Exhibit 10
EXHIBIT 10 The Journal Times Article June 01, 2012
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Exhibit 10
Exhibit 10
Root River
River development proposal unveiled, headed to City Council The plan for the Root
June 01, 2012 6:28 am • CHRISTINE WON christine.won@journaltimes.com RACINE — A once-faraway vision of a revitalized riverfront Downtown has taken root and is closer to reality, supporters hope. The Root River Corridor Redevelopment Plan, “RootWorks,” being touted as the first of such a comprehensive nature to focus on the river, was unveiled to the public Thursday night. The plan’s goals for the approximately 325-acre Root River corridor between Memorial Drive and the river’s mouth are fourfold: to create a sense of place, increase public access and interaction, improve water quality and stimulate economic growth. The plan proposes to do that by creating new boardwalks, bike paths closer to the water, a seasonal food court area, a music venue and more, including the River Loop, a proposed 1.75-mile recreation loop connected to the Root River Pathway. The Root River Council, made up of several area volunteers, has been working since 2006 to revitalize the river area Downtown. On Thursday, the council unveiled the comprehensive plan in its entirety to more than 40 people, including several city officials, at the Root River Environmental Education Community Center, 1301 W. Sixth St. “Looking at the city from the river, you see the different possibilities,” state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, said Thursday, hours before leading a few on a public paddle down the river despite the rain. He’s on the RRC and is chair of the technical team that pushed the plan. “By investing in redevelopment, it creates an opportunity for the city to increase its tax base, redevelop an improved land currently under capacity and really give people jobs,” he said. It would revitalize the riverfront, attract businesses and tourists Downtown and create a hub of community, supporters said Thursday. It’s a vision the RRC hopes the city and community will share.
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Exhibit 10
Exhibit 10 The 35-page proposal, which incorporated public input, goes before the City Plan Commission on June 13 for consideration, and from there to the City Council for public hearing and adoption on June 19. The City Council’s adoption would show the city’s “commitment” in moving forward with the plan, city officials said at the meeting. While no city funds have gone into the plan development, city personnel have been involved with the process in an advisory capacity. The plan was developed through grants from public and private sources, including the SC Johnson Fund, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Community Development Block Grant program and more, totaling about $117,000 for the current fiscal year, according to the council. If the city approves the plan, the next stage would be securing funding for implementation. The plan identifies eight priority projects deemed as feasible for the next few years, including pedestrian bridges, painting bike lanes and creating a public boardwalk near CNH campus. Mary Schroeder, who said she’s a lifelong Racine resident, came to the meeting Thursday because of her interest in the Root River. Schroeder, an active canoeist, said she believes the city needs to invest in the redevelopment of a long underutilized asset, adding: “I think we need this to move forward.”
For more about the Root River Council For more information, email rootrivercouncil@gmail.com, visit www.rootrivercouncil.org or call (262) 672-0283.
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Exhibit 10
Exhibit 11
EXHIBIT 11 City of Racine Common Council Meeting Minutes June 19, 2012
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Exhibit 11
Exhibit 12
EXHIBIT 12 Mayor John Dickert Letter May 01, 2013
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Exhibit 13
EXHIBIT 13 DNR Letter To Matt Sadowski September 18, 2013
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Exhibit 13
Exhibit 14
EXHIBIT 14 The Journal Times Article April 03, 2014
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Exhibit 14
Exhibit 14
City council members question RootWorks grant, project City council members ultimately vote to accept dollars to purchase properties
April 03, 2014 6:40 am • By Cara Spoto RACINE — The city recently netted a grant to purchase properties it needs to complete a phase of the RootWorks: Root River Corridor Redevelopment Plan, but some aldermen aren’t happy about how the city is planning to use those funds. On Wednesday, they and other City Council members spent the better part of 40 minutes debating whether the city should accept the $242,000 matching grant as planned or hold off until spending concerns and questions about future project costs could be addressed. While aldermen like Sandy Weidner and Eddie Diehl raised concerns about future demolition costs, the loss of property tax dollars and the proper use of city funds, other aldermen, like Q.A. Shakoor II and Greg Helding, encouraged their fellow City Council members not to hold off on accepting the funds. “If we dither this away until we lose it, we are not going to get this kind of help again anytime soon,” Helding said. “If we have to ask questions, let’s do that now.” Other supporters of going ahead with the acceptance, including the five members of the Root River Council who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period, pointed to a letter of support that was written by area state legislators. The city learned early last month that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources had chosen the city for the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program grant. In the end, the council voted 10-5 to accept the grant, with Aldermen Mike Shields, Sandy Weidner, Henry Perez, Jeff Coe and Eddie Diehl opposing. Nearly all those opposed to accepting the grant had backed a failed measure put forth by Diehl to have the request to accept the grant sent to the Committee of the Whole for further discussion. The grant Explaining the grant to the Finance and Personnel Committee last month, city staff said the plan was to use the money to purchase five parcels on Mound Avenue designated under the RootWorks plan as the future site of a bike path, scenic overlook and outdoor classroom.
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Exhibit 14
Exhibit 14 As part of requirements of the grant, the city would also use the grant dollars and its matching funds — a donation of land from one of the property owners, remaining dollars from other grant sources and $86,483 in intergovernmental shared revenue funds — to pay to relocate the property owners and/or their tenants, staff explained. While Weidner’s main concerns about the grant centered around future costs, and the city’s practice of “continuing to put more land into the public trust,” Diehl’s have focused around how the city plans to the use the grant dollars. Troubled by the proposal to spend grant funds and city dollars on relocation costs, Diehl said this week that he learned from a state employee knowledgeable about such property acquisitions that the city was not required to pay relocations costs under the Knowles grant. City Administrator Tom Friedel said Wednesday that the city made plans to pay relocations costs because that was what the DNR instructed the city to do. He added, however, that he had spoken to Diehl about the information he received, and was checking with the DNR to make sure they were, indeed, on the right track. “Bottom line is we will do whatever we are required to do by the DNR. We wrote the grant based on what they told us to,” Friedel said. “Certainly we won’t expend any funds from the grant that we are not required to.” During Wednesday’s meeting, Diehl said he has nothing against the project, and wants to make sure the city isn’t spending money it doesn’t have to spend. “I am thrilled about the grant. My questions are about some of the details,” he said.
Other concerns with the grant The specter of the city paying out unnecessary relocation costs isn’t the only thing that has stuck in Alderman Eddie Diehl’s craw about a grant the city plans to use to purchase property along Mound Avenue as part of RootWorks. He also has raised concerns about connections two members of the Root River Council — Monte Osterman and Marty Defatte — have to one of the buildings the city plans to purchase through the grant: an industrial warehouse at 1251 Mound Ave. Osterman’s business, Osterman Granite & Marble, leases space in the building. Defatte, a real estate agent for Shorewest, is listed as a real estate agent on the property. Diehl has said he is troubled that both men might unfairly benefit from the city’s acquisition of the property. He said Osterman, the only tenant at 1251 Mound Ave., might unfairly benefit from the estimated $25,000 the city could end up paying the property owner or tenant to relocate.
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Exhibit 14
Exhibit 14 As for Defatte, Diehl pointed out that the real estate agent could have known ahead of time that the property was going to be purchased by the city and stands to receive a commission when the property is sold. Asked about Diehl’s concerns on Tuesday, Osterman said he moved his workshop to the building in 2010, long before the RootWorks plan was approved. He said he did not know that the grant, awarded to the city last month by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, would pay to relocate commercial tenants. He added, however, that even if he did receive funds to relocate, it would still be a losing prospect for his business. “(Relocating) creates downtime — you are not working. Nobody in their right mind would want to relocate their business,” he said. Asked about Diehl’s concerns regarding his role as the agent for the building, Defatte said he had “no comment.” City staff have said they don’t believe the men’s connection to the property and their status as RRC members should cause any concern, especially because the RRC had no role in drafting the RootWorks plan. They added that the RRC, outside of speaking in favor of the RootWorks plans, has never had any say in whether they are approved or receive city funds.
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Exhibit 15
EXHIBIT 15 DVD April 02, 2014 Racine Common Council Meeting Root Works Discussion 201417203
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Exhibit 16
EXHIBIT 16 IRS List of Racine Non-Profit Organizations
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Exhibit 17
EXHIBIT 17 Root River Council Facebook Page
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Exhibit 17
Exhibit 17
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Exhibit 18
EXHIBIT 18 Statement of Ben Lehner SOI Region 2025 Industry Opportunities Conference
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Exhibit 18
Exhibit 18
SOI Region 2025 Industry Opportunities: What do the Numbers Miss? March 7 and 14, 2014 Fifteen thought leaders from throughout the State of Ingenuity (SOI) region will share their insights regarding economic development opportunities and challenges in this six-county region that spans northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. Three areas will be spotlighted: Racine/Kenosha, Beloit/Janesville/Whitewater, and Rockford/Belvidere. By engaging leading economic development thinkers in key economic hubs in the SOI region, these workshops will generate ideas to expand and diversify the regional SOI economy that will be presented to the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The workshops will culminate with an Idea Lab discussion on Friday, March 14, to identify regional themes, issues, and action steps based on 2025 horizon emerging markets from across the three panels. All four sessions are open and free of charge. Information on the participants, time, and location of each session follow. Participant’s bios are provided at the end of this document. Racine/Kenosha Panel March 7, 2014, 10am-12:30pm Gateway Technical College, iMET Center, Room 235, 2320 Renaissance Blvd. Sturtevant, Wisconsin Panelists: Jaimie Charon, Senior Small Business Consultant, Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation Racine Office; John Dickert, Mayor of Racine, Wisconsin; Ben Lehner, Executive Director, Root River Council; Kate Walker, Director of Business Development, Gateway Technical College Facilitator: Keenan Grenell, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Global Capital Group, LLC Participant Biographies Racine/Kenosha Panel (March 7, 2014) PANELISTS: Ben Lehner, Executive Director, Root River Council Ben is an AmericCorps VISTA alum and executive director of The Root River Council (http://rootrivercouncil.org/), a non-profit focused on redeveloping Racine's Root River. He owns the Circa Celeste Café and Catering and is a board member of Sustainable Edible Economic Development (SEED). He is owner of Root Connections, a grant writing, communications and community outreach consulting firm.
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Exhibit 18
Exhibit 19
EXHIBIT 19 City of Racine Ordinance 2-332
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Exhibit 19
DIVISION 2. DEPARTMENT OF CITY DEVELOPMENT Sec. 2-331. Created; director. Sec. 2-332. Duties. Secs. 2-333—2-345. Reserved. Sec. 2-331. Created; director. There is hereby created the department of city development and the office of the director of city development, who shall be the head of the department. (Code 1973, § 3.175.010) Sec. 2-332. Duties. It shall be the duty of the department of city development and the director of city development to: (1) Serve as staff to the city plan commission, redevelopment authority and the community development committee, with the director of city development serving as secretary to the city plan commission, and as executive director and secretary to the redevelopment authority. (2) Perform planning services set forth in Wis. Stats. ch. 236 and Wis. Stats. §§ 62.23 and 66.431. (3) Administer the community development block grant program. (4) Prepare applications for federal and state grants-in-aid relating to redevelopment plans, urban renewal plans and other programs as directed by the common council. (Code 1973, § 3.175.020) Secs. 2-333—2-345. Reserved
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Exhibit 19
Exhibit 20
EXHIBIT 20 City of Racine Ordinance 46-268
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Exhibit 20
Exhibit 20 DIVISION 9. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUE SHARING FUND Sec. 46-266. Created. Sec. 46-267. Funding. Sec. 46-268. Administration. Sec. 46-269. Earnings. Secs. 46-270—46-279. Reserved. Sec. 46-266. Created. There is hereby created a fund to be known as the intergovernmental revenue sharing fund, into which fund shall be placed all revenue sharing contributions disbursed to the city from the wastewater commission in accordance with the Racine Area Intergovernmental Sanitary Sewer Service, Revenue Sharing, Cooperation and Settlement Agreement dated April 25, 2002, (the "agreement") and all interest payments from loans of funds under this division. (Ord. No. 4-03, pt. 1, 2-19-03) Sec. 46-267. Funding. Any and all monies received under section 46-266 shall be retained in the Intergovernmental revenue sharing fund and disbursed only for use for capital projects specifically required by the "agreement", which shall not be subject to section 46-268 below, and for capital projects and associated costs and expenses where such projects have private investment and result in taxable real estate development or job creation/retention, or are unique tax exempt projects that eliminate blight and result in tangible indirect increases in taxable real estate or job creation/retention. Monies from this fund shall not be used for any other purpose and shall not be transferred to any other fund. (Ord. No. 4-03, pt. 1, 2-19-03) Sec. 46-268. Administration. The intergovernmental revenue sharing fund shall be administered by the common council. The common council shall solicit the recommendation of the redevelopment authority of the city regarding the eligibility of proposed projects. Projects resulting in tax base creation shall have a minimum ratio of $5.00 in net new tax base for every $1.00 of public investment in projects where there is not a loan payback to the city. No minimum ratio of tax base creation for loan capital shall be required. Commercial and industrial projects shall be eligible for consideration if a project creates a minimum of one full-time equivalent job for every $50,000.00 of non-loan capital granted under this division or one full-time equivalent job for every $100,000.00 of loan capital provided under this division. Funding requests that do not meet the standards may be considered and granted upon two-thirds vote of the common council. (Ord. No. 4-03, pt. 1, 2-19-03)
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Exhibit 21
EXHIBIT 21 Results of a Root River Council Google Search
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Exhibit 21