(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
SALEM LAKES, Wis. — In a stunning reversal just weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting a controversial rezoning plan, the Salem Lakes Village Plan Commission voted Wednesday night to advance a proposal that could dramatically ease the path for massive developments in the village — despite widespread public opposition and confusion among commissioners.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The proposal, a Planned Unit Development (PUD) overlay, was initially defeated in July when only one or two commissioners supported it. But on August 20, it returned to the agenda at the request of Village Administrator Cassandra Hiller and Village President Rita Bucur. When Plan Commission Chairman Joe Day questioned why the same measure was back for reconsideration, Village Attorney Remzy Bitar claimed it was a clerical error, despite widespread suspicion to the contrary.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
As discussion reopened, Andy Buehler, Director of Planning and Zoning for Kenosha County, gave a lengthy and at times condescending presentation, dismissing concerns from commissioners about the potential downsides of the sweeping zoning change. Multiple commissioners who had previously expressed opposition — such as Jeff Albrecht — began reversing their stances. Albrecht, for example, offered several amendments to the proposed lot size thresholds in apparent coordination with Hiller.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Despite passionate objections from Day, Andy Phillips, and John Walker, the measure passed through the Plan Commission and now heads to the Village Board, where Bucur has vowed to push it forward regardless of the divided vote.
What changed in just a few weeks? Residents attending the meeting — and even some commissioners — were left wondering.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Legal Threats from Village Attorney
Kenosha County Eye has obtained a July 23 letter from Village Attorney Remzy Bitar addressed to all members of the Plan Commission. In it, Bitar chastises the commission for alleged violations of the Open Meetings Law and accuses members of basing decisions on “innuendo and speculation,” warning that such behavior opens the Village to litigation. The letter suggests that commissioners who deviate from village leadership’s directives may be subject to removal.
The tone of the letter raised concerns among some members and residents about whether the commission was being strong-armed into reversing its position. According to the letter, the commission is merely an advisory body and has “no policy-making” power, yet Bitar emphasized that members can be removed for “continuing deviations from the law,” which he interpreted to include not deferring to staff and administration recommendations.
NDAs Raise Questions About Backroom Dealings
Adding to concerns over transparency, multiple Village officials — including the administrator, president, and senior planning staff — signed mutual nondisclosure agreements with Creative Magnet Entertainment Development, LLC, which is reportedly seeking to develop a large waterpark and amphitheater complex in Salem Lakes.
The Village released these NDAs directly to Kenosha County Eye in response to a public records request. The documents confirm that staff and elected officials engaged in private planning discussions about potential large-scale developments, shielded from public scrutiny.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
BEAR Development Tied to Massive Projects and TID Subsidies
Residents have also voiced alarm over the Village’s enthusiasm for other large-scale projects, particularly those proposed by BEAR Development. Company CEO SR Mills recently told officials that millions in taxpayer subsidies would be required to make their proposals financially viable. Mills made the request during a Monday meeting, further fueling criticism that the Village is working to push through development-friendly policies — like the PUD overlay — without sufficient public input or safeguards.
Public Reaction
Wednesday night’s meeting drew an engaged crowd, but many residents left early once it became clear the measure would pass. The perception of a pre-determined outcome, combined with legal threats and backroom dealings, left a bitter taste.
“They’re not even pretending to listen anymore,” one resident remarked on her way out.
The proposal now moves to the Village Board, where final approval is expected. Bucur has already stated her intention to push it through, regardless of how the Plan Commission voted previously.
The ramifications for Salem Lakes could be far-reaching, both in terms of rapid development and erosion of public trust in local government.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
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57 Responses
I want to know who flipped and who’s in bed with the lawyer for him to find technicalities to bring this NO up again. They voted no, should have been left at that.
Can we get rid of this Village Admin already? She’s trashing this town. The lawyer can go to, clearly he is not neutral.
Did the clerk drop the ball? They claim they “had” to bring this back to vote on bc it wasn’t posted timely?? I find that oddly convenient; then they get someone to flip from no to yes?!
Sounds like all the excitement to see a whole new group get voted in is diminishing. I hope the people begin a recall because they need to put a stop to all this before it gets out of hand again. We need some coverage in Pleasant Prairie. Steinbrink may not be the president inPPanymore, but the corruption continues.
A farmer in PP was told a home for the parents couldn’t be built on the property for them unless it was ALL changed to residential. The farmer has close to 30 acres. Part of the property is residential and part is agricultural. If the house was being built on residential, why would it ALL need to be re-zoned Residential? This place is so corrupt!
Wait what? The first no wasn’t valid or something?
CAN NOT WAIT TO VOTE THESE PEOPLE OUT I’M SO DONE WITH BUCAR
Won’t matter. Legal Man/Legal Woman will always reign supreme over the People’s Vote in a corrupt static republic at the Federal, State, or Local levels. Money is the primary motivation and power. It is only trumped by the loaded firearms of tightly organized very competent men whose collective anger rises sufficiently higher than their collective fear so to motivate the effective actions to produce sustained results.
She doesn’t care she will leave with a FAT WALLET
I wish she’d leave now.
Kevin, is she still planning on leaving? You had an article that go our hopes up…but nothing.
She isn’t leaving. She never was
Crushing. I wish she would, she’ll never be trusted- anything, and idea she brings up (good or bad) will be shot down by the people bc she’s untrustworthy. They’ll think she has ulterior motives (which she usually does).
Show up with our voices, two Public Open Houses will be held jointly by the Village of Salem Lakes and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 from 2-4pm and 6-8pm at the Salem Lakes Village Hall, 9814 Antioch Road (STH 83),
Two Public Open Houses will be held jointly by the Village of Salem Lakes and the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission on Tuesday, August 26, 2025 from 2-4pm and 6-8pm at the Salem Lakes Village Hall, 9814 Antioch Road (STH 83),
Thank You Joe, Andy and John for still fighting the fight to keep SR Mills and his trash on the other side of the interstate!! They dont want him there anymore either now hes coming this way
Which ones were the flip- floppers?
There really wasn’t a specific one, they originally fed the P&Z board an all or nothing choice. After the “oops” with the agenda and a second vote, the P&Z had to vote on pieces of the overlay and a couple disagreed with the rest on specific pieces of it.
None of these members want mass development, controlled, probably yes.
The Chair Day and Vice chair Albrecht challenged the merits of the whole circus show, but we’re convinced it was necessary. They should of deferred the meeting, to get down to the merits of the Administration claim, it looked bad. Either way the board has to make the final decision.
Mills isn’t it just for the money not the community.
I hate to see it but shame on these village board members that voted against the people. There must be something underneath the table. As they say follow the money
You know what they say. You don’t want to be a politician. You want to own one.
SR does not make trash.
Silly you. He has projects all over Salem Lakes already, for years. I count 5. No complaints on those.
There must be something in it for Wade to be fighting against SR.
Yea whats in it for me is a dont like city life…. go back to the plan of 5 large arce lots and great…. cram a bunch of houses on top of each other and no keep that east of here and south
Gee, is Samantha Kerkman moonlighting as a real estate developer now? Her fingerprints are all over this.
Because it sure looks like she’s working overtime to turn your open fields into a charming patchwork of Workforce Housing. Maybe Mr. Mathewson can pencil her in between ribbon cuttings and ask what the grand plan is—assuming it’s not already written in invisible ink.
And your backyard? Oh, don’t worry—it’s reserved for the big fat cat businesses rolling in, courtesy of Administrator Hiller.
And that photo of Bucur and Hiller?
Adorable. Nothing says “we’re just here for the people” like a cozy snapshot of two officials looking like they just wrapped up a brunch date. BFFs? More like BFFs with benefits—benefits for developers, that is. Good grief
The Residents in the Village better fill up the Village Hall at the next meeting, the board must not approve this decision. No Shame, taxpayer are just a source of revenue and keep quiet. Transparency my ass, can’t wait to see what they have plans for. It’s not Bear we should be scared of. Strap in.
Amen to that!
Filling up the hall does absolutely nothing.
Zip
Run for office or shut up
I’ve said it for a long time, their wet dream is to turn this into Lake County Illinois. These people, a lot of them, moved here to get away from it and now they embrace it. They will turn Kenosha County to shit if you let them. Mills is just the vehicle they use. He is a soulless money grubbing prick with no values other than money.
This is how an Attorney and an Administrator can get what they want, just wear the commission out through chaos. I wasn’t there, but I was told the Attorney was advocating again. He Must go!!! Almost all of these members do not support mass growth; they were probably bullied into giving in, tired of fighting the meat grinder, I was told almost 4-hour meeting. The Administration used sleep deprivation to win the cause. If it wouldn’t have passed last night, there would have been a fourth try.
I agree, the Admin spent most of her time from the first no trying to win over each commissioner one by one. When that didn’t seem to be working she and the snake lawyer found a loophole in the verbiage of the first meeting agenda. Complete bullsh*t. That’s the only reason it came in front of them again, because someone missed a word in the first agenda so they said that one was void.
Make an agenda flawed, not so much that it’s obvious but just enough to be able to find it if you need to.
Let the flawed agenda happen then if you get what you want don’t go looking for the flaw.
If the vote doesn’t happen as you want go back and find it, point it out and call for a redo.
That said, there sure were a lot of minds changed in between meetings.
How did that happen ?
Prob the clerk, she’s from IL too.
Cassandra and remzy are like taking you 6 year old kid down the candy isle at Walmart begging for every single morsel of candy you keep saying no but by the time you get to the end of the isle you have multiple one pound bags of shit. In the cart.
If you fired all of these obvious idiots and replaced them with chimpanzees, the chimps would do a better job. 🙈🙉🙊
All the Money they pay this Attorney, and they foul this up. We will try til we get the desired results. YEP!!!
Almost like it was planned?
Buhler is carrying out the directive from the counties Workforce housing agenda. Wake up Salem, the real owners want your backyard.
Before you go off half cocked maybe you should research, folks. When Pleasant Prairie tried to block one of his developments Mills won in court and Pleasant Prairie taxpayers had to cough up.
That’s bullshit. Villages and towns can create setback regulations to minimize sprawl. The asshole developers are greedy pricks who don’t care where and how you have to live.
There are setbacks, this overlay is to change them to have NO setbacks.
If you don’t create a path, there is nothing to sue over.
The idea that the Village board is working for the will of its people is absurd!! The Administrator is running the show!
Maybe residents should wake up. A land swap was done against the will of the people and commission recommendations for a friend of
Trustees. Angela Brooks was elected to build and increase homes. (check her history in Antioch). Hiller is an Illinois resident who isn’t affected by neighborhoods or wetland issues in our area. Go home Hiller. She is here to make money and ruin what we hold dear. So sad.
Hiller couldn’t even manage 3 marriages, we expect her to be any good at running a village?!
I sure hope their payoff was worth it. I hope these crooked politicians get what they deserve.
Once the Administrator is gone, the truth will flow faster than we can drink beer. Which is Pretty F-in fast.
We might finally hear how the employees feel about her daily dose of management. The morning heartburn coffee ,text, emails, and a fresh round of enlightenment, every F-in day, mark my F-in word.
And the board? Are you watching what is happening? Please GMAFB.
Let’s all hope that when she finally leaves, we’re not left rebuilding and restoring the wetlands of the Hiller Walking Trail, where lies begin.
When will she leave? She’s ruining our Village, so very disheartening.
She won’t. If they didn’t fire her after the wetlands thing and lying and crying to the DNR, she’s in for good. She’ll leave when she gets her dream job running McHenry County. Sorry Salem, we’re in for a long ride with the Hiller/Bucur administration. Couple of “alpha females” fucking up the Village while hiding behind their high paid attorneys. Get ready for high density housing and higher taxes! Yippee!
Wetland thing hasn’t concluded. But remember the Village wants us to believe in transparency and integrity? They need a another psychological training clinic.
Got news for you. There ARE NO WETLANDS. According to survey maps this is an old cow pond dating back to the 70’s. The documentation is coming from the Army Corps of Engineers. But that takes time. You’ve been mislead and not by Hiller.
You are incorrect.
What survey map, please be specific. Please educate us, inquiring minds do want to know. Thank you in advance.
Good luck managing a new TID, let alone next year’s budget without a treasurer.
Who says a cow pond can’t be a wetland? I own a property with a cow pond deemed a wetland. Strange argument.
A wetland can be a cow pond. But a cow pond is not necessarily a wetland. Wetlands are naturally created. Cow ponds are man made. Just because a cow pond has been abandoned and cattails have grown around it does not make it a wetland. There are very specific rules set forth by the Army Corps of Engineers that determine if a body of water is a wetland. Then there are two types. Those that can be altered and those that must be retained as a natural body of water. It can take months to get this documentation from the Army Corps. But once the documents are sent they will be available to all and be the final decision. So putting a path around a wetland can be completely legal. It’s done all the time in parks and forest preserves. So just wait for the documents. Until then don’t guess. Just wait.
OMG, let it go already. The public isn’t stumbling around in some fog of ignorance. Contrary to whatever fantasy novel Administrator Hiller and the Board might be drafting in their spare time, she had zero authority to unilaterally declare whether the pond behind Village Hall was a cow pond or an artificial wetland. That wasn’t just a procedural misstep—it was a factual faceplant.
Let’s review: the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has already ruled that it is not an artificial wetland. Full stop. If the Feds decide to override that, fine—but that’s a separate chapter in this bureaucratic soap opera. What’s not up for debate is that strict protocols were ignored by someone who, ironically, claims extensive experience in wetland management. You’d think that would come with a working knowledge of the law—or at the very least, a copy of the zoning map.
Spoiler alert: Administrator Hiller doesn’t get to play wetland fairy godmother. Her wand doesn’t work here. So let’s kindly retire the fantasy that she had any legal standing to make that determination. The required steps weren’t buried in some obscure DNR statute—they were crystal clear, especially for someone with her credentials.
Now, can we all agree that multiple steps were skipped—or, if we’re feeling diplomatic, let’s call it a case of “non-compliance ”? Because if a member of the public had pulled this stunt, the response would’ve been swift, expensive, and probably life-altering.
And let’s not forget: this was a C-1 zoning district—wetland. So please, spare us the “Wait and SEE” routine. The law wasn’t followed. Period. The only thing we’re waiting for now is accountability.
Oh, and by the way—taxpayers are footing the bill for this nonsense. Reports say the Village Public Works crew spent over a month back there. So if you’re wondering why your potholes haven’t been filled, now you know. If the Board still can’t see the real issue here—something anyone with a shred of common sense can grasp—then let’s be honest: even if the cows come home, they still won’t get it.
Enough already.
I smell a Bear $$$$$$$$$$$
The PUD had very little to do with Bear. Something else is in the works. I guess it will be a surprise to us minions. Integrity and Transparency my Ass.