Original article by Rose White, February 4, 2023
'At what cost?’ Michigan communities fight mega sites despite promise of jobs
About 15 miles west of Lansing, a chunk of farmland roughly the size of 1,000 football fields could become a high-tech manufacturing site.
In Southwest Michigan, almost 1,900 rural acres have been pegged for potential development.
And largescale properties south of Flint in Mundy Township and Shiawassee County are also being eyed for possible chip or electric vehicle battery plants.
These are mega sites.
Michigan started assembling the massive properties over the past year to attract multi-billion-dollar manufacturing investments and create thousands of jobs. But two proposed mega sites are facing fierce backlash from residents.
What are mega sites?
Mega sites are one way Michigan is trying to win major electric vehicle and semiconductor projects.
Each “build-ready” site is about 1,000 acres or more to accommodate largescale manufacturing facilities. A Michigan Strategic Fund agenda shows three of the mega sites are being considered for projects with “large job creation and private investment” including one up to $50 billion that will create more than 5,600 jobs.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation awarded grants last year totaling $2.35 million to local economic development groups to prep the properties. This includes assembling parcels by offering landowners option agreements and building infrastructure on site.
Marshall’s mega site stretches for miles
Tucked between the I-94 and I-69 interchange sits 1,900 acres of mostly farmland.
The Marshall mega site stretches more than 3 miles west of 12 Mile Road and 1.5 miles south to the Kalamazoo River. The Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance calls it a deal “50 years in the making” that could invigorate the local economy.
CEO James Durian says there’s a “strong upside” to getting a semiconductor or electric vehicle battery manufacturer that could bring 2,000 to 3,000 jobs to the area.
“That allows our community to grow and have more revenue and tax dollars to help our community turn around,” he said.
About 700 acres at the heart of the mega site were zoned for industrial use in the 1960s. In recent years, the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance has used $1.2 million in state grants to prep the site, offer three-year option agreements to neighboring landowners and market it to companies.
But some are worried a potential industrial park will scar the natural landscape.
“At what cost?” asks Jan Corey Arnett, who lives about 20 miles north of Marshall. “At what cost to water, air, land and quality of life?”
Opponents say the proposed mega site is home to wildlife and rich agricultural land. A petition to “protect Michigan’s farmland” and “stop the mega site” has been signed by more than 1,700 people. And a January township meeting was flooded with public comment on the project, WOOD-TV reported.
Corey Arnett, a self-described “barn lady” who founded a preservation group called Barn Believers, also wants to protect two farmsteads on the property.
“It’s sexy to politicians who want to quote the verbiage of economic development and jobs,” she said.
A proposal from opponents suggests the land be turned into a state park with hiking trails, camping sites and an agricultural district.
“We’re not against development. We’re not against manufacturing. We’re not against progress. But this is our proposal. We believe it’s a better, healthier proposal for our community that creates jobs and attracts tourists,” said Rebecca Glotfelty, a community organizer who lives in Charlevoix but has family property within the mega site zone.
Despite objections, plans moved forward last week when the Marshall Township Board of Trustees approved four land transfers to the city of Marshall to hook up the mega site to utilities.
But mega site prep doesn’t guarantee development.
Rather they’re a tool to attract big business as the state competes for electric vehicle and high-tech investments amid a push for U.S. chip production. Last year, Michigan awarded $2 billion of economic incentives to land big ticket projects from General Motors, Ford Motor Company, LG Energy Solutions, Gotion and One Next Energy.
Michigan is now among the states predicted to “dominate” electric vehicle battery manufacturing despite watchdog group Good Jobs First calling the race for investments the “biggest megadeal spending spree in U.S. history.”
Glotfelty says the community has been “left in the dark” on the development plans.
“They marketed this as a way to promote it to manufacturers, not to inform the public,” she said.
Landowners agreeing to sell their property are required to sign non-disclosure agreements with Choose Marshall. Durian says that’s typical for investments of this scale, but secrecy around economic development recently stirred up controversy in Lansing when 13 lawmakers signed confidentiality agreements.
“We can’t disclose details about any given project,” Durian said. “When you can’t inform the public because of those non-disclosure agreements, sometimes people fill in the worst-case scenario.”
Eagle Township farmland prepped for development
Another mega site fight is brewing 50 miles north of Marshall.
Roughly 1,400 acres in Eagle Township has been earmarked for potential development as the Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus. It includes farmland donated to Michigan State University by late farmer David Morris plus 11 private properties under a three-year option agreement. The land has not been sold yet.
Just south of I-96, the site is located within 20 miles of downtown Lansing and Michigan State University.
“It’s rare in America to have such a huge site so close to a major metropolitan area and university. And that is our secret sauce,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Area Economic Partnership. “It makes it one of the best sites in America.”
Trezise says manufacturers want sites “ready to go.”
“They don’t want to spend a year assembling many private property owners,” he said. “They want the zoning correct, and they want to see a plan or utilities already completed on the site. In other words, they would like a site to be publicly owned and ready to go.”
Lansing Area Economic Partnership won a $250,000 state grant last year to prep the site.
“The impact of that huge employment growth here would dramatically help small main street businesses in our community who rely on customers,” Trezise said. “It would refill empty schools with families. And, of course, would have a dramatic impact on everyone’s tax base.”
But some residents don’t want to see farmland become a factory.
Cori Feldpausch, who moved to Eagle Township with her husband and infant daughter 42 years ago, has led efforts to block the mega site since retiring in November.
“All I have is a voice,” she said. “A month ago, I had a voice. I went to the township meeting, and I had 10 voices. I went to a board of commissioners meeting, and I had about 13 voices.”
Now, Feldpausch has a Facebook page, made at a McDonald’s with the help of a local young mother, with more than 1,500 members. For Feldpausch, who lives less than four acres from the site, the promise of jobs doesn’t outweigh the “parking lots, pollution, noise” of a high-tech manufacturing facility.
Another point of contention is Morris, a former Eagle Township supervisor and longtime farmer. He donated his centennial family farm to Michigan State University with the stipulation it must remain farmland for 25 years, as first reported by Michigan Farm News.
University spokesperson Dan Olsen said that agreement, which lasts until 2031, would apply to the new owner. Proceeds from the sale, if approved by the board of trustees, would support an endowment for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Morris’ daughter Patty Raymond questions why the state picked the farmland for possible development.
“I get that it’s by the highway. It’s by the railroad,” she said. “But there’s so many other empty places that could be used.”
The mega site plans now hang on Clinton County rezoning the land to industrial use.
A fight over the ‘greater good’
Both sides seemingly disagree about what’s best for the community.
Trezise is sympathetic to “backyard feelings,” but he believes a mega site will secure Michigan’s future.
“That conversation is about balancing a profound greater good versus a few people and their backyards. That doesn’t diminish or even criticize their viewpoints,” he said. “It’s just that we also do have a right, as a society and community, to talk about all of it.”
Others define greater good differently.
For Corey Arnett, it’s about protecting farmland for future generations.
“It really comes down to transparency and thinking about and respecting the greater good,” she said. “This is not the greater good.”
Despite the pushback, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation expects to deliver a mega site strategic plan to lawmakers by April 2. An additional $75 million was recently allocated to fund mega site development.
Terri Fitzpatrick, chief real estate and global attraction officer for the state economic board, implied some non-residents are driving opposition.
“We have found this in both communities, and this is typical in the development world that there’s an assumption that people at public meetings are residents,” she said. “They do not have to be, and often they’re not.”
Recent public meetings in Marshall and Eagle Township drew crowds of people asking questions about the plans.
Mega site development, though, can be slow.
Some of these properties require zoning changes, site preparation, local government approval of plans and, most importantly, buyers before becoming a possible manufacturing plant.
Regardless, Fitzpatrick says the state plans to pitch these mega sites “again and again” to win projects.