City hall tries to find its place

Oak Creek - Three site plans for a new city hall and library, including moving both to the former Delphi Automotive plant location, were presented to residents Monday night at a joint meeting between the Oak Creek-Franklin School Board and Common Council.

About 80 residents attended the meeting in the cafeteria of the Oak Creek High School, where the plans and their fiscal implications were detailed.

Besides the Delphi site plan, one plan involved rebuilding the library and city hall on the current civic center site, 8640 S. Howell Ave., and a third called for moving just the library to the Delphi property, 7929 S. Howell Ave.

While the plans on the surface seem simple enough, each carries its own construction price tag, some involve land swaps with the school district and the developer of the Delphi site, and each promises a different tax base return.

Construction costs

Residents were told that construction costs to build a one-story, 100,000-square-foot library and city hall at the civic center would be $25 million - higher than the other two options. Building a one-story 50,000-square city hall where it is and a one-story 50,000-square-foot library at the Delphi site would cost $23.9 million. The least expensive option, building a two-story 100,000-square-foot library and city hall building at the Delphi site, would cost $21.3 million.

Matt Prince, vice president of operations for Riley Construction, Kenosha, said his company's analysis of the proposals and their costs assumed the same building size and materials for each plan. He said the higher cost for work on the civic center site was due to having to work in close proximity to an existing, functioning building, which would create a construction slowdown and up the cost of demolition.

Basing decision on taxes

Meanwhile, Larry Witzling, a principal with Graef, a Milwaukee engineering consulting firm, told residents that the plan to move both buildings to the Delphi site is the option that would boost the tax base the most - by more than $250 million - as it sends a signal of confidence to investors.

"Libraries can become and have become destinations," he said. "They drive people to the site."

By comparison, the option to have both buildings remain where they are would bring in the least amount of increased tax base, $38 million. Relocating the library to the Delphi site and having city hall remain where it is falls in between - $189 million to about $250 million.

Land-swap scenarios

At the crux of the plans to relocate either the library or the library and city hall to the Delphi site is a land swap deal whereby WisPark LLC, the development arm of We Energies, would receive 50 acres of land now owned by the school district.

WisPark bought the Delphi site last year for $8 million; the purchase was financed in part with $2 million from the city. Delphi closed in 2008.

WisPark also owns the 205 acres at Howell Avenue and Oakwood Road, and it wants the school district's property to develop what would be called the Oak View Business Park.

Jerry Franke, president of WisPark, said development of that business park would create 1,400 jobs and add $64 million to the city's tax base.

"The decision of the city hall and library is a community decision," he said. "But time is money. The Delphi site is a very desirable site. The business park at Oakwood and Howell, it's extremely important we have those 50 acres."

At 85 acres, the Delphi site is twice the size of Bayshore Town Center in Glendale, Franke said, and can't be filled with retail alone.

Adding the library or both city buildings to the site would create "critical mass" and stability needed to attract the types of development residents have indicated they want, such as restaurants.

"We need anchors," he said.