Franklin’s Public Hunting Grounds and what You Have Been Told—or Not
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 2:27 PM 
In separate stories published on November 22 and 23 we asked readers if they could identify the Wisconsin DNR Public Hunting grounds pictured in the story. To-date we have not received the correct answer from among these choices: Tichigan, Vernon, Franklin or Oconomowoc.
Give up? Well, the correct answer is Franklin. We doubt that many Franklin and Milwaukee County citizens realize that there is a state-owned public hunting grounds within Franklin’s city limits on 116th street, and wonder how many members of the Franklin Common Council are aware of this fact? Depending upon how you feel about this we suggest calling your alderman or Mayor Tom Taylor with any questions or concerns you may have over this unique situation.
We have a couple of concerns of our own on this subject. First, the close proximity of Alderman Skowronski’s home to this state-owned land. Secondly, we recalled the following statement by Mayor Tom Taylor in a September 26, 2010, JSOnline story favoring the now-controversial $41 million Ryan Creek Interceptor Project in what Taylor referred to in the article as the overdue period of growth for the city's southwest quarter, predicting with confidence that the sewer project:
“[Would open] much of the land to a building boom [and] would add more than $1.2 billion to the city's property tax base by 2025,” and that the added businesses would take some of the local tax burden off the shoulders of homeowners.” Taylor added, “there’s little room for new businesses elsewhere: Only a few acres are left for sale in the city's business park at S. 51st St. and Ryan Road. If a company came in and said they wanted a significant size property, we'd have to say no."
Taking the mayor at his word concerning the business (warehouse) park at S. 51st St. and Ryan Road, the mayor needs to explain to Franklin citizens how the state of Wisconsin became the owners of the 100 acres of land now designated public hunting grounds, being that, in his words ”there's little room for new businesses elsewhere.” If the mayor is really serious about 'tak[ing] some of the local tax burden off the shoulders of homeowners.” As Alderman Solomon likes to say, “It ain’t gonna happen.” The state does not pay taxes to the City on the 100 or so acres it owns.
Speaking of development, we find it very “interesting” that the state-owned hunting grounds—baring its sale to a private party—prevents development of that property which just so happens to be just hundreds of yards from Alderman Ken Skowronski’s home. Yet, the City is preparing to take land (potentially by eminent domain) from Franklin citizens in order to build the Ryan Creek Interceptor for future sale to MMSD; which will tax property owners within its taxing boundaries, quite the oposite of Taylor's statement "...that "it will take some of the local tax burden off the shoulders of homeowners."
It must also be noted that Franklin developer Jim O’Malley, whose development company, O'malley Development, LLC owns land involved in the RCI project area. In addition, campaign finace records filed with the Franklin City Clerk's office revealed O’Malley was a contributor to Mayor Taylor’s and Alderman Steve Taylor’s last campaigns. In fact, O’Malley was a volunteer for the alderman’s reelection run.
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Basil Ryan | in Ald. Ken Skowronski, District 6, Ald. Steve Taylor, District 4, Ald. Tim Solomon, District 2, City of Franklin, Franklin Common Council, Franklin Developers, Mayor Tom Taylor, Milwaukee County, Property Taxes, Ryan Creek Interceptor Project | Share Article Permalink | Email Article | Post a Comment | Print Article 