ABOVE: It's ok, we planned it that way....
Allow me to begin by quoting a blog post from last September:
On the Plan Commission, Kevin Haley has been an ongoing beacon of wisdom. Never afraid to express the truth, no matter how unpopular, his was the sole dissenting vote against approving Target's building. After praising Target's efforts and execution, Haley said he would nonetheless have to oppose the motion:
My concerns are with the big picture, the quality. The Civic Center District guidelines tell us that this is supposed to set a higher standard. This is the standard by which all of Franklin will be evaluated in terms of architecture, site planning, many amenities. You did a great job on spiffing up the building, but as I tried to make apparent in our previous meetings, I have issues with the site plan, with the massing of the buildings, the fact that many of the third and fourth sides are very plain.
Haley is not soothed by a pretty facade; he's aware of the root of the site plan problem: Everything is built around the self-sufficient Target. This will ultimately be the undoing of the entire development as a true public space and commercial success beyond the Target parking lot border.
Mayor Taylor noted after Haley's comments:
Commissioner Haley, I’ve said it before -- I very much respect that you are sticking to your guns and principles. And I understand that you’ve made it no secret for some time that perhaps this could be done or that could be done. I do appreciate your position, and I also very much appreciate you being a plan commissioner.
As should we all.
Well, forget all that.
News comes to me that Mayor Tom Taylor has removed Kevin Haley from the Franklin Plan Commission. His three-year term has been given to present one-year appointment Shari Corrigan Hanneman. No replacement for the vacant chair has been announced as of now.
Kevin Haley was, without question, the single member of the Plan Commission who could be counted on to advocate for the COMMUNITY, understand the site plans, and vote with his conscience.
It was Haley who recognized the bald cynicism of Mark Carstensen's 11th hour addition of a single-family residence behind the Target loading dock of Shoppes at Wyndham Village - - after Carstensen had asked for and gotten re-zoning that would not permit such a dwelling in that location. (Incredibly, even as Carstensen's lucrative development endangered this family's property, he was able to make them think it was the Plan Commission they needed to fear!)
Kevin Haley was often a burr in developers' saddle, and - - barring an announcement that he's being named to a consequential planning post I've not yet heard of - - he has been removed so the rubber stamp can fall more efficiently.
In the days ahead I will be posting the backgrounds of each remaining Plan Commissioner. Prepare to be underwhelmed.
In the meantime, realize that one sitting plan commissioner, George Torres, was comfortable writing a letter dated 1/2/07 to WISDOT in support of Carstensen's Shoppes at Wyndham Village before seeing any definitive plans and before Carstensen's development had appeared before him in his role as plan commissioner - - a role in which Torres would and should be expected to show no positive predisposition toward a project that has not yet demonstrated compliance to the city's requirements.
An especially cuddly passage from Torres' letter:
Mr. Carstensen has also proven to be committed to ensuring his developments meet all State and local requirements. He remains open and receptive to ideas and suggestions that must be met in order to allow his projects to move ahead.
Really?
Dateline 6/4/07: At the eleventh hour, Carstensen foists a single-family residence on the land he had re-zoned to City Civic Center District by making it seem as though the city would be the bad guy if the family had to leave. Meanwhile, the city of Franklin has on file a letter of permission from the homeowners dated 2/13/07 for Carstensen to apply for a Site Plan And Certified Map approval on their behalf. The letter states plainly: "Mr. Carstensen is currently under contract with us for the purchase of the property." (My emphasis). The city was clearly fooled.
Dateline 6/7/07: I report the Common Council's rubber-stamping of an odd boundary re-draw - "odd geometry," I call it - on the Shoppes at Wyndham Village site plan. I make a prediction borne out below.
Dateline 11/23/07: Carstensen agrees to pay $46,000 to avoid a federal lawsuit over the destruction of wetlands at the site Shoppes at Wyndham Village.
Dateline 1/12/08: This blog unearths the agreement between Target and Carstensen that basically laughs off the City Civic Center District ambitions Carstensen touted when attempting to get rezoned so his project could go forward. Even the mayor was unaware of the document's existence.
How can a Plan Commissioner hold a developer to his/her promises and responsibilities when he's already on record as ready to rubber stamp whatever strip mall the developer spits out?
Kevin Haley asked the hard questions and raised issues that served the interests of this community and its future rather than that of the developers and their next Big Deal. He was the Plan Commissions' greatest asset.
And now Mayor Taylor has removed Mr. Haley from the Franklin Plan Commission.
More on this later.
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