Eagle Township scraps plans for mega industrial site

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Plans to build a controversial mega industrial site in Clinton County are dead. For well over a year, Eagle Township was considered as a potential location for the site, but now, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, or L.E.A.P. and its partners are no longer marketing the land.

Residents previously showed up to meetings to voice their opposition to the project, and on Wednesday, 6 News learned opposition from both residents and elected officials caused L.E.A.P. to pull the plug.

Eagle Township Supervisor Troy Stroud hoped the news was true.

"I would hope, and so would most of the majority of Eagle, that this means that the Eagle mega-site is dead. Yes that is definitely our hope," said Stroud.

The Lansing Area Economic Partnership says the scrapped plans are because of opposition from people like Stroud. In a statement, the group said plans to build a "manufacturing innovation campus" are no more due to the pushback they have received.

One part of L.E.A.P.'s statement read the following.

"As more and more input came in, the local municipality leaders and neighbor sentiment turned from initial unanimous support into significant opposition..."

Stroud opposed the project because he said Eagle would have lost jobs and its rural character.

"We would've lost a lot of the rural character, we would have lost a lot of those farming jobs, the trucking jobs we already have, so there's a lot of things it would have put at risk." Said Stroud. But opposition was not unanimous.

A person who lives nearby but was not willing to speak on camera says he thinks the area could use some better-paying jobs for young people.

Stroud says they would lose jobs before they ever gained any.

"They came in and said we promise there'll be high-paying jobs, and much like the other mega-sites, it's a promise in the future..." said Stroud, "That would start with us losing jobs before we ever gained jobs."