Third mega proposal from 2015 finally gets some attention as TID is sought

While the news from Showtime Cinema grabbed the hearts and minds of many Franklinites last week, the last of Franklin's "Big 3" proposals from 2015 finally taking little steps towards becoming reality. Ironically, if this mega project happened a bit sooner along with the implementation of a vision for Hwy 100 & Loomis, the Showtime news could have been vastly different.

The area spoken of is the Loomis/Ryan/116th intersection(s). In 2015, Kenosha-based Bear Development was conceptually speaking of a mixed use mega project for that area which included a large subdivision, a business/warehouse park, and other commercial uses for the area. Of the "Big 3", this was the one that received little attention from City Hall and was viewed as the "ugly duckling" of sorts. The other two - Ballpark Commons and a warehouse park in SE Franklin, were pet projects for the Council (the Commons) or Mayor Olson (the park). This one, probably due to its location in a more rural portion of Franklin where few movers or shakers are around to get things going (or stopped), didn't get the TLC like the others. So the project sat around for two years.

Until now.

Last week the South NOW reported that Bear Development is in talks with a developer who wants to bring parts of this plan back to life again. One of the portions of "Area G" - what the city calls this mega project of sorts, has attracted what Bear is labeling a "significant and respected industrial manufacturing user" to a 30 acre site within the zone. If they move forward, the project would bring in 300 jobs to the city.

The catch? The developer wants a tax-incremental district (TID) - where the city assists in part of the development and gets repaid via the project's property taxes over a period of time (usually in tens of years). At issue is that this whole area doesn't receive any sewer or water, despite the city constructing the Ryan Creek Interceptor Sewer nearby at a hefty cost to taxpayers. The Council voted on June 20th to have an analyst study the potential TID for pros and cons. However, it needs to be said that typically if a city wants to have a major player in the community, the taxpayers gotta shell out a little support in the form of a TID to get it off the conceptual stage and turning it into shovels in the ground.

Again, as FT discussed previously, Loomis Road can play a vital role in the future of Franklin's commercial growth. Both Ballpark Commons and Area G, along with the Civic Center District vision of 20 years, has Loomis Road as a major thoroughfare to bring in workers and residents. Perhaps instead of the city busting their buns on the 27th Street Corridor - a corridor where Franklin taxpayers only see benefits of new growth on their city taxes and not school taxes - the real push should have been enhancing and creating a Loomis Road Corridor instead - where both taxing districts would have seen a real impact and taxpayers could have seen benefits on both their city and school taxes.

We shall see what happens next as this part of Area G moves along. FT will keep you informed of further developments there.