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?

Comments

[Josh Strupp]

What's most troubling about this meeting is that apparently the Mayor wanted to focus more on the availability of the document rather the it's contents. Sounds like a diversion tactic the way you tell it. Do you know if there was any talk about the document itself other than the Mayor's accusations that your take was "wrong"?

P.S. Was this meeting a private meeting between Wyndham Hills residents and the mayor or a hush, hush public meeting between the two parties so as to keep the topic out of the public eye? Either way, this whole thing lacks transparency and reeks of cronyism.

[John]

Again, I have meeting details second-hand, but one person WAS forced to leave because the mayor didn't want there to be the appearance of an official city meeting.

Also, to my knowledge, the document WAS NOT PRESENT at the meeting, and no one asked me for a copy. In fact, the insinuation was made that I'd read or had access only to the few pages that I posted - which is, of course, preposterous.

And how interesting is it that the Carstensen VP didn't bother to bring a copy, to go through point by point to show where I am "wrong"? I seriously doubt that they want people to know about this.

[Greg Kowalski]

I was invited to the meeting and participated in it.

Mr. Michlig is unfortunately rather accurate in the details of the meeting. Nobody got a chance to review the full document, because yes - the VP of Carstensen Construction (invited by Mayor Taylor) didn't even bother to bring a copy with him.

By the time the meeting was over - 2 hours later - a participant noted how disgusted my face was, and that's something to be said because I rarely get THAT disgusted over something.

According to one side of the table, it was all perfectly fine and it could be changed in the future if need-be. We need to remember this: Mark Carstensen Construction, in conjunction with Target Corporation, wants to make Wyndham Village a great "family-oriented" development.

Target red balls and all...