Caledonia, Mount Pleasant deal could help Foxconn project

Caledonia may assign some of its sewage treatment capacity to Mount Pleasant in an agreement that would help smooth the way for the Foxconn project.

The boards of the two villages and the Racine County Board are to meet Tuesday to take up a possible intergovernmental agreement involving the new sewer system that will be built to serve the massive factory complex planned for Mount Pleasant by the Foxconn Technology Group.

According to the agenda, the three boards will consider an agreement that would let Caledonia share in use of the new system while transferring some of its treatment capacity to Mount Pleasant. Both villages pay the City of Racine to treat their wastewater.

Racine County also would be party to the deal.

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The three government units have been negotiating “what we’re calling a memorandum of understanding for the funding for the municipal water infrastructure and the municipal sanitary sewer for the Foxconn project,” John Bjelajac, an attorney for Caledonia, said Saturday.

The deal hasn’t yet been finalized, but with the expectation that agreement is imminent, the villages and the county scheduled the joint meeting, Bjelajac said.

Last month, the City of Racine asked for state permission to draw up to 7 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan, largely to meet the needs of Foxconn’s huge liquid crystal display panel factory.

The request indicated that Foxconn would generate 4.3 million gallons of wastewater daily, which city officials have said is well within the volume the treatment plant can handle.

Foxconn has said it will build a $10 billion, 22-million-square-foot manufacturing complex that could employ 13,000 people. In exchange for locating in Wisconsin, the company stands to receive some $4 billion in publicly financed assistance from the state, local governments and utility ratepayers.