Franklin Today

More public funds for 27th Street?

Tonight's Common Council agenda includes two development topics: the Crossroads intersection (Hwy 100 & Loomis) and the 27th Street Corridor. What stands out is how those two topics part ways in terms of priorities and vision.

Kohl's HQ decision sheds light on new public spending

In what could be considered a blow to efforts to lure the Kohl's Corporate Headquarters out of Menomonee Falls, news from the Journal Sentinel indicates the exact opposite will actually be happening. JS Business Reporter Tom Daykin reports that Menomonee Falls officials have produced an incentive and relocation plan to Kohl's that would involve up to $41 million in public spending to keep the corporate headquarters there. Under the Menononee Falls plan, Kohl's would relocate to the more esteemed Woodland Prime Office Park, closer to US 45. Daykin further notes that Kohl's will make the final decision on its corporate plans this Fall.

What does Franklin need to do for more economic development?

Well, if you read the news, other suburbs are moving forward very well. Here are just a few snippets from the past week or so in terms of new development across the metropolitan area:

The future concerns of the Economic Development Commission, Part II

For those first joining us here, please read the backstory and Part I of my concerns and predictions relative to the changes I'm seeing around the corner for Franklin.

Now, onward we go...

In addition to the timeline presented at the end of Part I, another concern is also with the promotion of the City of Franklin to attract and retain businesses. With no Economic Development Director and possibly no official Economic Development Commission, the City of Franklin is virtually without anyone (or anything) to drive an economic engine. What's troubling to me is that I'm slowly seeing the power shifting to a few select individuals to guide the city onward to the future.

The future of the Economic Development Commission, Part I

As posted on Monday, the EDC Chairman, Alderman Ken Skowronski, is now bumped over to the Community Development Authority (CDA) as of last night. This is significant because the rep for the CDA has always been the 4th District Alderman, because the CDA oversees the Franklin Business Park, which is entirely within the 4th District. With the TIF District for the Business Park retiring this year, the CDA technically needs to find something else to do or else it likely should disband. CDAs per the law as I read it are only allowed to exist with TIF or Business Improvement (BID) Districts to oversee. The Northwestern Mutual and Wheaton Franciscan TIF Districts, at the present time, are being overseen by the Common Council and not the CDA. So, there could be several options coming into play:

The Economic Development Commission could see new aldermanic rep

Tomorrow's Common Council meeting shows something of interest that most residents likely would simply bypass. As with every election comes the reappointments of aldermen by Mayor Taylor to the city's various boards, commissions and committees. Aldermanic representatives on these are intended to be the "leaders" and "voices" of that citizen-led body to the Common Council if they request anything from the aldermen and mayor.

For many, many, many years, the Economic Development Commission (EDC) has been represented on the council via two aldermen - Steve Olson and Ken Skowronski. Skowronski is also the Chairman of the commission and a close friend of Mayor Taylor. This commission has also been under attack in recent years due to its ineffectiveness of being a stablized commission truly geared towards economic development.

Parking requirements for projects to be reviewed

This Thursday's Plan Commission meeting looks to be interesting as the commission is set to review the parking requirements for new developments within the city. As Franklin's leadership has been attempting to promote a more business-friendly climate here, several changes have already occurred in the development process. These changes, proposed by the Mayoral Ad-Hoc Development Process Review Committee, were more focused on the protection of the city's natural resources and features.

It's good to see that we're moving beyond that.

The parking requirements in Franklin are a bit out of hand, and have received criticism in the past. Instead of utilizing the land in a more compact form, the requirements would have developers build massive parking lots due to the square footage of the building(s) within the project. To that end, many completed developments in our community currently feature parking lots that are half-full, and with some projects this eliminates any sort-of "community" feeling and replaces it with a generic strip mall environment.

While retailers and restaurants have parking requirements in order for their business to locate in a particular project, it always seemed that Franklin's requirements far exceeded those numbers. Instead of creating asphalt paradises, perhaps developers can attempt to create true community shopping and working destinations with revised (and hopefully lower) parking requirements.

Alderwoman Wilhelm updates residents on city matters

KW Update Late 2/2011

CDA agenda tonight mostly closed session

This could be interesting news for the Franklin Business Park, depending on what exactly the "potential development of property" is on the Community Development Authority agenda tonight. This meeting must be of significant importance since the CDA had their regular meeting this month a mere 4 days ago. Mayor Taylor doesn't call special meetings for minor reasons.

In this economy, I suppose anything is considered a plus, especially in terms of office or industrial development that will bring in a daytime workforce. With all the negative news on Franklin's retail projects, this is an absolute necessity to retain those retailers to fill-in vacancies.

Farmer who fought for his land has died

The Journal Sentinel is reporting that yesterday a fire killed Gerald Mahr, a Franklin farmer who lived on a jewel of land along Loomis Road near the "Loomis Triangle" of Loomis, Rawson and 76th Street. Mahr's death is news because of past interest in developing the land by both developers and the City of Franklin. In 2005, the Journal Sentinel broke the news about how the city was going to rezone Mahr's land for developer interests despite his intentions on staying put in his home. 

Since that 2005 story, it doesn't sound like things were well with Mr. Mahr, with the Journal Sentinel offering a bleak glimpse into his situation up until death:

In recent years, the home had broken windows and no heat; animals, including his beloved stray cats, moved in and out freely. Mahr, who suffered from numerous health problems could barely care for himself but refused to leave, and often heated the home with space heaters.

Due to the land being extremely valuable, the state fire marshal has been brought in to review the blaze and the Franklin Police Department is promising a very thorough investigation. Once the investigations are done, the land will likely be on the market, which will be in addition to the 51 acres of land for sale next door. Combining both properties, whatever development occurs could be directly linked to the Franklin Centre strip mall on Rawson Avenue, and would definitely highlight something Franklin residents have wanted for a very long time - a strong central business district.