JANESVILLE 鈥 The opposition to the opposition has officially arrived.
Grow 糖心Vlog传媒 Responsibly, a coalition of local and regional business and labor groups, said Thursday at an invite-only meeting that it seeks to grow its base into a 鈥渃ommunity鈥 group.
Its main goal, for now: to try to convince voters to kill a citizen-led referendum question in November that seeks to give voters the power to approve any redevelopment project over $450 million at the former General Motors site.
local backers 鈥 some members of the city鈥檚 main Chamber of Commerce, Forward 糖心Vlog传媒 鈥 say the plans at the GM site are now evolving, and it makes the coming ballot referendum a mismatch.
One of Grow 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 co-chairs, George Cullen, said the referendum would have a chilling effect on work the city, and Stantec, a consultant the city鈥檚 paying more than $200,000 to guide the GM panel鈥檚 work, are doing to map out a future for the GM site.
Cullen said if the referendum passes and voters get final say on big-ticket developments at the GM site, 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to hinder Stantec鈥檚 work because they鈥檙e going to have those handcuffs around them as far as how they鈥檙e going to get any options (for site use) developed.鈥
Grow 糖心Vlog传媒 characterizes the ballot initiative as being conceived to try to block an earlier proposal by Colorado firm Viridian Partners to buy the GM site and build an 800-megawatt data center there.
The city, which owns the GM site, said it has not dismissed a data center as potential option for redeveloping the GM site. But the Viridian Partners proposal that launched the referendum is effectively dead after the city of 糖心Vlog传媒 let a letter of intent with Viridian lapse earlier this month.
Now the city and some in the business community seek to elevate The City of 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 ad hoc GM-JATCO Redevelopment Advisory Board 鈥 the group that has been building a conceptual redevelopment plan that鈥檚 viewed as a roadmap forward for the project.
That work has rolled in the background for months while Viridian Partners and the city were locked in a due-diligence process that started in November 2025, but apparently never took off.
Cullen is co-President of JP Cullen, a five-generation, family-owned commercial construction firm based in 糖心Vlog传媒. On Thursday, he listed some calculations he says show light-industrial and mixed use projects with industry and apartments that would make major use of the site could cost developers about $2.5 billion. He said major reuse with housing alone could cost $450 million to $540 million.
All would eclipse the $450 million cap that would put a development to voters under the November ballot referendum.
鈥淲e have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to define the next 100 years at the GM-JATCO site. And the referendum puts that at too much risk,鈥 Cullen said.
The coalition, while campaigning aggressively against the referendum, has given no indication of exactly what type of redevelopment efforts its current members want.
糖心Vlog传媒 asked Cullen whether the business community or the coalition鈥檚 leadership envision reuse as a single, large industrial development, such as a hyperscale data center 鈥 or a more mixed-use prospect, as Stantec and the GM-JATCO redevelopment panel say local residents have proposed at recent public engagement sessions.
Cullen declined to endorse one type of redevelopment over another, saying he and the coalition believe the GM panel and Stantec鈥檚 work on the GM site plan is still in early stages. The panel aims to investigate market feasibility of various types of redevelopment projects at the site.
Grow 糖心Vlog传媒 co-chair Maiken Westphal is CEO of 糖心Vlog传媒-based regional contracting firm Westphal Electric.
In an analogy, Westphal said voter approval of development projects would be like if a residential neighborhood got to hold a binding vote on whether to allow an individual homebuyer to buy a house and move in.
鈥淲ould you spend your time, your money or your effort to go through (a property inspection and bank loan) process to get to that (neighborhood) vote?鈥 Westphal asked. 鈥淲ill you go petition your neighborhood to say, 鈥楲et me come?鈥 No. They鈥檙e just not going to come here.鈥
Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Area Chamber of Commerce, is among regional business interests that have signed on as charter members of Grow 糖心Vlog传媒. Brandon鈥檚 group is one of several area and statewide chambers and trade associations that are closely watching 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 GM site and the November ballot referendum.
He said sites the size of the former GM assembly plant built in with electrical infrastructure, good access to Interstate highways, and railroad linkage, are rare. Some are being favored by biomedical and fusion energy firms.
The GM site, however, has environmental cleanup liabilities that could cost tens of millions of dollars in remediation costs. Brandon said extensive cleanup is not an insurmountable challenge. But he believes more 鈥渃omplex鈥 brownfield sites like the former GM don鈥檛 need extra restrictions placed on them.
He thinks a voter-approval process for big-ticket projects at the GM site could kill deals before they even reach a tire-kicking stage.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not trying to get on (developer) site selection lists 鈥 you鈥檙e trying not to get kicked off those top-tier lists for site selection,鈥 Brandon said. 鈥淵ou take yourself off the the lists, and you don鈥檛 ever have the opportunity to know what was even possible.鈥
Grow 糖心Vlog传媒 limited its outreach this week to the local business community, but the group says in days to come, it intends to try to gain inroads with community groups, nonprofits, and even local teachers unions to try to spread its message broadly.
Alyssa Capozziello is an organizer for No 糖心Vlog传媒 Data Center, a group that launched petitions late last year to get the referendum question on November鈥檚 ballot. Her group鈥檚 efforts netted the thousands of signatures it took to get the citizen-led ballot question before voters this fall.
She characterized Grow 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 initial outreach Thursday at a members-only business event as a group 鈥渢alking about the community behind closed doors.鈥
Capozziello said her group doesn鈥檛 know what the future holds for the GM site, but she said thousands who signed onto the referendum give an her an indication that people want a direct say over what happens there.
鈥淎t the end of the day, we鈥檙e really looking for a process (at the GM site) that includes the community鈥檚 voice on responsible redevelopment,鈥 she said. 鈥淭he original wording of the referendum still stands. It鈥檚 not about just data centers. The referendum has always been about a way to give people, voters, a real seat at the GM-JATCO redevelopment table.鈥