MARSHALL, Mich. — Community members continued to push back against Ford’s construction of a new battery plant in Marshall at a city council meeting Thursday evening.
Ford Motor Co. says its $3.5 billion BlueOval Battery Park factory will employ at least 2,500 American workers, and construction will start this summer.
A group of people held a protest in May in an effort to stop the process after Marshall’s city council approved a request to rezone more than 700 acres of the site into an industrial and manufacturing zone.
Opposers are working on a petition that would make the rezoning of the plant a city-wide vote.
READ MORE: Marshall residents create petition for city-wide vote on battery plant rezoning
Community members continued to plead their case to city council Thursday.
“It’s dividing the whole community. I hope you all know that. I’ve cried with my neighbors. I’ve cried with my friends, okay? It’s affecting the lives of the people in the township. Each one of you is responsible, in part, for that, and that’s a big burden of karma to carry. Now, I’m not saying you haven’t put your heart into this. I believe that you came on board with good intentions, but it’s gone too far. At this point, you need to do the right thing. You need to put it to the vote. Release your liability and let the people have a voice,” one person said.
“I just kind of want to reiterate what everyone else previous to me has been saying— we’ve all been through a lot. We did this for a reason. Please allow the referendum to go through. If the megasite is as widely accepted as you say it is, then what are you afraid of? Let’s put it to the test. Let the democratic process of the people’s right to make that decision play out,” another added.
City council members went into a brief closed session after public comment before voting to adjourn the meeting.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, June 20.
