Farmers Near Ford BlueOval City Want ‘Fair Deal’ With State

While the under-construction Ford BlueOval City site in Haywood County, Tennessee will bring thousands of jobs to that area in the coming years – not to mention provide a big economic boost – the future EV plant also has its fair share of detractors, including a local group of farmers, as Ford Authority reported last month. Those folks are concerned after the Tennessee Department of Transportation has offered them below market value for their land, which is needed to build new roads around BlueOval City. Now, those famers are willing to go to court to receive what they call a “fair deal” with the state, according to News Channel 3 in Memphis.

“You see what we drive? We driving a Ford. That’s all we drive is Ford,” said Haywood County farmer Marvin Sanderlin. “We have nothing against Ford. We just want to be treated fair, that’s all. The group feel the same way I feel. That we getting the short end of the stick, that we are getting just ran over.”

These concerns pertain to the state’s plan to acquire the land it needs to connect the nearby Interstate 40 to the BlueOval City site, on which it can build an access road. The group of farmers who own the land that the Tennessee DOT is seeking to acquire claims that the state is taking two routes to obtaining it – filing imminent domain lawsuits and “low balling” the land owners by offering to pay far less than market value for those properties. “The state bought the land for the Megasite for $10,600 an acre,” Sanderling said, noting that TDOT offered him just far less for his plot of land.

“While the department makes every effort to avoid private property when maintaining or building existing or future highways, TDOT may be required to make a formal request to purchase individual property for road projects for the best-engineered solution,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “TDOT follows federal and state law to maintain the standard process for purchasing property at fair market value based on third-party, independent appraisal reports.”

We’ll have more on Ford BlueOval City soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.