What's Happening with the Wixom Assembly Plant?

Photo Credit: detnews.com

It has been four years since the Wixom Ford Assembly Plant closed down and two years since energy companies proposed to purchase the plant and convert it into a renewable energy plant.  You and many other Wixom Residents might be wondering why all this time has passed and the same plant still sits there, untouched. 

The Old Plan (2009)
As you may know, the two energy companies that proposed to buy the Wixom Assembly plant, Xtreme Power of Texas and Clairvoyant Energy of California were denied government loans back in 2009 (based on loan terms) to help fund the new renewable-energy park.  Not a whole lot has happened since then, until now.

The New Plan
On Monday (August 22) Ford proposed a refurbished plan to City of Wixom officials to open up the energy park to a wider range of tenants.  Instead of only energy companies, Ford hopes to market the space to a wide variety of industries.  The 320-acre plot of land was previously approved by the government as a tax-free Renaissance Zone and to receive brownfields tax credits for energy companies XP and CE.  Ford is hoping to get these tax credits approved again for the new plan, which would be great incentives for enticing prospective new tenants.

What's Next
Next month (September 2011), the City of Wixom and Oakland County need to approve the new plan proposed by Ford.  If all goes well, the City of Wixom will hold a public hearing in October.  The State of Michigan and Oakland County will then need to approve the tax incentives sometime in November.

If all goes well, the new business park would offer thousands of new jobs for local residents and also could possibly help to lower Wixom residents' taxes.