Everything about Foxconn Technology Group’s proposed LCD manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant has been massive. It is a $10 billion, 22-million-square-foot project with a $3 billion state incentive, $764 million in local support and millions more in infrastructure.
It should be no surprise then that a project that will take thousands of acres of mostly farmland and turn it into a manufacturing campus will require significant infrastructure to manage storm water.
Of the 32 million square feet Foxconn plans to develop, about 80 percent will become impervious surface, including 19.4 million square feet of roof and 6.2 million square feet of pavement. Another 6.4 million square feet will be greenspace.
Foxconn submitted plans to the Department of Natural Resources that call for 62.5 acres of wet detention basins. There will be five basins to handle runoff, but their combined size would be among the top 30 percent of largest named lakes in the state.
The basins range from 5.2 acres on the southeast corner to 18.4 acres on the northwest corner. Each is designed to collect runoff from a watershed ranging from 39 acres to 189 acres, plus collecting water from the right-of-ways surrounding the property.
The plans submitted to the DNR also account for the subcontinental divide, which splits the Foxconn site. The western half of the site will drain to the Des Plains River via the Kilbourn Ditch while the eastern half will drain to the Pike River via Lamparek Creek.
Storm water permits are not the only approvals Foxconn needs from the DNR. The company is also seeking air emissions permits and the city of Racine has requested approval to divert up to 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan to serve the plant and surrounding development.
