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Bloomfield Township granted incorporation filing extension

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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — The state Department of Administration has granted Bloomfield a 10-week extension to gather the signatures needed to re-file its incorporation papers.

Bloomfield officials now have until Dec. 30 to get about 75 resident signatures before they can submit the application. Town Chairman Ken Monroe said the process is going well and was confident the community could meet its new deadline.

Since 1992, Bloomfield has been trying to incorporate from a town to a village. It's been unsuccessful five times.

The latest rejection came in June. The state review board recommended the town decrease the geographic size of its proposal and resubmit an application.

The board originally gave Bloomfield until Oct. 12 to apply without paying another petition fee.

"I believe the reason they gave us until October is because it was a date they just picked off so we wouldn't wait for a year," Monroe said. "Because we went ahead and filed notice of intent, they realized we were serious."

The updated plan seeks to incorporate 8,375 acres—far less than the 12,000 acres in June's proposal.

Monroe said property north of Bloomfield Road and northeast of Hafs and Eastside roads were cut from the proposal. Several parcels of farmland west of County H also were removed.

The town received about 400 signatures in its previous petition. Incorporation into a village would prevent neighboring communities from annexing Bloomfield's land.

Lake Geneva and Genoa City opposed Bloomfield's last attempt, arguing they were against the size of the proposal and not incorporation itself.