Second Visioning Session Presented As The "Catalytic Opportunity Zone" For The Village Center.

Village Administrator Says It Is Too Early To Discuss How To Finance, Then Talks About Tax Incremental Finance Mechanisms "That Don't Cost Anything For Taxpayers".

From VOG website.

1/22/2025 Visioning Session for Village Center summary of citizen input here.

Recording of the event here.

Min 0:00 Before the meeting starts the voices of Bailey Copeland, Copeland Real Estate Services; Eric Mayne, Rinka; Steve Kreklow, village administrator, and David Baum, village trustee can be heard discussing the materials.

People arrive and are greeted by Steve Kreklow, administrator.

Pauses in the conversation with intermittent discussions about weather. Weather in other places.

Discussion then moves to presentation images’ country of origin.

“I didn’t realize that Mai Fest has been going on so long.” Mayne.

QR code snafu sorted out.

Min 6:30 Radio Silence until meeting start.

Min 15:15 Meeting introduction starts with Steve Kreklow introducing the program and the session. After a weather joke and thanking people for attending he reviews the overview of the history of the Flower Source property over the last few years.

Apparently, a Jiffy Lube and storage has been proposed for this property.

He talks about the electronic survey, reliant on the QR codes. Paper copies available. He says that it is too early to discuss the financing of the project, however, then launches into how other villages have used tax incremental financing to fund this sort of project “to make sure there is no tax impact on residents.”

This is untrue as revenues that normally, without a tax incremental finance district, go directly into the general fund are available for almost immediate use. Instead, the revenue is diverted into the building of whatever is proposed for the district; not to mention the use of general obligation bonds that may go along with the TID which add to debt.

Min 22:00 Rinka’s Eric Mayne reviews the “Catalytic Opportunity Zone” which after these sessions will create a framework to direct future development in the village center.

QR Code and linking of the electronic survey process review. He runs through the questions.

Emphasis on future use. “Trying to bring your ideas to light here.”

• Run through the video from min 22:00 through 56:30 for the presentation. This newsletter will not comment on each of the questions/answers handled via the electronic survey.

• Towards the second part of the presentation they show some actual Germanic looking market platz for potential uses as listed. These come up in the public comments.

From the video, which is why it is fuzzy. Pink is commercial, red is high density residential, orange is less dense residential and yellow is single-family housing. Green area indicates the wetlands which are not buildable. Min 51:00 description of the areas in the presentation.

Shows commercial on Pilgrim and Mequon corner with farmer’s market in yellow. Pink is mixed use, retail with residential/offices above? Unclear.

Min 56:30 room reset.

Min 1:00:00 Public comments. They will be taking notes.

First person asks about the houses that are currently occupied being included in the area. Most of the proposal is residential, which can overload services. Where is the parking? Culture of Germantown, Mai Fest happens only once a year, there are parks all over which no one uses. Why are we adding retail when there is nothing but theft these days?

Directed choices in the survey that are limiting, the fields should be open so that the community can add what they really want. The village has already engaged a entity to engage developers. Don’t want rental housing. Need more than 42 people in the room to make this decision. Other proposals have come forward with many rental use proposals recently, Blackstone Creek Golf Course area is one. Asks more people to attend the meetings.

Will the paper ballots be included in the survey results? Yes. Will the presentation be online? Yes. Where will people park? With a bandshell as part of this, it will be noisy for the residential properties being so close. The market platz is small. A splash pad and dining don’t go together. Germantown is not just the south side, where is the nod to the north side?

We already have many of the proposed items in the village. We should be reconsidering the better use of what we already have. Focus on making what we have better.

In the residential area, how many units? Why is the Mai Fest being placed beside the residential area in light of the recent noise ordinance issues?

Is the area a wetland? And, how will it be addressed?

Min 1:13:00 meeting closes out. All questions will be answered in a consolidated form. If there are other questions, send them to:

comments@germantownwi.gov

The survey will be held open for two weeks.

Meeting ends.

At no time did this group ask, “Should the Village of Germantown spend money on the old Flower Source property?”

Nor,

“Should the Village of Germantown create a tax incremental finance district to assist developers in the creation of a village center at the old Flower Source property per the visioning sessions?”