Trenton residents tell council they don't want industry to return to McLouth site
A day after residents protested at the former McLouth Steel site in Trenton, they spoke out again Monday to ask the City Council to reject plans to return the city's riverfront to industrial use.
"It may not directly affect you where you live, but it certainly affects the many residents like me who live near it," Pat Bryan told the council Monday night. "Rezoning to industrial use would result in a massive increase in traffic as well as noise, air, and water pollution for all of Downriver. This would set any progress made back decades."
Nearly a dozen people voiced their opposition during the public comments portion that ended the council's virtual meeting Monday.
The panel did not take any action on a proposed overhaul of the city's zoning ordinance that would reclassify the former McLouth property, now owned by a subsidiary of the Moroun family's Crown Enterprises Inc. real estate firm, as a "waterfront industrial district" designed for large-scale or specialized industrial operations.
Under the proposal, which Trenton's Planning Commission recommended in a 5-4 vote July 22, the McLouth site's zoning would change in some sections from mixed-use and in others to a more-restrictive, heavy-industrial designation.
The proposed changes have sparked outcry from residents in the city as well as other Downriver communities who say the move would add more pollution as well as create a transportation hub of trucks, ships and trains that would harm property values and change Trenton's makeup.
"I would like you to please represent the interests of the overwhelming majority of residents who want" another option, longtime resident Edith Traster told the council.
McLouth Steel, founded in Detroit in 1934, closed in 1995 after filing for bankruptcy.
Redevelopment plans for the site never came together, including a failed proposal in 2006 for a residential and commercial development.
The state, county and city passed on opportunities to buy the property after Wayne County foreclosed on it in 2017 for $3.7 million. In 2018, Ambassador Bridge mogul Manuel "Matty" Moroun's Crown Enterprises bought it from the Wayne County Land Bank for $4 million.
Crown's president, Michael Samhat, has said the company "is focused on the work of taking down the buildings on site, and cleanup" and doesn't have "any redevelopment currently planned for the site."
Last year, the property was designated an environmental Superfund site, making it eligible for federal cleanup funds for remediation, which will take several years.
City officials have said the changes are part of a larger four-year-long effort to update the city's zoning ordinance and would affect many other properties in the city. And Crown would need approval for any redevelopment plans.
"There (are) no special favors being done or anything like that," Trenton Mayor Steven Rzeppa said Monday. "They're going to be held to the same standard."
Council members also stressed they are listening to concerns from residents before moving forward.
"There's a lot to look at. There's a lot to study," Councilwoman Wendy Pate said. "I hope the council spends a long time looking at every aspect of it."
Some residents questioned the plans, fearing an influx of trucks, ships or trains would alter the community.
Thomas Wolsek, a third-generation resident said he recently bought a home in the city.
"I truly hope and believe in the process that we will find something that will result in the city not going down a path that pushes people away," he said.