Local officials threatened to use their power of eminent domain to forcibly oust King and take over the land for public benefit, or to proceed with construction on a $100 billion complex where U.S. tech giant Micron plans to make memory chips for use in a variety of electronics. King’s home remains the only remaining residence on the 1,400-acre land, which previously included dozens of other homes.
Last Friday, after a week of intense negotiations, legal threats and community protests, King’s family agreed to a deal with local officials for his transfer, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon announced. Terms of the agreement will not be available until the county’s industrial development agency votes to finalize it, likely in mid-December. Earlier this year, the county agency offered $100,000, while the family offered $10 million, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported.
“Both sides recognize that the time has come,” McMahon, who has been personally involved in the talks for the past few days, said during a livestream press conference last Friday. “This is all being driven by a national security project that will transform this community for generations to come. These things are hard. Nobody wants to be where we were.”
King’s attorney Scott Lichtstein told WIRED that his lawsuit against county officials last week helped speed up negotiations and that reaching a deal was beneficial to all parties. “She will stay in the community,” Lichtstein says. Several of King’s relatives did not respond to requests for comment on the deal.
Micron said it wants to break ground in Clay, north of Syracuse, next month. But the company cannot proceed on the project until King vacates his house. Already, it is two to three years behind schedule, with full chip production not expected until 2045.
The construction is part of a federal effort launched under the Biden administration to increase domestic production of computer chips and reduce the country’s reliance on Asian manufacturing. Federal, state and local subsidies for the project could total nearly $25 billion, according to activists fighting for some tax breaks. “You can’t accomplish this by making a historic investment and living in a house,” McMahon said last week. “Those two things can’t happen together.”
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