Franklin land deal is a natural, in more ways than one

Franklin - Depending on who you talk to, the recent sale of 52.61 acres of land at 12200 W. Ryan Road into a special land protection program is a sign of the times, or it could be an inevitable result of the land's limited prospects.

According to the real estate agent involved in the transaction, the sale was made possible because of the flat economy.

According to conservationists, the sale represents a national trend to protect a portion of land around metropolitan areas as well as other locales, from rampant development.

According to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the land is mostly unusable for development, and instead better serve as a natural retention pond for future development.

Whatever the reasons, MMSD bought the land for $315,000 using The Conservation Fund, a national conservancy nonprofit organization project with a local office as the agent. Commercial real estate firm NAI MLG based in Brookfield worked the transaction.

A 'unique' deal

"It's a unique transaction, one that I have not done before," said NAI MLG Commercial's Stephen Provancher, who has been a real estate professional for 11 years. "As I understand it, the current private owner of the land has an additional 100 acres or so and plans to develop it in the future. This portion of the land could not be developed."

He worked with a MMSD real estate manager and consultant to MMSD.

"We work through The Conservation fund to approach landowners," Stefanik said. "We have preserved about 2,500 acres in all over the past 10 years. We have been able to do this because there has been really no demand for new residential property and there's a backlog of lots. I guess the downturn in the economy has helped us preserve some land."

Actually, the land that is preserved contains mostly hydric soils, which may or may not be traditional wetland, but not conducive to development.

All about conservation

The decade-long conservation program is named Greenseams, an MMSD-led initiative working with The Conservation Fund to protect natural areas that can naturally absorb and store water.

These areas act like retention ponds, providing an important element to MMSD flood control. The land acquisition in southwest Franklin is the latest in a systematic program

David Gruszynski, who heads the Wisconsin field office of The Conservation Fund, said land acquisition has been a roller coaster for a number of years.

"In the early 2000s, we would approach private land owners, and they heard that we wanted to buy their land for the MMSD," he said. "They wanted to kick us out of the door. It's easier now because the word has spread that this really is a conservation program."

Gruszynski said purchased parcels average about 25 to 50 acres or so and that a lot of land that his organization targets is subdivided into smaller units and not easily acquired.

"There is still a great deal of potential in Franklin and in Oak Creek," he said. "There are still a lot of people farming the land. It's not easy to predict what will happen as the economy improves, but there are always parcels of land that can't be developed, and this gives someone an opportunity to get something in return."

Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor said the payback for the community is that the natural areas are attractive.

"We have built man-made retention ponds and they leave a lto to be desired from an aesthetic point of view," Taylor said. "People want the conveniences of a developed community, but they also want to be near nature."