At tonight’s Kenosha Common Council meeting, there seemed to be some confusion as to the rezoning of the six properties on the north side of Roosevelt Road, from 38th Avenue to 37th Avenue.  So much confusion that the vote on the Land Use Plan Map for the City (2035, District 16) was re-taken.

Four property owners, Bruce Andrekus, Kathee Jennings, and Gary and Jean Rozinski, spoke either during the Citizen’s Comments section, and/or also during the Council’s discussion portion of the agenda item.  Andrekus is a dentist who owns the property at 3726 Roosevelt Road.  Jennings owns the property at 3706 Roosevelt Road, and she was almost in tears as she spoke to the Council.  Apparently, the entire block signed a protest petition.  She urged the Council “not to change something that’s working.  Our lives are affected by your decisions.”  Both of the Rozinskis also asked the Council to “leave our neighborhood alone.”

The agenda item to amend the Land Use Plan Map for the City (2035, District 16) was at first approved by a vote of 12 to 3 (those voting against were Alderpersons Anthony Kennedy, Anthony Nudo, and Lawrence Green).  But, once the Council moved on to the next item, which was to re-zone the property at 3720 Roosevelt Road from B-2 Community Business District, to RG-1, General Residential District, and several alderpersons raised questions about the re-zoning, there was a motion to go back and re-vote on the Land Use Plan Map for the City.

Alderperson Michael Orth thought that this was an interesting discussions.  Orth stated, “We have a neighborhood that doesn’t want to change.  And, we have a potential person coming in who wants to change.”  Apparently, there was a potential property owner who was looking to buy a property, but couldn’t obtain a mortgage because of the way the property was zoned (as a business).  Alderperson Patrick Juliana stated that the Council “would be assisting someone to get a loan.  This is not setting a good precedent.”  Juliana further stated that “he didn’t want to take part in that.”  Alderperson Jan Michalski stated that he supported the denial.  “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy.  Once it’s zoned residential, we can’t put businesses in.  We must go with what the public desires.  The Council has expressed many times its intentions to support small businesses.”

Alderperson Ray Misner said that “the voices have spoken.  People need to be happy with their circumstances.”  As stated earlier, the first vote on the amendment of the Land Use Plan Map was 12 to 3 in favor of the re-zoning.  Then, the vote on the actual re-zoning was a unanimous 15 to 0 in favor of concurring with the City Plan Commission in denying the re-zoning.  Then, a second vote was taken regarding the Land Use Plan Map, and that vote was 12 to 3 to deny the re-zoning (the three dissenters were Aldpersons G. John Ruffolo, Theodore Ruffalo, and Anthony Kennedy).