SOMERS — Somers residents came to TMJ4's Let's Talk Kenosha community listening session with a concern that has their entire neighborhood talking, so we went to the land at the center of it all to find out why.
A developer has proposed Somers Flats — a 200-unit subsidized apartment complex with 15 two-story buildings, approximately 800 residents, and 450 parking spaces on farmland just west of Sheridan Road near County Highway E.
WATCH: Somers residents fight back against large subsidized apartment complex
The Village of Somers Plan Commission voted to reject the project after strong public opposition. But the project will still advance to the village board.
For Todd Niles — who came to TMJ4's Lets Talk Kenosha session to get the word out— the concerns are clear.
"Somers is a suburban community — a suburb of Kenosha. What we have here is single-family homes and low-density housing," Niles said. "Somers is already saturated with existing apartment complexes, which has led to a spike in our emergency police, fire and ambulance calls, and we're being asked to pay for it as homeowners."
For neighbor Monte Griffin, a 70-year-old lifelong Somers resident, the loss goes beyond traffic and density.
"We get to see wildlife here, deer and rabbits and coyotes and foxes," Griffin said. "If they put high-density housing here —supposed to be the highest density in the county— we won't see that wildlife anymore. I've lived here my whole life, I got to enjoy that."
The timing of the proposal has also raised serious questions. Somers voters head to the polls on April 7 to decide a referendum asking them to raise property taxes by $1.3million to hire more firefighters — because emergency services are already struggling to keep up with growth. Residents are now asking why the village would push to add more residents on top of that.
TMJ4 News reached out to the Village of Somers and the village president for a response. We are still waiting to hear back.
The Village Board will have the final say at the next board meeting.
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