Pushback continues against the Ford Motor Company electric vehicle battery plant slated for Marshall as a group of residents submitted a petition to the clerk's office on Monday, aiming to bring the plant's rezoning to a city-wide vote.
Earlier this month, Marshall's city council approved the request to rezone more than 700 acres of the site into an industrial and manufacturing zone. The ultimate goal is to turn the land into Ford's BlueOval Battery Park.
However, some residents feel that decision should have been a city-wide vote.
Starting the first week of May, residents like Regis Klinger began collecting signatures for a petition designed to give residents a say. On Tuesday, Klinger was in the clerk's office for over an hour just to drop off 127 pages filled with 810 signatures.
In order to be accepted, the petition needed signatures from 10% of Marshall residents, which is equivalent to 580 total signatures.
Most residents told FOX 17 they're not opposed to an electric vehicle battery plant: they just don't think the site is the right place.
READ: Mixed feelings for Marshall locals as Ford announces EV battery plant
"A lot of people would like to stop this completely. Don't know if that's practical at this point, but we just want to be heard and we'd like to sit down with the city, with MATA," he said. "We don't want to see 3000 acres of heavy industrial. 1000 Acres is a lot."
Like many others, Klingler says they want to see the land used for a state park, or just something good for their community.
"It's something that would benefit everybody," he said.
ORIGINAL STORY:Ford to build $3.5B electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall
