EAGLE TWP., Mich. — Some Eagle Township residents are concerned that 1,400 acres of local farmland will become what they refer to as a "megasite."
"We don't say megasite," Chief Stratefic Officer of Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) Victoria Meadows said. "We say Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus because that's what we're really talking about doing."
Clinton County, Eagle Township, LEAP and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) are considering the primarily Michigan State University-owned farmland in Eagle Township for said campus.
"It's an opportunity, really, for the community, for the state of Michigan as well, to bring good-paying jobs to the U.S. and to increase community investment," Meadows said.
That being said, however, Meadows clarified, "There's no agreement in place, there's no project, there's no nothing yet."
Yet, even the potential of a project enveloping the farmland frightens some residents, including neighbors of said farmland: Lindsay Herrera Kaplan, Cori Feldpausch and George Bedard.
"The stress of it has been extremely hard on my family and myself," Herrera Kaplan said. "How could anyone look out over this beautiful land and see it transformed like that in front of your eyes and know what you're losing and what you had?"
Dozens of township residents met Thursday night at the Eagle Township Fairgrounds to learn more about the proposed campus and express their concerns.
"What are your concerns? Infrastructure, water, air quality control—tell us everything," Eagle Township Supervisor Patti Schafer, who is also on the Clinton County Planning Commission, said. "The consultant can gather the information and come back with options."
Schafer said the parties involved are trying to be proactive.
"So that we're ready if and when MSU finds a new buyer and they say, 'We want to be community,'" Schafer said. "I can say, 'Here's what the schools concerns are, here's our residents' concerns, and here's what community means to us.'"
"It's really, really important that the community knows we are listening," Meadows said. "We've worked to establish a website that includes answers to a lot of those questions that we've been hearing bubbling up from inside the community."
For that website, click here.
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