Echoes of Mt. Pleasant in Somers Tuesday evening.
About a dozen residents made clear they’re not eager to lose their rural-oriented lifestyle to spill-over development from Foxconn in neighboring Mt. Pleasant.
The occasion was a public hearing on a proposed long-range plan for the Kenosha County village. About 150 people attended. Most came to listen and didn’t speak. Others had questions or comments not directly related to the plan. Still others spoke passionately against massive amounts of additional commercial and industrial development.
38 year-old Rhonda Fonk moved to Somers with her two children just recently. She criticized the plan, which, if fully-implemented, would allow hundreds of acres of land in Somers along the interstate and County “K-R” to become urban. "Change is inevitable, but you guys are making a drastic change to a community that has been built on agriculture and community," she said. "You're taking all of that away."
The proposed land use plan up for discussion is an effort to visualize what Somers might look like by the year 2050, and then plan accordingly.
Even though the document wouldn't force anyone off their land, or affect current zoning, some residents were worried.
Penny Johansen owns a farm with a large house near ‘K-R and ‘E-A’. "All these farms are going to be gone," she said. "This town is going to be an industrial park because the people that we elected are going to let this happen."
The discussion brought to mind the debate in neighboring Mt. Pleasant, with residents split between welcoming Foxconn and the resulting jobs, and others wanting to retain their homes, farms and current way of life.
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