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THE UNFINISHED SYMPHONY
Residents of Symphony Bay are all talking and concerned about the annexation and proposed phase 8. The city council chambers were full last Monday night with residents of the development, and all had a lot to say. The development started on a much smaller scale than it is currently, and the original plans never depicted the amount of development that now exists and just seems to keep coming. Homeowners who bought into Symphony Bay thought it was going to be a quiet small neighborhood for those over fifty-five. That is not what exists.
The neighborhood keeps growing, more homes are being planned, and sales are open to all. Residents spoke during public comments about the massive number of homes that were unexpected during the purchase of their homes. Residents talked about the lack of inspections that homeowners assumed took place at the time of purchase. Residents spoke of the lack of HOA that was and is to be in place when development is complete. Residents spoke of the threat being made to them and the city by the developer Pollard if annexation does not happen. Pollard is requesting the property that phase eight is to be on be annexed into Lake Geneva, currently, the land is in Bloomfield.
If Pollard gets annexed into Lake Geneva, he proposes to build approximately one hundred and forty homes, if the annexation does not get approved, he has stated he will build an additional four hundred homes. Sounds like a threat one of the speaking residents does not want to see happen. Some city officials agree with the residents and are concerned this could happen. The rumor going around is that the Town of Bloomfield had a meeting to discuss this issue on May 20th and the city should give Pollard what he wants before this meeting.
The Lake Geneva City Council stood its ground with Alderperson Fesenmaier encouraging the council members to have a backbone and send the issue back to the Plan Commission to get so many unanswered questions regarding the development and the annexation answered. Alderperson Fesenmaier has become quite the leader and as President of the Lake Geneva City Council, she continues to be the voice of reason and a true advocate of the people she serves.
If Pollard does fail to get the property annexed, then the kind of extortion he used may well get him and the Town of Bloomfield sued big time. If the property does get annexed, then he has a whole new set of problems and he should review what happened to the property purchased by other unprincipled and threatening developers. Those were called the Whitewater LLC outfit and Mirabel Hummel. The old inspection rules are about to be fully applied, retroactively, as well as currently and if the building department disagrees then there will be a new building department.
Todd Krause is not messing around, although this article was not written or approved by him. What kind of stuff is Brian Pollard made of? Originally, he and his family were very well thought of around the entire lake, but what now? There are things we don’t know at the GSR when we make the final decision to go to print. The plan commission did vote 4-1 to annex. Doug Skates, to his great credit, did not vote. He recused himself because of his relationship with Brian. Nice play. Too bad Doug is not on the Supreme Court! What now? Bloomfield and the city council have to weigh in.
More as we develop this.
