I'm not sure the payoff is there right now to compel the township to give up any of its current holdings. Personally I don't have any issues with the charter townships act and actually agree there should be protections against aggressive expansion of city limits, within reason.
My biggest gripe right now is how hard it is to have a unified vision over in Frandor, where Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Township, and MDOT all have control over various pieces of roadway. This isn't just a Lansing Township issue, but they contribute to a large part of it due to their holdings around the north, west, and south ends of this area. MDOT takes first place though, Saginaw/Grand River could have a lot of improvements made to control and calm traffic through this area and East Side east of Pennsylvania Rd. and I don't think anything is on the table with regards to that.
I guess my thoughts are I just don't see Lansing forcing Lansing Township to merge into it as the biggest priority in the region right now. It may make more sense to try and get everyone on the same page with economic improvements to the area first, and if they want to be difficult about it then proceed with absorbing some of the areas most in need of regional improvement (Frandor).
I believe that latter era was what I was referring too. I do not know that the area was named "Lansing" Township before there was a City of Lansing. The township laws and boundaries that were later devised where often used for red lining and to create restricted subdivisions and segregated schools. When i was a kid there were few if any minority students going to Waverly Schools. Black kids knew it was not a good idea to cross Clare Street or go to Sully's Drive-In. When the people of the day found they had the power to stop annexation they did, for many reasons taxation schools local control of services and race restrictions among them. I think that some of the townships around Lansing still have that mindset today. The people who live in the surrounded areas of the township would be better served if they were part of the city.
We have a BJs out here in Folsom, CA. Your description is pretty spot on. Think more upscale version of Chilis and you're about there. Throw in custom pizzas and a "brewery" (ours does both), and you have the idea. It's fine. Nothing exciting. Ours has decent lunch specials.
That makes a lot more sense, but it still seems like a pretty realistic hurtle to get over. If I were in the section of the township around 127 from Michigan to Kalamazoo I'd definitely be petitioning to become part of the city because it would likely be a pretty big positive for that area. If I were in the Groesbeck or westside neighborhoods the benefits would admittedly be less significant and less obvious. In the long-term, if the city and the school district can truly get their act together there might be a better chance to see the whole township annexed by the city.
I wonder if the city could acquire just the streets of Michigan Ave. and Kalamazoo where they cross out of and into Lansing? They are some of the worst roads in the area through the township blocks.
I noticed some metal fences going up at 2105 E Grand River Ave this morning on my way to work, looks like they are adding a 9000 sq ft expansion to the current building at 920 N Fairview Ave. Looks like a current tenant, Neopollard, which makes lottery software (?), needs the additional space.
I can't find any proposed designs, but I am hoping that they don't shove the parking all up along Grand River. They talk about needing at least 62 parking spaces, and are having to lease some from the church across the way since the site won't have enough by itself. The streetscape on this portion of the township line that abuts the east side neighborhoods between Foster and Fairview isn't nearly as ugly as the portion more towards Frandor, I hope that they maintain some of that when building the expansion. In a perfect world they would have the parking behind the building expansion, with that facing the road, but I'm not sure if that is how they are going to do it given the layout of the current building. Guess we'll have to wait and see where they start digging the foundation.
If anyone has more experience with finding site plans for Lansing Township I'd appreciate it. Not sure if they are as good about this as Lansing and East Lansing are when it comes to making them available online.
Only minutes I could find so far with information:
It's weird, because this block would be the one block where a full sidewalk would make much sense, but the full sidewalks don't start until a block west and a block east where they are less needed. lol
I read a small article about the Waverly Golf Course project getting started in the LSJ, it said work would start soon and the developers were looking at this as a ten-year project and that they are very committed to this project. Let's hope so!
The building expansion for Neopollard is coming along pretty well at 2105 E Grand River Ave. The outside cinder block walls look mostly complete, no roofing or interior work whatsoever yet so far as I can tell. I took some pictures while walking by it this Sunday while enjoying the weather, will try and upload them later this week.
Based on the layout it looks likely that the parking lot will jut right up to grand river, which is a shame. On the bright side there is finally a sidewalk on shoppers alley st, which is to the north of this building. I hate how Lansing Township does not have consistent sidewalks, it really is the dumbest thing considering how much foot traffic goes through this area as well as towards Frandor.
That is interesting to hear. A while ago I saw them harvesting hay, and I wondered if anything was going to ever happen there. It is reassuring to me that these major projects are still going forward, these developers have a lot of faith in the future of Greater Lansing.
Comments
I'm not sure the payoff is there right now to compel the township to give up any of its current holdings. Personally I don't have any issues with the charter townships act and actually agree there should be protections against aggressive expansion of city limits, within reason.
My biggest gripe right now is how hard it is to have a unified vision over in Frandor, where Lansing, East Lansing, Lansing Township, and MDOT all have control over various pieces of roadway. This isn't just a Lansing Township issue, but they contribute to a large part of it due to their holdings around the north, west, and south ends of this area. MDOT takes first place though, Saginaw/Grand River could have a lot of improvements made to control and calm traffic through this area and East Side east of Pennsylvania Rd. and I don't think anything is on the table with regards to that.
I guess my thoughts are I just don't see Lansing forcing Lansing Township to merge into it as the biggest priority in the region right now. It may make more sense to try and get everyone on the same page with economic improvements to the area first, and if they want to be difficult about it then proceed with absorbing some of the areas most in need of regional improvement (Frandor).
I believe that latter era was what I was referring too. I do not know that the area was named "Lansing" Township before there was a City of Lansing. The township laws and boundaries that were later devised where often used for red lining and to create restricted subdivisions and segregated schools. When i was a kid there were few if any minority students going to Waverly Schools. Black kids knew it was not a good idea to cross Clare Street or go to Sully's Drive-In. When the people of the day found they had the power to stop annexation they did, for many reasons taxation schools local control of services and race restrictions among them. I think that some of the townships around Lansing still have that mindset today. The people who live in the surrounded areas of the township would be better served if they were part of the city.
We have a BJs out here in Folsom, CA. Your description is pretty spot on. Think more upscale version of Chilis and you're about there. Throw in custom pizzas and a "brewery" (ours does both), and you have the idea. It's fine. Nothing exciting. Ours has decent lunch specials.
I wonder if the city could acquire just the streets of Michigan Ave. and Kalamazoo where they cross out of and into Lansing? They are some of the worst roads in the area through the township blocks.
I noticed some metal fences going up at 2105 E Grand River Ave this morning on my way to work, looks like they are adding a 9000 sq ft expansion to the current building at 920 N Fairview Ave. Looks like a current tenant, Neopollard, which makes lottery software (?), needs the additional space.
I can't find any proposed designs, but I am hoping that they don't shove the parking all up along Grand River. They talk about needing at least 62 parking spaces, and are having to lease some from the church across the way since the site won't have enough by itself. The streetscape on this portion of the township line that abuts the east side neighborhoods between Foster and Fairview isn't nearly as ugly as the portion more towards Frandor, I hope that they maintain some of that when building the expansion. In a perfect world they would have the parking behind the building expansion, with that facing the road, but I'm not sure if that is how they are going to do it given the layout of the current building. Guess we'll have to wait and see where they start digging the foundation.
If anyone has more experience with finding site plans for Lansing Township I'd appreciate it. Not sure if they are as good about this as Lansing and East Lansing are when it comes to making them available online.
Only minutes I could find so far with information:
https://lansingtwpmi.documents-on-demand.com/Document/b82b2002-a8a2-e911-a2d0-000c29a59557/boa-regmin-06252019.pdf&find=NAPA%20holdings
https://lansingtwpmi.documents-on-demand.com/Document/982bcee2-0d98-e911-a2cd-000c29a59557/boa-regmin-06112019.pdf&find=NAPA%20holdings
It's weird, because this block would be the one block where a full sidewalk would make much sense, but the full sidewalks don't start until a block west and a block east where they are less needed. lol
Just Lansing Township things.
The building expansion for Neopollard is coming along pretty well at 2105 E Grand River Ave. The outside cinder block walls look mostly complete, no roofing or interior work whatsoever yet so far as I can tell. I took some pictures while walking by it this Sunday while enjoying the weather, will try and upload them later this week.
Based on the layout it looks likely that the parking lot will jut right up to grand river, which is a shame. On the bright side there is finally a sidewalk on shoppers alley st, which is to the north of this building. I hate how Lansing Township does not have consistent sidewalks, it really is the dumbest thing considering how much foot traffic goes through this area as well as towards Frandor.