VBT support of Kalitta project needs to wait for action by MEDC

At the May 6 meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees, Supervisor Kevin McNamara explained that his comments on Connie Kalitta’s plans for a building project at Willow Run Airport came too soon.
He said the report of his comments in the May 2 Belleville-Area Independent were absolutely correct, but he spoke too soon.
He said the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is working with Kalitta on the project and the township has to wait until the state is done before getting involved. Supervisor McNamara said the budget is not at a set stage yet and Kalitta may change his mind.
McNamara said the township got a letter saying, “We need your resolution of support to move forward,” but found the MEDC has to act first.
He said the problem is that once a project is announced it becomes a subject for a Freedom of Information Act request.
At the April 23 meeting of the VBT Downtown Development Authority meeting, McNamara said the MEDC gave $2 million for the building of a hangar at Willow Run that would create 600 jobs with the average salary of $38.25 per hour.
McNamara said at that meeting that the township had gone back to the MEDC, explaining, “We want to tack on that 20% of the new employees be VBT residents … We’ll see how that goes. It should be before the board soon.”
On Monday, McNamara did not predict when the project would be before the township board.