Board postpones Lowe’s waiver, denies waiver requests for four Plaza 50 parcels

The Kenosha Board of Review on June 4 adjourned a waiver request from Lowe’s HomeCenters Inc. to June 26 and denied four separate waiver requests from Plaza 50 LLC tied to a multi-parcel sale.

A Lowe’s representative was present but board members and counsel discussed the appropriateness of deciding whether to waive the Board of Review hearing before the Board of Assessors completed its review. Attorney Luke Martel and board members recommended deferring the Lowe’s waiver request to allow the Board of Assessors time to make its determination. The board moved and voted to adjourn the Lowe’s waiver decision to June 26.

Separately, Plaza 50 LLC sought waivers for four parcels at a Kenosha shopping-center sale. City Assessor Kirk Redmond said the assessor’s office had already adjusted values during open-book review to reflect the sale allocation and recommended the board hear the matters rather than waive them. Martel and board members discussed fairness concerns when commercial property owners use waivers to proceed directly to circuit court, noting that waivers can give the property owner more time and the benefit of previewing the assessor’s case. Board members said the Plaza 50 parcels formed part of one $27,000,000 total sale and that the facts were essentially identical across the four parcels.

The board voted to deny each Plaza 50 waiver request (parcel numbers recorded in the meeting record). For each denial the chair recorded the motion as passed; recorded votes included both aye and nay responses on the record. The board indicated it would hold objection hearings on scheduled dates and treat each parcel individually on the record.

The board scheduled objection hearing dates and confirmed June 18, June 26 and July 16 as hearing dates for pending objections. The Lowe’s waiver was adjourned to June 26 to allow the assessors’ review to conclude before a final waiver decision.