Kim and Jim Mahoney stand in front of their home at S. Prairie View Drive in Mount Pleasant—just feet from the Foxconn development area.
The Foxconn project is moving along quicker than expected, much to the pleasure of Foxconn executives and Village of Mount Pleasant officials. However, not everyone is enjoying the speedy progress of the development.
The Village announced last week that it has acquired about 85% of the land needed for the entire Foxconn project area—nearly 1.56 sq. miles of land that lies east of I-94 in Racine County. Foxconn and the Village of Mount Pleasant have been acquiring land from homeowners and businesses ever since the project was announced last year. The company just announced that it has acquired land from Borzynski Brothers Properties, which owns the well-known Borzynski's Farm and Floral Market in Racine, for the price of $3.6 million. "The Foxconn project is proceeding ahead of schedule," said Claude Lois, project director for the Village of Mount Pleasant.
According to Lois, the company has already signed more than $100 million in construction contracts for site work. Construction crews also recently completed the first 120,000 square foot building on what will become Foxconn’s advanced manufacturing campus. However, it could still be five to seven years until the entire Foxconn facility is complete.
An Ongoing Battle
In June, the Mount Pleasant Village Board first 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 the redevelopment plan. They said that a majority of the Foxconn project area was blighted in order to use eminent domain to seize properties within the development area. The village has remained with their position that all of the acquisitions were done within Wisconsin law from the beginning. They have also paid many homeowners $50,000 per acre for land, and 140% of appraised value for homes, in addition to a full package of relocation benefits.
|
|
Some of the land acquisitions have been met with protest, as opponents to the project have been arguing for months that many of the acquisitions were done in violation of eminent domain law. The activist group A Better Mt. Pleasant has been on the forefront of this debate, attending all of the village meetings to voice opposition. Other groups from around Wisconsin, including eminent domain lawyers, have also been listening in on the debate.
Kim Mahoney and her family are still living in area 1 of the development. They believe they are getting low appraisal offers from the village for their home. Mahoney says she has not had any “meaningful” settlement negotiations with the Village since March. Mahoney and her family had been living in their new home for less than a year when they found out Foxconn was coming to town. “Since my very first conversation with their consultant, we have been willing to sell our property, but they cannot take it using eminent domain,” she said.
Mahoney said she made a counter offer to the board in August, but has not heard back from the board or their consultant since then. Although she is disappointed that none of her neighbors held out, she said she understands. “I can tell you though, not one of my neighbors has come back and said they are in a better situation now,” said Mahoney.
The 120,000 square foot building that was recently completed by Foxconn stands less than a mile from the Mahoney’s back yard. The Mahoney’s plan to spend just their second Christmas together in their new home next week—with sounds of construction trucks just feet outside of their window.
“We will continue to enjoy our new home until the village makes us an offer we can’t refuse,” she said.
