- Development continues near Flint, where Michigan is using $261 million to buy and demolish houses for a megasite
- The site was expected to be a Sandisk semiconductor assembly plant before company withdrew its plans
- Residents called to testify before legislators describe the project as secretive and concerning
LANSING — Michigan economic developers tout a 1,300-acre megasite near Flint for its potential to create jobs, but two residents of the community told lawmakers on Wednesday that their experiences with the project have been traumatic.
The state funded the megasite with $261 million, they noted, amid secrecy and without seeking input from the residents affected by the plans.
“Perfectly good homes and businesses have been torn down, and active communities of residents watched the destruction from their porches,” Mundy Township Supervisor Jennifer Stainton, elected in fall 2024 on an anti-megasite platform, testified Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Corporate Subsidies and State Investments.
The taxpayer funding now includes a $40 million offer to purchase an elementary school and build a new one elsewhere, and economic developers now sit on the board of a neighborhood association of 100 homes that are being purchased and demolished to make room for the megasite.
Today, as the demolition and land buys continue, Stainton said she and others are focused on three key issues: quality of life, water quality and “concern for the abuse of taxpayers dollars and taxpayers’ rights.”
State Rep. Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, leads the subcommittee. He said he called Wednesday’s hearing because lawmakers “owe it to residents of Michigan” to explore the spending and effects on the community.
Still a ‘game-changer’?
The megasite comprises about 1,300 acres in the township, located in Genesee County south of the Flint Bishop Airport. The location is where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wanted to land a major semiconductor manufacturing site before she leaves office next year.
Sandisk was the leading contender, promising an eventual 9,400 jobs. However, after well over a year of negotiations, the chipmaker spun out of Western Digital told Whitmer that it would not pursue a $63 billion investment at the megasite or any other greenfield.
The deal, undisclosed publicly amid a series of legislative and local non-disclosure agreements initiated by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, would have cost the state $6.2 billion in a subsidy package that included cash, tax breaks and other sweeteners. All told, taxpayers would have paid $660,000 per job, based solely on the published figures the state was willing to spend.
The megasite remains on the market. Developers Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance now advertise it as available in 400-acre minimum lot sizes.
Tyler Rossmaessler, executive director of the regional alliance, still calls the property a “game changer” for the Flint area and Michigan.
The megasite is “the best site in North America to attract a large-scale employer that will bring thousands of jobs,” he said in a statement.
But in Mundy Township, residents were stunned to learn over the past two years that some of their homes had been targeted for acquisition with state dollars.
“I’m not against the growth of the town, but I am against the secrecy, not letting me know my house was being involved,” said Don Ludwig, who still has not sold his home.
Related:
- Records: Michigan offered more than $6B in failed bid to land chip factories
- Lawmakers: Spending $660K per job for Sandisk would have been tough sell
- Whitmer’s semiconductor dreams near Flint become nightmare for neighbors
- With Flint megasite deal, Michigan tops $1B in spending on development land
State-funded land acquisition and development efforts through the Strategic Site Readiness program have topped $1 billion since legislators initiated the funding in late 2021 as part of the controversial Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund.
Among the projects funded through the MEDC’s site readiness program facing community opposition are the stalled Gotion Inc. electric vehicle battery factory near Big Rapids, the Ford Blue Oval Marshall EV battery site that will open in 2026 and the Copperwood Mine in the western Upper Peninsula, which saw its $50 million award stalled by legislators who now will consider a $50 million direct grant to aid its development.
Years of investments
Incentive spending on the Mundy Township megasite started in early 2022, when the Flint & Genesee Group — an umbrella organization that includes the area’s chamber and economic development arm — received $250,000 from the state to start site preparation, then shared in a $5 million award in August of that year.
Another $1.5 million was awarded in April 2023, when the Michigan Strategic Fund made a grant to the Flint and Genesee Chamber Foundation, also tied to the Flint & Genesee Group.
Also in early 2023, township officials — who had learned about the megasite plans a year earlier during meetings with the MEDC and the Flint-area economic developers — added new zoning over the three-mile area in the township identified for the megasite.
That Advanced Manufacturing Overlay District was approved after a public hearing, but the connection to the megasite was not a part of the discussion. The move to create the overlay district allows the township to set guidelines — such as building height and screening — if a proposal is made for the property, testified Township Manager Chad Young.
Despite the ongoing site work, no plans have been submitted to the township to build on the megasite, he added. Still, he said, the township held a listening session two years ago as word spread about the megasite and people raised questions about the state funding to establish it. He and the former township supervisor were under a non-disclosure agreement at the time, and that was the only public vetting of the megasite outside of meetings for state funding approval.
Testimony about the Mundy Township megasite will continue next week, Carra said after the meeting, with MEDC and Flint economic developers testifying.
Stainton said the greater Mundy Township area would welcome benefits from taxpayer-funded investments, as long as the community is involved.
“Those investments should be driven by the needs of the community, not by what appointed officials and corporate lobbyists are deciding in Lansing offices,” she said.
“Michigan taxpayers and residents are being treated like second-class citizens, while their taxpayer dollars are given to corporations by the billions.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to indicate that Michigan has spent $261 million to prepare the site. An earlier version misstated the total.
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