The Mount Pleasant village board approved purchase agreements with four property owners who were part of a lawsuit challenging the village’s approach to acquiring land for Foxconn Technology Group’s massive LCD panel manufacturing campus.
The lawsuit alleges the village’s plan to acquire seven properties in the project area violated the owners’ right to equal protection, private property and due process. The plaintiffs argued they were only offered 140 percent of fair market value for their homes while the owners of vacant land received $50,000 per acre.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin dismissed the lawsuit in May, determining the claims were either not viable or not ready for litigation. The plaintiffs appealed the ruling and the first briefs are due later this month.
As part of the appeals court mediation process, the village was able to reach agreements with four of the seven property owners. Those agreements continued to pay 140 percent of fair market value, which was negotiated during the process.
“As it has since the beginning of this process, the village will continue to pursue all reasonable efforts to reach voluntary agreements with individual property owners to acquire the property needed for the Foxconn development,” said Alan Marcuvitz, an attorney for the village.
Mount Pleasant has acquired 82 percent of the more than 2,900 acres included in the project area, including all of the land in the core of the initial construction area.
