- Over 1000 acres of farmland in Eagle are being proposed for a Manufacturing Innovation Campus
- LEAP and the Eagle Township Board signed NDAs from MEDC causing transparency issues in the community
- LEAP believes the use of this land for the campus will create jobs and a better future for Eagle
- Some residents are against the project and want the land to stay
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"We've got billions of people on this planet and those people some day are very unlikely to need a chip to eat, that's going to need some food to eat. If we ruin this land, its less land to feed the people." said Eagle Township Trustee, Dennis Strahle.
Strahle sees the value in the farmland spread across eagle township.
But those supporting the creation of a new innovation campus see the value in what it could be.
"We saw a really great purpose around economic development. Got in touch with eagle township's elected officials, supervisor Schafer and the whole board. And at that point the supervisor was like 'yeah this is a really interesting opportunity, lets take a look at this.'" said Chief Operating Officer of LEAP, Keith Lambert.
And when they did, Lambert says that the entirety of the Eagle Township board and LEAP later signed a non-disclosure agreement with the Michigan economic development corporation or MEDC. Which Lambert says is only about specific project information.
"Its not about the site itself, our vision which we've been very transparent about, its only protecting specific companies. Their names, their plans, their details, when they're contemplating something that could potentially go at Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus (MMIC) in the coming years."
But many residents viewed that NDA as a lack of transparency. When they say supervisor Patti Schafer withheld information.
In a sign of their frustration, Schafer was recalled.
But leap said there is support shown by a polling summary from April that surveyed 400 individuals from Eaton and Clinton counties on support for the innovation campus that would potentially manufacture microchips, batteries, or electric vehicles.
The results led to a 65% favor for the campus.
However, Strahle says it's not the whole story.
"We've had people when we were doing the signatures for the petitions go door to door. And there was maybe one person out of all the multitudes of doors they went to that said 'hey I'm for this. go away.'
But Lambert says that the need for the project can benefit both sides.
"We can do both. We can have a nice employment center here that benefits eagle township and the whole region, while also maintaining a beautiful rural community and a lot of precious farm land across the region."
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