News and Notes on the
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Or What could be the future
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News and Notes on the
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Or What could be the future
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Background Information.
The Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance (MAEDA) aka Choose Marshall has been promoting a 1,600 acre track of land which they call the "Marshall Megasite" to various manufacturers for several years now. Unfortunately, promotion has mostly occurred out of the eye of the general public, especially Marshall Township residents. The "veil" was lifted so to speak, when word got out to the public that a PA 425 land transfer was about to be enacted between the Marshall Township and the City of Marshall. (see our posts on the 425) This transfer allows for City water and utilities to service the proposed Megasite. As one could have anticipated, residents were outraged by the lack of transparency in land acquisition and lack of public notification. Since 2019, MAEDA has slowly been securing options to purchase property to assemble he Marshall Megasite. These options are secured with nondisclosure agreements so that property owners do not discuss the terms of the options with their neighbors. Adjoining property owners had no idea that they would be on the edge of a Mega Industrial complex that was being pitched to manufactures like Toyota, Ford, and GM through MAEDA and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Over the years this site has been passed over by various manufacturers, most recently by Ford Motor Company who decided to go to Tennessee to build their mega campus which they've coined, "Blue Oval City" on 3,600 acres of farmland in the Memphis area. After being passed over by Ford, the State of Michigan really started to ramp things up. They were able to get the state legislature to approve taking one billion, yes one billion dollars out of the state's general fund to use toward making Michigan's Megasites more attractive to potential manufacturers. Attractiveness also involves big incentive packages which includes, providing infrastructure to the sites, free land and tax abatements. Will this be the silver bullet to land big manufacturers. Well we hope not. But the Marshall Megasite has plenty of deficiencies as far as Mega Industrial Sites go. We're listing them in no particular order. Size and Shape of Megasite. MAEDA advertises the site to be 2.5 square miles, which gives an inaccurate picture of the site. The site is actually much longer than wide. Averaging roughly 1 mile wide to 4 miles long. Megasites across the country, which have proven to be more attractive, are more square than oblong making for factory layout a little more convenient. Proximity to Kalamazoo River, one of Michigan's longest tributaries. The Megasite runs along the Kalamazoo for roughly 2.5 miles. (separated by a railway line and narrow green strip) The reluctancy of a Corporation to set up shop along the Kalamazoo River is understandable. In 2010, the largest inland oil spill in the Midwest (at the time) occurred along this very segment of the Kalamazoo (it entered the Kalamazoo from Talmadge Creek) The spill occurred due to a rupture of the Enbridge Oil pipeline. 800,000 gallons of crude tar sand oil entered the river. Enbridge spent four years cleaning it up. This clean up included removing large islands of contaminated soil from the center of the river and from along the banks. But can corporations be rest assured that contaminants at some level won't be detected in years to come? If they are detected, will the corporation be blamed? It could be a large enough concern that Corporations have chosen other sites. Undesirable place for management to live. What MAEDA has failed to address is Marshall's desirability as a place to live. Management must want to live here, and we argued that many don't. Compared to states such as Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, Michigan's climate is terrible. First off, Southwest Michigan tops the list of cloudiest places in the United States. One is lucky to see the sun more than a couple dozen times between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. Winters are cold but without enough snow to make winter sports a possibility. Marshall also falls within the top range of severe weather occurrences, mostly in the form of sever thunderstorms but also to a lesser extent tornado activity. Marshall is a quaint small historic town that is a wonderful community, however it doesn't provide the outdoor recreational activities which young adults seek. The town itself surrounded by cornfields, solar farms, marijuana growing facilities and little else. The only possible place for outdoor recreation IS the 1,800 acre tract of land that the Township is planning for the Megasite. Marshall is positioned exactly in the center of the state, far away from Michigan's beautiful beaches and recreational areas. Local grocery stores don't provide much diversity in products and produce appears as though it has sat on the shelf for a week or more. The local schools are in good shape but they have been unable to pass the last two school millages. And unlike larger municipalities, the local schools offer less in the way of curriculum. Our suggestion to the City of Marshall and Marshall Township is to provide the services and amenities that would attract the people to our community who will be able to provide the knowledge and skill to start up small manufacturing plants within Marshall's current industrial park that fits within the character of our community. This suggestion would be to create a 1,800 State Park Recreational Area in what is referred to as the Marshall Megasite. This site could include miles and miles of hiking, bike and horseback trails, an agricultural district (so the two historic farmsteads would not be destroyed) offering community gardens and barn. The Park would include camp sites and observation platforms along the Kalamazoo for observing wildlife and there is even a suggestion to build a new Museum of Natural History to house the collection from the Kingman Museum of Natural History. The park would be accessible from downtown Marshall by a two mile bike path that runs along the railroad line. That would be marvelous. That is a plan that would attract investment to our community. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/01/05/2583904/0/en/Central-South-Carolina-Megasite-Receives-CSX-Select-Site-Designation.html
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Concerned CitizensWe are concerned residents who are oppossed to the State of Michigan's plant to create a 1,600 acre industrial park outside historic Marshall, Michigan. Instead we wish to see a 1,600 acre recreational area on this site which runs along two miles of the Kalamazoo River. Save Historic Marshall, Save Michigan's Agricultural Land and Protect Michigan's green spaces! Archives
May 2023
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