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Residents speak in favor of incorporation

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — They don't associate themselves with Lake Geneva.

They don't associate themselves with Genoa City.

They associate themselves only with Bloomfield Township, and they want to be recognized as a unique community and prevent their identity from being swallowed up by neighboring municipalities.

"We want to come together as a community," said Margie Danno, a resident of Bloomfield Township. "We're nothing, we're nobody (to the surrounding area), and our people are done with that. We want to establish a united community."

The Department of Administration on Tuesday held a public hearing to gather comments from town officials, residents and other stakeholders, including representatives from neighboring communities about a proposal to incorporate part of the township into a village.

The petition seeks incorporation of an 18.5-square-mile portion of the township northeast of County H and including the Pell Lake area.

The Bloomfield Town Hall was filled to standing-room-only capacity.

Residents spoke overwhelmingly in favor of the incorporation request. They argued the town not only would protect its borders from annexation but also gain an identity separate from its neighbors.

Rosemary Badame, a resident of Bloomfield Township, said incorporation is the only way residents would be able to hang onto the country life they currently enjoy.

"This is our town. This has always been our town," she said. "If you exclude us, Lake Geneva or Genoa City will eat us up in time. … This town, which includes such a massive, diverse community, wants to stay here."

Representatives from Lake Geneva and Genoa City spoke not against the incorporation request but against the borders of the proposed village. They argued the proposed village is too big and does not meet the standards for incorporation.

Bill Forrest, a planning consultant who worked with the municipalities, said the proposed village is not as populated or developed as state statutes require.

"All one needs to do is travel around the area," he said. "It's mostly rural farmland."

Forrest said the Pell Lake area—a hamlet that includes stores, churches and a post office—is a suitable community center. But he said other reasonably settled neighborhoods, including the Lake Ivanhoe area and the Powers, Benedict and Tombeau lakes area, which straddles the county line, are too far removed from the proposed community center.

Forrest also said the "buffer zones" between the proposed village and neighboring municipalities included in the petition for incorporation are not satisfactory.

"We want more of a boundary," he said.

Forrest suggested nearly 1,000 acres of Department of Natural Resources-owned environmental land southeast of Lake Geneva and the Nippersink Creek watershed northwest of Genoa City would make better, more natural boundaries for the proposed village.

A few residents spoke about previous attempts to incorporate, including an attempt about 10 years ago to incorporate the 4-square-mile Pell Lake area into a village that voters rejected. They suggested scaling down the proposed village.

Becky Gallagher, one of the co-petitioners for incorporation, said she voted down that proposal in 2001 because it was not comprehensive enough.

"This is a viable concept," she said of the current proposal. "Lake Ivanhoe and (the area around) Nippersink (golf course and resort) belong with us. They participate in our community."

Gallagher said many township residents might patronize businesses in Lake Geneva or send their children to school in Genoa City, but their allegiance still is to Bloomfield Township.

Martie Wells, the town clerk, said the town only stands to grow stronger if it becomes a village.

"We've been taking care of our own for a long time, and we'll keep doing it if you allow us to," she said.

The Incorporation Review Board will hold a hearing in mid-May to discuss the petition for incorporation. The board must decide whether or not the proposed village meets the standards for incorporation by mid-June. If the board approves the request, then residents would be asked to approve the proposal in a referendum vote.