Mark Carstensen: “We Are Overregulated Here In Franklin.”
Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 8:08PM Well, who the HELL are you… Mark Carstensen? Who, who, who, who?
This past Tuesday the Franklin Common Council, chaired by Common Council President Steve Taylor, was presented with a concept review for Sacred Heart at Monastery Lake, a proposed four-story apartment building designed to house 180 residents, including active and retired priests, as well as members of the general public older than 55.
BATTLE JOINED (BATJO) attended this meeting and listened to Mark Carstensen’s (Mark Carstensen Construction and Development) presentation, and frankly, was put-off by the bully-like behavior Carstensen exhibited toward District 3 Alderwoman, Kristen Wilhelm, who is my Alderman. I can’t help but wonder how different Carstensen’s tone and behavior might have been were he addressing AlderMAN “CHRISTOPHER Wilhelm,” with a physical stature closer to his own.
What follows is Carstensen’s tirade in response to Wilhelm’s motion, and discussion to require Mark Carstensen Construction and Development to obtain a review of its project from SEWRPC (Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission), something this company has done before by Carstensen’s own admission:
“This city is overregulated the way it is and we don’t need another level of complications to this city. With all due respect Ald. Wilhelm, you say that SEWRPC is middle of the road and it’s no problem; this, that and the other. We put together a very substantial, complete, package; we don’t think that we need to run it past each and every agency out there, especially when they’re not, um, needed at this point, and frankly, ah, they have no jurisdiction. We, we, run by the rules. It’s very difficult to operate in Franklin. The Franklin’s NRPP [Natural Resource Protection Plan] does not overlap with the requirements from the DNR [Department of Natural Resources], don’t overlap with requirements from the [U.S.] Army Corps of Engineers, ah, you say that they’re very middle of the ground, that they’re very benign. I can resurrect a letter from them that I received on the Shoppes of Wyndham Village that was more of an editorial than a simple, ‘hey let’s give ya some advice here,’ to the point that there was actually very pointed out to me that, if it was two years later, there’s absolutely no way that this development would ever be built where you want it to be built—period.
We don’t need this, this, this is, this is a development that’s needed in every aspect that we pointed out this evening, and I’ll take this opportunity, now that you’ve brought it out, Ms. Wilhelm, that we are overregulated her in Franklin. Your UDO [Unified Development Ordinance] is the most difficult document to ever go through, and you can ask anybody that’s worked in this city. You don’t need anymore than that. And if you pass the UDO, you pass the Army Corps of Engineers, you pass the DNR, how much more do you need? That’s my, that’s my response.”
Aside from Carstensen’s downright arrogance and out-and-out contempt for Franklin’s UDO, which under Wisconsin State Law is enacted with the express purpose, under SECTION 15-1.0103, “to promote the health, safety, morals, prosperity, aesthetics, and general welfare of the City of Franklin...,” and thereby protecting Franklin property owners.
Follows is BATJO's digital recording of Mr. Carstensen’s comments directed at Ald. Wilhelm.
As you listen to this 5:26 exchange, ask yourself—as I did—why in the hell would the Mayor and Aldermen Olson, Solomon and Taylor, supposed city leaders, allow this contractor to say, without objection, the things Carstensen said about our city and Franklin’s UDO, a document most of these gentlemen had a hand in drafting AND approving?
And why didn’t the Chair, Common council Steve Taylor, direct Carstensen to address the Common Council, and not single out Ald. Wilhelm in his remarks? I can see no excuse for this show of weakness to a developer, hometown-boy or otherwise.
Maybe you’ll be able to find one as you listen to the recording.
To quote The Who and with “all due respect” to Mr. Carstensen, how about you go “stagger back to the underground,” or better yet, to quote a friend and fellow Franklin resident:
“If Franklin is so ‘overregulated’ and our UDO ‘the most difficult document to ever go through,’ maybe Carstensen should be shown the city limit.”
I couldn’t agree more completely.
Reader Comments (4)
......I just want the guy to fix his company's shitty asphalt job over at Wyndham Village.
If my company did that kind of work I'd be out of work.
...oh and pick up the bricks and garbage next to Ferch's too.
sorry off topic.
I had 6 contractors come to propose an addtion to my house in Franklin. All of them said they really do not want to do the job because of the strict codes and the inspectors.
"admwilli,"
If those six contractors are too stupid to understand, and afraid of Franklin's strict building codes, we can all be thankful that none of them will do business in Franklin.; no?
I'm guessing you don't want to share the names of these six contractors with your Franklin neighbors; right?
CARSTENSEN NEVER LET ANYTHING "OVER REGULATED" STOP HIS RAMPAGES !
Take for example the many one hundred year old oak trees and wetlands that he destroyed for his Shoppes at Wyndham Village project.... and our Mayor's ego stroking project. A more blatant in-your-face act you won't find! He committed his land-rape all the while knowing that the DNR had not completed it's study and also knowing that there was a legal public contested hearing in progress with the DNR. Did the great C worry? Nah! The next thing we know, the paperwork for this hearing languished somewhere in the DNR bureaucracies. The same paperwork, that had to be in the judges hands by a certain date, never arrived !!
Case dismissed!! Hmmmmm.....how fortunate for Carstensen! How stinky the scenario !!
Over regulated??? What does Carstensen care? As he was documented saying, "I [that means me...M.C.] RUN FRANKLIN !!