FLINT/BAY CITY -- Local leaders know what they would like to do with old General Motors properties in their communities, once money allocated by the federal government pays for environmental clean-up efforts.
The Obama Administration announced $159 million dollars for Michigan in a settlement arranged with the Old General Motors (also known as Motors Liquidation Company).
A good chunk of that money will be going to GM’s birthplace: Flint. $42 million dollars will clean up various factories and sites with $33 million alone being allocated to Buick City.
While there is no exact remediation timetable, Mayor Dayne Walling said there is plenty of potential for economic development there.
“There’s food processing possibilities,” along with other possible industries he said. Before anything happens, he said crews will have to begin a lengthy job, “getting contamination out of the ground, replacing soil, moving around concrete and installing wells.”
In Bay City, $3.5 million dollars will go to remediate property adjacent to the GM Powertrain facility. “I don’t know if it would be marketable or sellable but I do know that once it’s cleaned up that possibility is much greater of a potential expansion,” said Mayor Charles Brunner.
“They’ve made four announcements in the last year to the tune of over $100 million in that plant and that’s going to 100 or 150 new or retained jobs on that property.”
However to Brunner’s disappointment, none of the funds announced will be going to clean-up the GM Middlegrounds facility in town. The city acquired the property after bankruptcy proceedings dissolved GM’s responsibilities of the site.
