DCX factory plans stall

Automaker wants to close Van Horn Road in Trenton for plant that would create 700 jobs.

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

TRENTON -- New demands by DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group have delayed by at least two weeks a decision on where to locate an $800 million engine factory, prompting further negotiations on a $165 million tax incentive package and giving opponents more time to organize.

City officials hoped to learn this week they'd landed a 1 million-square-foot V-6 engine factory that would create nearly 700 jobs next to the Trenton Engine plant, whose products will phase out around 2010.

Instead, the automaker's late request to permanently close a section of busy Van Horn Road between Fort and Jefferson to make way for the plant has both sides wondering if taxpayers should pay to move natural gas and utility lines beneath the road.

"We are confident, and we will be patient," said Trenton Mayor Gerald Brown. "We are still in the luring process."

The negotiating comes as Chrysler prepares to invest $2 billion in plants in Michigan, Kenosha, Wis., and Toledo for the new V-6. Brown said he believes Trenton is in competition with other cities, but Chrysler spokeswoman Michele Tinson said the company is deciding whether to build, not where.

"At this point, it is a business case," Tinson said. "The decision is whether to move forward."

Tinson said the company is aware of the controversy involving its request to close Van Horn Road and its effect on neighboring Grosse Ile residents, but declined to comment on any impact it might have.

Amid the talks, angry Grosse Ile residents launched a petition drive Thursday to block the closure of Van Horn near the plant. The four-lane road is the most direct connection from the 11,000-resident island to mainland shopping and Interstate 75.

It's a well-connected group. Leaders of the movement last year successfully lobbied Lansing to remove Downriver from consideration for a bridge planned to connect southeast Michigan to Canada by 2013.

"We're not against the (DCX) facility. We just want them to consider us, too," said Tom Burkhart, a 29-year island resident and engineer.

"Why is it have the plant and close the road or have the road and close the plant? There are many ways to design so they can have the plant and the region doesn't have to be physically isolated because of it."

Islander Karin Risko wants planners to consider a bridge or tunnel or other improvements. She said Trenton is "feeling the pressure because it's all about jobs, jobs, jobs in our current economy."

Brown said he sympathizes with Grosse Ile. The city and DaimlerChrysler negotiated for more than three months and the automaker only recently said closing Van Horn was necessary to build the factory.

Brown couldn't estimate how much moving utility lines would cost taxpayers but said they could be covered by selling municipal bonds and reducing tax incentives offered to the automaker.