An intergovernmental agreement between the town of Paris and the village of Somers, that led to the filing of lawsuits by affected property owners and the city of Kenosha, will be scrapped following the announcement that an agreement in principal has been worked out by the leaders of the three municipalities and Kenosha County. Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian says that shortly after he took officer earlier this year he asked all the parties involved not to move forward with their agreement---and---the city filed suit when the municipalities announced the plan. Antaramian said he continued working with all the parties involved to reach an acceptable compromise. Antaramian says the agreement---announced Tuesday---includes an overall concept for the future development of the area along I-94 in Somers and Paris. With this agreement, Paris land that is west of I-94 between Highways KR and 142 will be annexed into Somers---and---Paris land south of that are could be annexed into Kenosha. The agreement also has water and sewer service components as well as a revenue sharing component. It does not include any forced annexations for the next several decades. By the end of November, all the parties involved are expected to move the proposed agreement toward legal approvals by the various city, town and village boards. A formal boundary agreement would follow. While the compromise would settle the lawsuit filed by the municipalities over the original agreement, it does not settle those filed by Paris residents concerned about plans to annex their properties into Somers for future development.
