns east of the site of the Aurora hospital under construction at the southeast corner of I-94 and Highway 67.

Archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society inspected the mounds Tuesday and ordered the fencing to prevent further damage.

"We responded immediately," Dan Warren, development manager for Pabst Farms, said Wednesday.

The mounds were damaged by crews cutting brush, Pabst Farms spokesman Thad Nation said.

A vehicle was driven over the mounds, causing deep tire ruts that are clearly visible through the snow.

The mounds are near the path of a future road that will link the Aurora site with an area to the east along county Highway DR that Pabst Farms plans for future development.

State Archaeologist John Broihahn, who was among the historical society officials to assess the damage to the mounds, said the three mounds at the site are 800 to 1,400 years old.

It is not known what tribe or nation of American Indians built the burial mounds, he said, because little is known of tribal identities during that period of Wisconsin history.

Two of the mounds are in the shape of panthers, Broihahn said. One, in the shape of a panther lying on its stomach, is 20 to 30 feet wide and about 40 feet long. The other is in the shape of a panther lying on its side and is about 12 to 15 feet wide and about 100 feet long. The third mound is linear, about 75 feet long and 10 to 15 feet wide, he said.

Few mounds remain

They are among the last remaining American Indian burial mounds in the state, and their preservation is a high priority for the historical society, Broihahn said.

"We're dealing with a small number of original mounds," he said, noting that 80% of the American Indian mounds in the state have been destroyed.

"Effigy mounds are quite unusual."

In addition to their historical significance, the mounds are human burial sites held sacred by their builders and must be treated with respect, Broihahn said.

The ruts in the mounds were "something that shouldn't happen," he said.

But, he said, he and others who inspected the site concluded that the damage was not intentional but rather a consequence of workers not being aware of the need to protect the surface of the mounds.

Pabst Farms officials were told any future brush cutting on the mounds must be done by hand, Nation said.

Historical society officials will prepare a plan for repairing and preventing future damage to the mounds, Broihahn said. The plan, to be implemented in spring, will call for filling in the ruts and planting deep-rooted prairie grasses to prevent further damage to the mound surface, he said.

Pabst Farms officials are prepared to comply fully with whatever plan the state orders, Nation said.

"We recognize what they're saying and will take whatever remedial steps they prescribe," he said.

Financial penalties possible

Under state law, financial penalties may be imposed on those responsible for damaging American Indian mounds.

Broihahn said imposition of such a penalty is a long process and no determination on it has been made yet. "It's something we'll talk about," he said.

The area of the mounds is in an environmental corridor of the Pabst Farms development that has long been identified for preservation in development plans, Summit Planner/Administrator Henry Elling said.

Historical society officials approved the plans for the road to run through the mounds area.

The road, with a 66-foot right of way, will be a town road and does not come close to the mounds, Elling said.

But Pat Manders, who lives near the mounds and who reported the damage to local and state officials, said he does not believe a road should be built though the area of the mounds because the site was special and sacred to American Indians.

"I think it's important that we show some respect for that," he said.

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.

Franklin's "City Civic Center District": The big sell-out

The document above was recorded without fanfare on 11/21/07 at the Milwaukee County Register's Office: Wyndham Village Retail, LLC (sole member: Mark Carstensen) to Target Corporation: transfer of building and property for $2,664,000 (filing fee of $7992 is derived from 3% of sale price).

These things happen quietly. But they have enormous repercussions.

If you imagine Target is a mere tenant of The Shoppes at Wyndham Village, think again. If you believe that a local developer can represent his community's ongoing needs and interests (as he promised) once he banks the money on the above transaction, dream on.

You're looking at the smoking gun (which I predicted here); the instrument that effectively makes the nascent core of Franklin's "City Civic Center District" answer to ... Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A big box retailer will decide the character of our community (as is happening at Pabst Farms).

Those who bought into developer Mark Carstensen's solemn assurances and the fanciful pictures he showed on October 31st of 2006 will want to tune in to this space Monday to see - specifically -  what Target will and won't allow the city of Franklin do with what we thought was our downtown.

Here's a preview for you: Target has determined that there will be no movie theaters or live performance theaters in Franklin's City Civic Center. Got a problem with that? Take it up with Minneapolis.

You'll also be interested to learn why the attached Sendik's store happens to be the same size as a Target Greatland grocery component.

ABOVE: Shoppes at Wyndham Village Sendik's

BELOW: The shape of things to come? Target Greatland (photographed by John Reed)

Full text of Mayor Taylor's nomination challenge cover letter

Franklin candidate for mayor Basil Ryan fired the first public salvo in the campaign this past week via a press release breathlessly entitled "FRANKLIN MAYOR BRINGS UP HIS LAVISH COUNTY PENSION IN BIZARRE NOTE: Mayor tries to frivolously kick challenger off the ballot."

Ryan quotes the "bizarre" portion of the letter (getting the county pension issue out there), but nothing else, so I made an open records request for "Bizarre note: Mayor Taylor" and got a copy of the entire document to supply context. The cover letter is pictured below along with a transcription of the note. Another page-and-a-quarter of enumerated signature challenges follow, as well as  multiple pages of pasted-in provisions of Wisconsin State law applying to nomination challenges.

You can examine the entire document here: Download Taylor_challenge_letter.pdf

And, lest Basil Ryan assume the role of persecuted underdog, he gives as good as he gets; Ryan filed his own nomination challenge of Taylor's signatures received by the City of Franklin one hour and 30 minutes after Taylor's was filed. Download Ryan_challenge letter.pdf

Alas, neither challenge will result in a nullified candidacy.

Received by City of Franklin 1/7/08

I Thomas M. Taylor am challenging: the sufficiency of Basil Ryan's nomination papers for Mayor of the City of Franklin based on the information found in the table directly below that speaks to subjects such as the nomination forms having missing items such as the year missing, that signatures are illegible, that signatures are from a community other than Franklin or such other items as the address listed being illegible.

I do not restrict myself to just those items listed in the table found directly below but also raise issues concerning Basil Ryan supplying more specificity regarding his employer and the name of his employer's business and/or businesses so that a reasonable citizen could find such business to determine the nature of the business, it's financial dealings and the like. Basil Ryan simply listing “self” under employer and entering management and agricultural does not properly allow for an investigation of these businesses or it's financial practices.

It is important for a candidate such as myself to know who is challenging me for the position of Mayor and I believe it is in the best interests of the 33,000 plus citizens of
Franklin to know precisely who is running for elective office. I am a retired public administrator that worked for Milwaukee County Government; I held positions of
Assistant Director of Labor Relations and Acting Director of Human Resources for
Milwaukee County. I made approximately $104,000 per year in my last year of service and based on my almost 30 years of service I currently receive a annual pension of about $61,000. I currently work for the City of Franklin as the Mayor and receive approximately $22,000 in compensation. I believe Basil Ryan should come forward and fully disclose his annual income and where he derives such income?