SOUTH BEND — A prominent critic of a proposed Midwest Continental Divide Trail through the watersheds of the Kankakee River and the St. Joseph River is responding to accusations he was not transparent about the reason for his opposition to the multi-use trail.
Martin Blad Farms owner Brent Burkus was among the people to speak out against the project at the July 14 meeting of the St. Joseph County Redevelopment Commission, fearing it could result in land taken by eminent domain for the project.
At that meeting, Burkus urged officials to oppose the project to show that the county cares about its residents rather than “a group of people who want to become public sector millionaires.”
Though he has gone door-to-door recruiting neighbors to stand up for the continued agricultural use of land that could potentially become part of the trail, The Tribune’s newsgathering partner WNDU reported that Burkus was recorded at an April 22 meeting expressing interest in selling his farmland to a data center company.
“But if I want to sell 400 acres for a data center, sure,” Burkus said in the April 22 recording, according to WNDU, which had Burkus confirm the recording was his voice. “With the money they’re offering nowadays, given the farming community, what’s going on? Sure. I’m gone.”
Burkus told WNDU’s Caroline Klapp his comments on the recording were merely his frustration over the pressure from the project.
“That’s frustration. Because yes, I could punch out right now if I wanted to. Sure,” Burkus told WNDU. “Got offers. You can’t believe the offers I get. And you know what? When I got to deal with people trying to get our land — I don’t want to deal with this. I want to farm our land. We want to be left alone.”
Shawn Peterson, a consultant for the trail project, told WNDU he doesn’t want the project to fail due to misinformation.
“These projects take time to work with communities, to work with landowners to see who wants to participate,” Peterson said. “There are several that do, and there are routes and existing right-of-ways of things that could happen already that don’t require any other, anyone to involuntarily participate in this process.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Continental Divide trail foe defends saying he’d sell to data center
Reporting by South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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