Michigan is no longer pursuing a plan to turn farmland into an industrial site after facing community pushback on developing the controversial megasite.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the Lansing Area Economic Partnership, LEAP, put together a 1,400-acre megasite in Eagle Township to attract a largescale, job-creating investment.

But after the state disbursed nearly $6 million to the project, it’s been halted.

“We continue to believe the site could have great potential given its proximity to infrastructure, workforce and other adjacent industrial uses,” said Otie McKinley, a spokesperson for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. “We also recognize that this is not the right time to pursue additional development on the site.”

‘At what cost?’ Michigan communities fight mega sites despite promise of jobs

The Eagle Township megasite, also known as the Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus, was one of four megasites the state started assembling two years ago as a part of its strategy to land major billion-dollar investments.

Named for their size, each “build-ready” megasite is at least 1,000 acres.

Others are located in Mundy Township near Flint, Shiawassee County and Marshall, where Ford Motor Co. is building a $2.5 billion electric vehicle battery plant.

The Michigan Strategic Fund earmarked $75 million two years ago to make these megasites “build ready” with infrastructure upgrades and real estate acquisition.

For the Eagle Township property, the state distributed $5.95 million to LEAP for site prep. LEAP did not respond to questions about how the funding was spent.

LEAP says there was a “sense of urgency” because of Michigan’s need for “sites of that magnitude to pursue important semiconductor and EV-related industry investment projects to reshore US manufacturing and technology jobs.”

It took six months of “confidential real estate assembly” to put together the Eagle Township megasite, according to LEAP. This included farmland donated to Michigan State University by late farmer David Morris and private properties under a three-year option agreement.

LEAP has since allowed the real estate options to expire after “the local municipality leaders and neighbor sentiment turned from initial unanimous support into significant opposition.”

“We took the further step of offering early termination to all affected property owners in recent weeks,” LEAP said in a statement.

Michigan assembling 1,000-acre ‘mega sites’ to attract big investments

This decision comes after the project faced significant backlash from community members who objected to the large swath of rural land becoming a major industrial site.

Opposition gained momentum over the past two years through a 3,200-member Facebook group called “Stop the Mega Site, Eagle MI.” Red signs proclaiming “No Eagle Megasite” have also dotted the rural community located about 15 miles west of Lansing.

Eagle Township Supervisor and local farmer Troy Stroud, 54, says he’s cautiously optimistic about the news.

“We’re not all farmers in Eagle, but it’s a very strong part of how we identify and what we enjoy about where we live,” he said. “It’s what matters to us, and you have to fight for what matters to you.”

A key sticking point for opponents was that Morris, a former Eagle Township supervisor and longtime farmer, donated his centennial family farm to Michigan State University with the stipulation it must remain farmland until 2031. MSU previously said the agreement would extend to any future owner, but the university was sued last year for allegedly redacting too much information about the deal.

Stroud says a “lack of transparency” was another major issue after former township supervisor Patti Schafer signed non-disclosure agreements about the project.

“We just wanted some transparency around what it was,” he said. “It just became this quest of wanting to know the knowledge, the details, what was really happening.”

State approves $250M grant for new Genesee County megasite

This led to Schafer, Township Treasurer Kathy Oberg and Trustee Richard Jones facing recall efforts over the NDAs. Schafer lost her seat to Stroud while Oberg and Jones both resigned last November.

Secrecy around economic development has also been contentious in Lansing where lawmakers have signed confidentiality agreements tied to big deals.

It remains unclear what the future holds for the Eagle Township megasite.

Both LEAP and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said it is not currently being marketed for development. A website for the Michigan Manufacturing Innovation Campus is now password protected. And the “primary economic opportunity” LEAP was trying to land chose another location outside the region.

Additionally, Eagle Township adopted a 220-page master plan in September that reflects residents’ will “to maintain the cherished natural and rural charm of the community.” It also updated its zoning rules around industrial sites.

“The future of a site in Eagle Township remains in the hands of the community,” McKinley said. “We are always open to any future engagement should their vision or plans for development on that site change from what they are today.”

PISCATAWAY – It’s been a long college football journey for Michigan State’s leading rusher, but it’s one that started five years ago with Rutgers football.

Running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Scarlet Knights before transferring to UMass, but now he’s with the Spartans and a player Rutgers’ defense will need to limit Saturday (3:30 p.m., FS1) at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Ohio native returned to the Power 4 level with the Spartans as a sixth-year graduate transfer, and through 11 games has a team-leading 580 yards rushing on 124 carries (4.7 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns.

Lynch-Adams’ production isn’t surprising to Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who on Monday said he believed Lynch-Adams had this type of potential.

“I was disappointed when he left. I liked the young man, and I also really liked the football player,” Schiano said. “And I can remember exactly where I was when he called me to tell me he was leaving. I was truly disappointed, and really tried to keep him.”

Lynch-Adams played in nine games for Rutgers in 2019, finishing with 161 rushing yards on 48 carries. Then in 2020, he ran for 159 yards and one touchdown on 35 carries in the pandemic-shortened nine-game season.

The problem for Lynch-Adams was that there was a stellar running back atop the depth chart – now two-time Super Bowl champion Isiah Pacheco of the Kansas City Chiefs.

While Schiano didn’t want Lynch-Adams to leave, he couldn’t blame him either.

“I understood why,” Schiano said. “You know, you had this guy by the name of Pacheco in front of him, and he’s a pretty good player, too.”

Lynch-Adams was productive at UMass – last season he rushed for 1,157 yards on 236 carries with 12 touchdowns.

“It’s not like I have stayed in touch with him but I have a little bit,” Schiano said. “I really respect him. He’s a hard-working kid. He’s a really tough football player and I love the way he played. I loved what he did. He was a team guy. I was disappointed when we lost him, and I’m not surprised that he’s having success.”

Lynch-Adams will be the latest challenge for Rutgers’ run defense, which has been up and down this season. He splits carries with Nate Carter, who’s rushed for 452 yards and four touchdowns this season.

The Scarlet Knights are hoping to pick up a seventh regular-season victory, something they haven’t done since 2014.

Limiting Lynch-Adams will be a key to making that happen.

“He’s someone that we have to stop now for sure,” Schiano said.

So much for Jase Richardson’s sprained left ankle.

Less than a week after rolling it late in a game and being helped off the court, he led Michigan State on it.

The freshman guard came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points as the Spartans rolled to a 72-56 win against Colorado on Monday in the opening around of the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center.

In the first tournament setting of the season, Michigan State overcame another miserable shooting performance beyond the arc (2-for-21) with a deep rotation, explosive transition game and active defense.

The Spartans (5-1) will play their second of three games in three days on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN) in a semifinal against Memphis (5-0), which survived a late rally to knock off No. 2 UConn 99-97 in overtime earlier Monday. The other half of the bracket features No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina and Dayton, who are all playing later Monday night.

Richardson made six of eight field goals and was one of 10 different scorers for the Spartans, whose bench outscored the Buffaloes 40-13. Frankie Fidler scored nine, Jeremy Fears had eight and six assists and Coen Carr had eight points.

Julian Hammond led Colorado with a game-high 15 points while Elijah Malone scored 14.

Any concerns about Richardson’s mobility after suffering a sprained ankle late in last week’s 83-75 win against Samford were quickly erased. He checked in less than four minutes into the game and immediately got in the paint for a basket. Richardson shot 4-for-4 from the floor in the first half and Carr made all three of his shot attempts as the two combined for 14 of Michigan State’s 23 bench points in the opening 20 minutes.

That helped make up for the awful 3-point shooting that has plagued the Spartans so far this season. They entered Monday’s game ranked 352nd out of 355 teams in the nation from beyond the arc at just 22.1 percent and picked up where they left off. Michigan State shot 50 percent (15-for-30) from the floor in the opening half despite missing all nine 3-point attempts.

After the teams traded baskets and slim leads, the Spartans closed the half on a 17-4 run. Colorado went scoreless for more than five minutes and missed 10 straight shots at one point before going into halftime trailing 38-25.

Coming out of the locker room, the Buffaloes put together an 8-2 run with a pair of triples from Hammond but three quick turnovers prevented them from further shrinking the deficit. After Michigan State missed its first 14 triple tries, Richardson knocked one down a little more than six minutes into the second half to reestablish a double-digit advantage. The Spartans cruised down the stretch to secure a spot in the semifinals.