Tiny Township Turns Down GM
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June/July 2000
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Columns
Tiny Township Turns Down GM
Rural Milan Residents Reject Rail-Car Yard, by Aretta Schills
Diet, Health, and the Environment
An Interview with John Robbins, by Rachel Shaw
Healthy Home and Garden
Energy Star Products Save Cash and Power, by Kristi Jacques
Huron Valley News
Webster Township Holds Sprawl Forum, by Ernie Becker
Science for the People
Pesticides Linked to Decreased Fertility, by Mary Beth Doyle
Rural Milan Residents Vote Down Massive Rail-Car Yard
By Aretta Schils
"It's a done deal." "You can't fight City Hall." "You can't fight a Railroad." "You're wasting your time". These are just a few of the many discouraging comments that we heard while fighting the Ann Arbor Railroad Properties' (AARP) efforts to place the country's largest "intermodal distribution" center in 1,000 acres of rural countryside south of Milan, Michigan.
This facility would bring 900-1400 daily truck-trips of auto-carriers from General Motors' plants in Flint, Lansing, Hamtramck, Pontiac and Lake Orion, and 250 employee vehicles, all heading south to the intersection of US-23 and Cone Road.
Once inside this 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year operation, the autos would be unloaded onto 405 acres of pavement (equal to 35 Meijers' parking lots), stored for several days, then re-loaded onto trains to head south to all parts of the country.
Since the proposed facility would be located only hundreds of feet from residential buildings, a small band of 15 neighbors formed an opposition group in February 1999. Throughout the year, a number of others became actively involved in the fight, and other less-vocal supporters joined too. In August, we incorporated as a non-profit organization called the Milan Area Concerned Citizens (MACC).
MACC has many concerns, including the loss of rural lifestyle and prime agricultural land; contamination by diesel fumes from the trains and trucks; the extra traffic; 75.4 decibel noise levels being allowed; hundreds of lights ruining the night skies; and possible damage to local wells from extra demand and pollution runoff. We insisted that a fiscal impact study be conducted, and objected to revisions of the master plan and zoning ordinances just to enable one particular development.
This monstrous facility would be ten times the size of existing similar facilities and would violate the very ordinances that were created to prohibit such things in a rural setting. In order for this to fit into the community, the township needed to change its master plan, rezone the 1,000 acres from agricultural to industrial, and approve a special use permit.
It addressed the changes simultaneously, holding as many as three meetings a night, three nights a week. In July, the Monroe County Planning Commission voted 6-1 against the rezoning and master plan change. The Milan Township Planning Commission chose to ignore the county's advice, and recommended that all three be approved. On October 13, the final vote was cast 3-2 by the Milan Township Board to clear the way for AARP to continue.
The citizens then started a petition drive to bring the decision to a referendum. It seemed to only take a matter of minutes to acquire the required 60 signatures, but MACC went on to gather 540. The Railroad, however, was not going down without a fight. They spent an unprecedented amount of money to sway voters, arguing that the economic benefits were too good to reject. Lead-ing up to the February 22 vote, the outcome was too close to call. But in the end, the referendum to reject the proposal was approved 403-350.
Now we wait for the next step. Will the AARP sue to overturn the referendum? Will they re-apply for rezoning? Will they sue to force their way in through a government agency or law that would not require them to come under local authority? Will the AARP be a good neighbor and respect the outcome of the election and the wishes of the community? Only time will tell but, for now, we savor our victory against odds that seemed insurmountable at times.
Aretta Schils lives in adjoining Augusta Township, approximately 100 feet from the proposed facility's property line, and is an organizer of the Milan Area Concerned Citizens. For more information about MACC, visit their website at http://www.stopgmrailyard.com/.
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