Marshall, Mich. (Michigan News Source)- After more than three hours of public comment and the Marshall City Council extending the length of the meeting, the board voted to rezone hundreds of acres in a request to rezone agricultural land to be part of the Ford Blue Oval Battery plant. 

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In the final minutes of the three times extended meeting, the board voted unanimously after 1:30am, approving the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance’s  (MAEDA) request to change the zoning of the land to industrial, which would allow for an expansion of the Ford project.

There were more than two dozen speakers who shared their varying opinions regarding the proposed battery plant and the rezoning of agricultural land to be used in the project; roughly 60% of speakers were against the rezoning while 40% of speakers sided with the City Council. 

One speaker called for several City Council members to recuse themselves.  Another declared that the majority of the township supported the construction, and faced physical threats for saying so.

There were also a number of speakers against the rezoning from other townships who have had  EV developments including the Stellantis plant in Detroit, and the proposed Gotion project in Big Rapids. One resident from a nearby township supported keeping the land the way it is. 

Barton Township Supervisor, Kyle Luce, spoke against the rezoning vote, and has previously voiced his opposition to the Gotion Battery project near Big Rapids. 

“Our board members are actually quite concerned, it’s a farm town,” Luce said, “It’s 95% Agricultural (AG) Land, it’s beautiful and pristine and that’s the way it needs to stay.”

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A former East Lansing resident, Karli Withee, spoke about why she and her family left the area to live in Marshall, because it was a small town and without industrial buildings and hoped to keep it that way. 

One of the final speakers before the second meeting extension, who had lived in the town since 1957, advocated for the project to increase the population of the community.

“There were jobs in Marshall, so families could stay together,” he said. 

For some, there are many potential environmental concerns involved in the project, including Seed Keepers founder, Glenn Kowalske. 

“The soil is good farmland, it’s very permeable so anything that flows into the ground will go directly into the river,” Kowalske said, “The groundwater there is only about 30 feet below the surface, so there is also a big concern about aquifer damage with an industrial site.”

The Marshall Joint Planning Commission voted 4-2 against granting the permit to rezone the land last week.