Rubbed Off

If my work as a planner for over 35 years taught me anything, it was that development, more often than not, is controversial. Particularly when near existing development. In most cases, the development would end up occurring anyway. Good plans can help to ameliorate the negative effects of a development. You have to follow your plans and ordinances. Yet, people still have a mantra of being a NIMBY, Not in My Backyard. There are times when NIMBYism can be useful.  A few issues in McFarland have been generating a great deal of controversy. My wife has been active on some of the issues, and one in particular I think my discourses on planning over the years was actually absorbed or rubbed off on her.

I always thought my discourses were, if I was lucky, going in one ear and out the other, or perhaps bouncing off like a pickle ball. To my surprise she paid some attention, which pays dividends in her activity on the McFarland Community Facebook page.  The project she in which she is what the village terms a "commercial development" projected for the east side of the village near Siggelkow Road. In town, much of Siggelkow is primarily a residential street, albeit four lanes for a good section, the section shared with Madison. In part it serves as a dividing line between McFarland and Madison. As a former planner, terminology can be both truly expressive of a use, but also euphemistic. For example, the commercial development they are talking about is not retail or service, but rather a large warehouse. Both fall under "commercial" in the Standard Industrial Classification Code (US Treasury Dept), but that is a wide range. I believe when most people her commercial they think of retail, restaurants and small service sector, like a bike repair or computer repair business. People have been asking for more commercial in McFarland, and this is how the village board responds. I don't think it is the commercial the lay population was looking for. Another example, is how the term business park came into use rather than industrial park; industrial tends to have a negative connotation, business a more favorable connotation. 

When most people think of commercial a 790,000 sq ft warehouse with 79 semi-truck docks would not fit their definition. So it is that the village leaders use the term commercial to describe this use. The better description would be warehouse, but they keep it broad and use a less obnoxious term to make it more palatable. This 18 plus acre building would be located on a 69 acre site, with an additional 167 acres available for industrial and business uses. One person, who has studied this, indicates that the east section of Siggelkow would see 50 to 100 semitruck trips a day. Apparently according to the developer, Interstate Partners, over 500 semi trips are estimated each day. This is based on a similar facility in Sun Prairie. The developer seemed proud of the semi traffic number as if more semis means more revenue for a village.

From TID 7 Project Plan
purple is color used for industrial, 
but the plan calls it business park
In my mind, business park is an entity,
Industrial, commercial, warehouses, etc are uses
This shows the euphemisms at play

One former village board member, which I believe was attempting to justify the decision for such a large use in the village, noted that there is no way to predict how some one will travel. The wife, rightly wrote back that it occurs all the time by traffic studies which estimate not only number of trips but their distribution of direction on to main streets. The study may not say how I, as an individual will travel, but it will say what a subdivision of 20 homes will produce in terms of trips (about 200) and how they will be distributed. The larger and more broad based, the more likely to have better accuracy. She properly noted that the 50 to 100 semi truck trips noted by that one man would have a negative effect on the single family homes adjoining Siggelkow Rd. Now, I do not know where the guy got his numbers, or if the village had a traffic study accomplished, but if not it should have been required, first at the large scale level when planning a business park and second at the micro-level with this one use, and how it integrates into the larger picture. 

The powers that be like to point out the tax base that will be generated and that people in the village say more commercial is needed. The issue is whether the use is the right place. In fact, the village may be better off with a light industrial development than a large warehouse as the warehouse produces more truck traffic. To benefit the development, the village is looking to create a Tax Increment District (TID).

With a TID, one needs to weigh negative impacts against its benefits. Generally, the test is that the development would not otherwise have happened but for the TID. TID's will typically take 12 to the maximum 20 years to pay off. I have long questioned whether a municipality ever earns back its payment as it provides services for the life of the TID which are subsidized by the other taxpayers. In basic, a TID is a defined geographic area (district) and any additional tax revenue (tax increment) from the date of creation goes to that defined geographic area. For example, say a municipality has a 200 acre TID created, and put in streets, sewer, water, storm water, and private utilities to serve that development. Perhaps they also granted a land write-down or other method to entice a specific development. Let us say they issued bonds, for the cost of those improvements in the amount of $20 million, and for twenty years to pay for those expenses. A couple new buildings are built, and in year 3, as an example, the tax base has grown from its base by $20 million. If the mill rate is $20 per $1,000 valuation, the district receives $400,000 to put to its expenses and debt. So it goes, until all costs, including debt, are paid. Sounds good, right? So what is the problem? The problem is that development pays for police, fire, road maintenance (snow plowing) or other municipal services on the base amount (predevelopment amount) for the life of the TID, other than what was the value at creation. And, more often than not such development happens on farmland, which has a low value, as it is based on production of corn not on its relationship to factors such as an urban area. Hence, if it takes twenty years to pay the debt off, that means for twenty years the vast majority of costs are been borne by the other taxpayers. It is a taxpayer subsidy to the TID area. Or, corporate welfare. Further, within that twenty years there are added maintenance costs, street sealing as one example, that costs more than a typical annual of snow plowing and street sweeping. In fact, by the end of twenty years, the roads may already, or be close to, a milling up and repaving the streets. My residential cul-de-sac was repaved after about 30 year, so you can imagine the need for a street that sees a great deal of semi traffic.

Further, there will be added costs outside the TID. Road repair, if not expansion may well be required. Semitruck's do more damage to a roadway than several cars. The Asphalt Institute estimates the damage of one five axle truck is equivalent to 1,750 to 2,950 passenger cars (midpoint is 1350)! Another source has the road stress of a truck to a car being 10,000 to 1. A different source, indicates that eighteen wheelers cause 99% of the damage and pay only about 38% of the cost for repair. 

The decision on whether or not to allow a TID is by the local municipality and the joint review board--comprised of municipal member, school district member, vo-tech member, county member, and an at large person recommended by the municipality and voted on the four members. I served on several joint review boards in my time with Fitchburg. 

It is nice to see my wife so engaged, and that my words of many years did not bounce off like butter in a hot Teflon coated pan. As for me, this was my life for a long time, and at this point, I need not be so engaged. With my words having rubbed off, and her added ideas, she made a formidable argument against the warehouse and the TID.