- For more than a year, Eagle Township residents rallied against a proposed 1,400-acre mega-site: uniting to stop a large-scale manufacturing plant from being built in the community.
- After local organization LEAP stopped marketing the site, residents saw it as a win for the community.
See how Eagle Township’s fight to protect its future unfolded and what’s next for the community in the video above.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The final chapter on the Eagle Megasite... The fight some of my neighbors put up against it shut down the idea for a large manufacturing site. I'm your neighborhood reporter, Russell Shellberg, showing you what this means for the township and what happens next.
Plenty of neighbors showed up to Eagle Township's meeting Thursday night, not to voice opposition, but to thank the board for their efforts.
"This just shows what a township can do with the right people saying 'no.' So thank you!"
Efforts to stand up against a proposed 1,400-acre megasite being placed in Eagle Township—a fight that Supervisor Troy Stroud has been a major voice in for years.
"For me, I hope it becomes more of a how-to for continuing to improve Eagle, not how to save Eagle," said Stroud.
The site would have been used as a large-scale manufacturing plant. Many residents I talked to voiced their opinions on the site, saying they aren't opposed to development, but only if it's the right kind of development.
"Some places want economic development; it's not a bad thing. What I don't like is when it's forced onto a community without them saying, 'Yes, this is what we want,'" said Resident Cori Feldpausch.
During this process, LEAP was one of the driving forces behind introducing the MMIC. But with so much backlash from the community, the project was withdrawn. Chief Operating Officer Keith Lambert provided me with a statement saying, in part: "LEAP and its partners have stopped marketing the site and allowed real estate property options to naturally expire."
Now that the megasite has been stopped in its tracks, Eagle Township Trustee Dennis Strahle says many residents are back to feeling at ease.
"We didn't want it, we didn't need it, and now it's not coming. So we're happy," said Strahle.
Stroud told me that the township is looking at other opportunities in Eagle, but will do so with full transparency for the township residents and board.
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