The Mount Pleasant Village Board voted 6-1 to define the Foxconn development area as blighted in a special meeting Monday night.
The Mount Pleasant Village Board voted Monday to declare the area where the new Foxconn Technology Campus will be located to be blighted in order to acquire land from holdouts in the area. This was much to the dismay of many citizens who spoke against this action at the special meeting at the Mount Pleasant Village Hall.
The board used the term “blighted” as it is defined in the Wisconsin State Legislature’s Blight Elimination and Slum Clearance Act in order to move ahead with their redevelopment plan. A subsection of the law says that a blighted area can be “an area which is predominantly open, and which because of obsolete planning, diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or of site improvements or otherwise substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of the community.”
Many citizens booed and yelled at board members when the vote was made.
“It’s a terrible precedent for any of us with homes….that we are going to be tossed out for corporations,” said Janice Siska Hjelmgren, a homeowner in Somers. “You need to set the precedent that Wisconsin lands need to be kept pure, needs to be planned, and that Wisconsin land is not up for the highest bidder.”
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The borders for the 2,900-acre designated Foxconn development area were first discussed in a meeting last March where more than 15 citizens spoke in opposition to the board’s plans. The village says that they have acquired 80% of the project area, according to a property acquisition update. Crews are set to begin construction in August.
“Whether this resolution is approved or not, the village will continue its efforts to acquire every needed property by agreement with the property owner,” said Alan Marcuvitz, Mount Pleasant’s property acquisition attorney and expert.
Tammy Wood, Vice Chair of the Wisconsin Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party, was present at the meeting, voicing her concerns about the village’s actions.
Tammy Wood (right) spoke out against Foxconn altogether during the public hearing portion of the meeting.
“I’m disgusted by this entire process,” said Wood. “I love jobs… I have no issue with jobs. To see these people here, having their lives ripped from them and to have to pick up your home on a moment’s notice… there is nothing good about this.”
However, the village has said that they have followed Wisconsin state law in acquiring land. They have paid homeowners $50,000 per acre for land, and 140% of appraised value for homes, in addition to a full package of relocation benefits.
“As you've heard tonight and as you've heard other times… the village may have to resort to other methods to acquire properties needed for this project,” said Marcuvitz. “All of the acquisitions follow Wisconsin law.”
Karen Hermansen is a Mount Pleasant resident who is opposed to Foxconn altogether. “We need jobs, but these billions of dollars could have gone for a lot more things,” she said. “I’m not against manufacturing, but we have to do it in an intelligent way. Lake Michigan is a treasure and we can't do anything to harm it.”
A group of student protesters were also present at the meeting. They were also opposed to Foxconn because of environmental and eminent domain reasons and are planning a mass coalition effort against Foxconn because of it.
Student protesters, including Lee Stedman (2nd from left) came to the meeting to sign citizens up for future direct action initiatives.
“To take private property from people is an absolute violation of human rights… it’s broken politics,” said Lee Stedman of Wisconsin Youth Network.
Board member Gery Feest was the only no vote on the resolution. “I am in favor of Foxconn… I think the potential for good is there,” he said. “Anyone that thinks blighted, will think there has to be something wrong with the property but there's nothing wrong with any of these properties. These are beautiful properties. We are using a technicality to forward the village’s interests and I don't agree with that.”
