by Bruce Walker
Michigan residents leery of manufacturing electric vehicle batteries in their respective backyards are watching two court cases filed on their behalf of in Marshall and Mecosta County.
On Monday, a legal demand letter challenged the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Renaissance Zone designation for the Gotion battery plant outside Big Rapids. A Calhoun County judge is expected to issue a ruling next week on whether to cease development on the Blue Oval Battery Park in Marshall during litigation related to alleged zoning violations.
“We are writing to inform MEDC of legal infirmities with the Renaissance Zone designated and to therefore demand that MEDC rescind the illegal Renaissance Zone,” according to the letter from Eckland & Blanco attorney Robby Dube on behalf of Green Township and Big Rapids Township residents and nonprofits.
Dube’s demand letter was addressed to Quentin Messer Jr., the Economic Development Corp.’s president and CEO; Eric D. Williams, attorney for BigRapids Township; Randy Thelen, president and CEO of The Right Place; Chuck Thelen, vice president of Gotion, Inc.; Fred Guenther, mayor of Big Rapids; Mark Gifford, city manager of Big Rapids; Bill Stanek, supervisor of Big Rapids Township Board; and Jim Chapman, supervisor of Green Charter Board.
Dube said the Renaissance Zone is illegal because RZs are limited by Michigan law to 15 years. The Mecosta County RZ, however, was granted an automatic 15-year extension.
“Nowhere is the [agency] granted the authority to rewrite statutes,” Dube wrote. He added the Mecosta County RZ is illegal, and the state agency’s designation “was beyond the scope of its authority and arbitrary and capricious.”
The Gotion project in Mecosta County and the Economic Development Corp. say it will create approximately 2,300 permanent jobs.
The Committee for Marshall – Not the Megasite, a nonprofit, filed suit in late June. It was denied a referendum vote on the proposed Blue Oval industrial site on thousands of rural acres in the southwestern portion of the state. The lawsuit seeks to stop the development of the project until the court determines whether a referendum is legally required.
The Marshall property includes nearly 800 acres of land the city of Marshall transferred to Ford Motor Company for the project. The Marshall megasite would cover 1,900 acres, and the Blue Oval project is anticipated to create more than 2,500 permanent jobs.
The nonprofit committee is also represented by Eckland & Blanco, a Minnesota-based law firm.
Ford Motor Company and officials in Marshall and Mecosta County say they cannot comment publicly on ongoing litigation efforts.
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s MichiganScience magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
Photo “Gotion” by Gotion.
