On one side is Capital Asphalt of Lansing, which wants to build a “state-of-the-art” asphalt plant on land in Genoa Township owned by one of Livingston County’s most politically connected families.
On the other side is a gathering group of angry, motivated area residents who oppose the plant, including some who’ve just come off the successful quashing of a gravel pit project in Genoa Township.
In what is shaping up to be Livingston County’s own clash of the titans, Capital Asphalt is pitching its project for land located less than a mile from WalMart and Meijer in Genoa Township’s big-box shopping district. Check out the map below:
One parcel is owned by Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley through E & B Property Holding, LLC. The second parcel is owned by her husband, Bruce Hundley, through 10-20 Investments & Leasing Inc.
Bruce Hundley — who since 1979 has operated Advanced Alloys Recycling at 3080 Toddiem Drive, the address it shares with the proposed asphalt plant and 10-20 Investments & Leasing — is also chair of Livingston County’s Aeronautical Facilities Board, which runs the Livingston County Spencer J. Hardy Airport. Elizabeth Hundley’s daughter is Meghan Reckling, chief of staff for state Sen. Lana Theis, and chair of the Livingston County Republican Party.
Much social media hay is also being made that Genoa Township Supervisor Bill Rogers — who told WHMI that the project would be an improvement to the site — thanked the Hundleys in a Facebook post for their support of his campaign in 2016.
The Genoa Township plan appears risen from the ashes of a similar proposal over which Capital Asphalt was chased out of Tyrone Township by a very vocal and extremely well-organized group of residents earlier this year. In Tyrone Township, Capital Asphalt withdrew its rezoning request after the huge outcry against it.
You can check out the website of Action to Resist the Plant, the group that organized to oppose the Tyrone Township rezoning request, by clicking here.
According to the minutes of the Oct. 12, 2021, Genoa Township Planning Commission, the attorney for Capital Asphalt said the project is “compatible with the surrounding neighborhood,” and that Toddiem Drive would be brought up to Livingston County Road Commission standards, and municipal water and a new storm-water management system would be installed. (You can read the discussion about the asphalt plant project beginning on page 6 of the minutes of that meeting by clicking here.)
The Genoa Township Planning Commission voted unanimously at the Oct. 12 meeting to recommend the township board approve the rezoning requests for the land to PID (planned industrial unit), which means the project could deviate from the township’s rules, including how much hazardous materials could be stored on site. Should the Genoa Township Board approve the rezoning request, the entire project will still need to jump through the hoops of the normal site plan review process.
The Genoa Township Board is set to consider the recommendation at its next meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday, at 2911 Dorr Road.
Top photo from Capital Asphalt’s Facebook page. You can check out that page by clicking here.
