ADRIAN — The former Tecumseh Products factory site was a topic of discussion at the Lenawee County Commission’s June 26 meeting.

County administrator Kim Murphy gave commissioners an explanation for a couple of things that people may have noticed happening around the site. 

Consumers Energy has been doing some projects in the Tecumseh area and needed a place to park vehicles overnight, so the county has been allowing them to use an area on the east side of the property where the vehicles won’t be in the way of ongoing environmental work. 

In addition, Murphy said, a second environmental company has started working on the cleanup process, and residents may notice additional activity around the south side of the property.

“As they’ve been entering chemicals into the ground to do the treatment that they need to do, some of the more shallow areas aren’t being impacted as much as they hoped that they would be,” she said, “so they have to install another system in very specific areas to take care of that situation.”

“So if anyone sees those vehicles out there,” Murphy said, “that is not anyone who’s purchased the property. We don’t have any new construction going on or anything like that. It’s just continual work that Tecumseh Products is doing as they are obligated to do.”

The factory site is different from the former office site, which a private developer is planning to turn into an apartment community.

County commission chairman Jim Van Doren (R-Tipton) also said that the county has received inquiries from a few potential purchasers. 

“Nothing pending, but there are people visiting the property,” he said.

At that point, commissioner Kevon Martis (R-Riga) made a motion to reverse the commission’s previous stance that it would not consider any sale of the property for industrial use, and instead make it available for sale with no county-imposed restrictions on land use.

This drew an objection from commissioner David Stimpson (R-Tecumseh), who noted that the Tecumseh Products site was only listed on the agenda as a discussion item.

“We started this conversation tonight with an update, with no action items, and now we have an action item, so that’s a little disconcerting,” Stimpson said. He added that while he favors developing the property, he doesn’t want to see the county “throw together something just to get it sold.”

Stimpson also questioned why, as a member of the subcommittee working on the Tecumseh Products site, he was not made aware that possible buyers were being shown the property.

Commissioner Terry Collins (R-Adrian) said he would be concerned about industrial use of the property, particularly in light of its possible impact on Tecumseh.

“I’d like to be a good neighbor to the city of Tecumseh. I’m kind of loathe to put a smokestack right in the middle of town,” he said.

Martis responded that deciding what’s appropriate for the land is up to the city of Tecumseh, which can dictate its usage through zoning.

“We don’t need to enforce any zoning restrictions,” he said. “They have zoning restrictions in place that protect the community in accordance with the expressed will of that community.”

Tecumseh city administrator Dan Swallow, who was in the audience, said that some of the property is zoned for industrial/commercial use that would allow light industrial activity, while the Evans Street frontage is mostly zoned commercial now.

The vote to reverse the commission’s previous position on not considering any sale for industrial use was 6-3. Voting yes, in addition to Martis and Van Doren, were David Aungst (R-Rollin Twp.), Beth Blanco (R-Clayton), Jim Daly (D-Adrian), and Dustin Krasny (R-Onsted). Voting no were Collins, Stimpson, and Ralph Tillotson (R-Adrian Twp.).

Previous stories:

• County commissioners split on how to handle Tecumseh Products site (February 25, 2024)