April 2, 2011
From the Lansing State Journal
Marty Colburn is still a little giddy over the panoramic view from the new, two-story City Hall building near Mason's historic downtown.
Finished last summer, the building replaced a nearly windowless brick box built in the 1970s, a time when the city's police force was half its current size and there were 2,500 fewer residents.
"Our old building had a lot of leaks and was built before computers," said Colburn, Mason city administrator. "It had no elevators to the basement. We just outgrew it."
The new City Hall is a visible symbol of something Mason is proud to boast: It was one of a handful of communities surrounding Lansing that bucked statewide trends and saw significant population growth during the past decade, according to U.S. Census results released in late March.
Mason joined Williamston and DeWitt, Delhi and Bath townships - among a few others farther out from the Capitol - with population increases topping 11 percent.
Bath Township led the region with a staggering 53.8 percent increase.
Their growth contributed to an overall regional expansion of 3.8 percent, from 447,000 residents in the tri-county area to 464,000, even as the city of Lansing itself lost 4 percent of its population.
A look at housing developments in those communities shows most of the growth occurred in the first half of the decade - before the recessionary housing bust - and in some cases, much of the growth can be attributed to just one or two developments. Whatever the reasons behind the growth, local leaders are trumpeting the news as a sign that the Lansing region is finally on an upswing after years of devastating economic and residential decline.
"Generally speaking, this is a place where people come and stay to live a life, learn, raise a family and have a full career," said Susan Pigg, executive director of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. "We have water, safety, arts and culture, education and a climate that is much less extreme than other areas of the state and country."
Experts, however, warn that a growth in population alone is not enough to celebrate. Smart communities will be measured in the future not only by the number of residents they attracted, but also the type and number of businesses, said professor Soji Adelaja, director of the Land Policy Institute at Michigan State University.
"The game starts after a community has begun to become attractive," Adelaja said. "They have to worry about maintaining good economic activity. We have to get away from just bedroom communities."
Source of pride
Delhi Township Manager John Elsinga can't keep the pride out of his voice as he drives around his community. He points out parks and updated street scaping, a 7,000-square-foot library, massive businesses in the industrial park, and, finally, the community's pride and joy: Holt High School.
It sits on 40 acres along West Holt Road and boasts a massive football field. It's surrounded by subdivisions of two-story single-family homes connected by a web of sidewalks.
This is why Delhi Township grew 15 percent between 2000 and 2010, from 22,496 residents to 25,877, Elsinga said: "We have safe neighborhoods, excellent schools, churches and parks."
That's a theme repeated in every one of the expanding towns.
In Williamston, which grew from 3,443 to 3,854 people largely because of three new housing developments, city leaders credit the school district and walkability of the downtown for attracting new residents. The Williamston Downtown Development Authority has spent the past 10 years trying to revamp the historic corner of Grand River Avenue and Putnam Street with some success.
Storefronts that at one time mainly featured antique stores are now home to gift boutiques and destination restaurants like Gracie's Place and - coming soon - the Michigan Brewing Company.
"We have all the elements in place that make us poised for growth," said City Manager Timothy Allard. "We see the optimism developing and building on all the excitement about what's happening in Williamston."
Not surprisingly, the attributes cited by city leaders are the same ones that home builders say they're looking for when deciding where to invest.
"Location is the whole story in real estate," said Bob Schroeder, a longtime Lansing home builder and president of Mayberry Homes, which built in nearly every growing community between 2000 and 2010. "We're looking for a place with a good school district and something that is close to shopping, close to jobs and close to other amenities."
Continued growth
Leaders in almost all of the communities said they expect to see the same or greater growth in the next decade.
"I don't expect to see another 16 percent growth in the next decade, but that's OK," said DeWitt Township Manager Rod Taylor. "I'd rather see slow, steady growth than spurts."
Bath Township may be the exception. Longtime Clerk Kathleen McQueen said her community has probably seen the end of its boom period because the only open land left can't support future subdivisions.
Plus, a significant chunk of the township's 53.8 percent growth can be traced to massive development along Chandler Road, just north of East Lansing, where Hawk Hollow golf course sparked both single-family subdivisions and massive apartment complexes targeting Michigan State University students.
A lot of that development falls in East Lansing and DeWitt Township, but Bath Township's share counts for several hundred of the new residents that moved into the township during the past decade. Since then, however, new development inquiries have fallen so much that the township has gone back to a part-time building department, McQueen said.
Communities that want to keep growing need to adopt a new way of planning, said Adelaja.
"They need to not just look at the number of people," he said. "Are they expanding broadband access? Are they attracting innovators and entrepreneurs? Are they growing in amenities? Are they improving the performance of their high school seniors? A new growth paradigm is coming. Our communities don't want to grow in an old model of the economy that in 20 to 30 years they might regret."
No comments:
Post a Comment