MARSHALL, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The City of Marshall hosted a special City Council meeting on Thursday to evaluate a petition brought forth by residents opposing the new Ford Blue Oval EV Battery Plant.
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“As you have seen the 810 signatures trumps your 108 letters of approval for the megasite,” one resident said during the meeting, “We are fully encouraging the citizenry to fully step out of the woodwork and make their voices known. So again this is a terrible thing happening. It should still be stopped, the zoning is supposed to be suspended but I still see activity going on on the megasite.”
A Marshall Township resident and member of the group chiefly opposing the project, “Committee for Marshall – Not the Megasite,” Glenn Kowalske, spoke before the council.
“Remember that the right to petition the government is rooted in the US Constitution as a basic right of the people,” he added, “It is within your power to sever the appropriation language, as they stated on May 1st, and let a referendum within the City of Marshall move forward.”
Kowalske also has great environmental concerns about the project, and expressed many others do too.
“As we have petitioned and spoken to over 815 people on our petition drive, people want a voice and they are suspect of the pressure that you and the Marshall Township have endured from the state of Michigan to bring these 3,000 acres into the megamess of heavy industrial property, along the fragile Kalamazoo River.”
Another attendee of the meeting, neighboring county resident, George Hubka, shared about what the City of Marshall Clerk conveyed to him about the petition.
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“The clerk’s office says the number [of signatures on the petition] has been counted but they won’t release the number, or if it’s the correct number, or anything else,” he said.
According to Hubka, the office is going to release the formal number of valid signatures on Monday.
After the public comment section of the meeting, the City Council motioned into a closed session after 8 pm, and didn’t discuss anything else.
The next Marshall Township Council Meeting will be held on Monday June 19, at 7 pm.
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