Written by Tanya Terry, with photos by Tanya Terry
Featured photos: A $12.7 million recycling and education center project planned for the former McDonald Dairy property at Chavez Drive and Robert T Longway Boulevard in Flint.
Genesee County held a community input session on September 22 at the Genesee County Administration Building to discuss a $12.7 million recycling and education center project planned for the former McDonald Dairy property at Chavez Drive and Robert T Longway Boulevard in Flint. Staff from the Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission presented renderings and answered questions from residents.
An educator raised concerns about how the facility will assess public engagement and questioned how many educators will be hired and what percentage of the budget is allocated for education, emphasizing that education is the best way to build trust.
Another speaker, joined others in expressing concerns about the project’s location, arguing that the downtown river area would be better suited for mixed-use development rather than pushing the facility toward an industrial property.
Multiple residents voiced concerns about communication gaps, noting that not all community members were adequately informed about the project, and expressed frustration about past experiences where residents’ voices were not included in major city decisions, particularly referencing the water crisis.
Questions continued to be raised about site selection, with residents asking why other locations near existing dump sites were not considered and what safeguards would prevent off-gassing and chemical exposure from processing batteries and televisions.
A participant supported the project but questioned whether other sites had been recommended.
Another participant, Claire McClinton stated: “As a resident of the city of Flint, we’re kind of touchy about not being asked and invited to the table to make these impactful decisions, because we’ve been through emergency management, right? Some of the other areas have not been where their democracy and their voices were silenced like we were here in Flint. So, we did kind of sensitive with projects and things going on and it bypasses residents, our voices. We sensitive about that. We got poisoned because of that.
“We had no say so about the Farmers Market,” McClinton continued. “We had no say so about some of the other Flint assets that we paid for being taken away from us without our voices.
“We’re in communication with a lot of these young environmentalists from Detroit and other areas because during the water crisis, we met a lot of young people who care about the environment, and they have been briefing us in schooling us. And we’re going to take this information here today back to them to so that we’re more educated on this, this whole thing.”
“…And listen, we’re all adults here. We can recycle. We care about that. We’re not against recycling. We want our environment and air and all these kind of things. And why I wanted to mention to you, I know you’ve been on the ground doing cleanups and things like that, and I can respect you saying we need this, but at the same time, just because you agree with it don’t mean it’s the right way it was being done.”
County staff clarified that the facility would not process materials on-site but rather collect and store items for pickup, with no release of gases expected.
Staff acknowledged communication gaps and committed to providing transparency by posting a list of all meetings and considering additional communication methods.
The session highlighted the need for better community engagement and clearer information about the project’s design, safety measures and educational components, which remain under development with a design firm currently hired for architectural plans.
