SPRAWLBUSTERS? Developers say Village at Grand Traverse will Corral Growth -- but a Similar Project in East Lansing offers a Sprawl Scenario

Developers of the proposed Village at Grand Traverse have a novel defense for their 182-acre development in Acme Township. They say the project -- which includes 800,000 square feet of
new retail, including a Meijer’s superstore -- will actually prevent urban sprawl in the area by keeping it corraled in one tightly controlled area.
And, despite the continuing controversy over the project, partners Steve Smith and Jim Goss along with land use planner
Steve Hayward say that their project has lept all of its legal hurdles required of a mixed use development in Acme and can’t be legally stopped.
“We’ve met and exceeded the ordinance and by law we expect approval,” says Smith, who says groundbreaking could take place next year. The first phase would involve building a Meijer’s superstore along with some of the Village’s new shopping district and residential area. “It will take several years to build it out completely, depending on what the market will allow.”

SECOND OPINION
But critics of the project say that plans for additional residential and retail development surrounding the Village project will make it a catalyst for rampant growth in Acme, as has been the case with the Eastwood Towne Center in East Lansing.
“There was a similar project in East Lansing and all of the properties surrounding it became very valuable and got built up,” notes Virginia Tegel of Concerned Citizens for Acme Township (CCAT). “We’re concerned about what’s happening here because our zoning is not in place to prevent that from happening. There’s already a movement to have more residential units built next to the town center.”
In fact, Meijer owns considerable acreage next to the Village site, just east of Lautner Road. “Meijer’s property is already zoned commercial; what’s going to stop them from selling that property to someone else?” Tegel asks.
Smith, a mid-state developer who’s owned property on Old Mission Peninsula and has been a visitor here for the past 30 years or so, says that growth is unavoidable for Acme Township and the new town center is part of the township’s master plan for preventing a hodge-podge of strip malls and big box stores strewn along M-72.
“This is the sad reality of what’s going on with those who are against the Village plan,” he says. “The township is trying to implement its master plan to consolidate and limit sprawl, yet the township is being accused of doing the exact opposite.”
Smith, Goss and Hayward have been stung by comparisons of their project to that of the runaway sprawl in Garfield Township, which includes the Grand Traverse Mall and miles of strip development on the southwest side of town. They feel that by comparison, the Village at Grand Traverse offers enlightened urban planning that provides for a walkable community and parklands, flowing into a new village center, a new pedestrian-friendly downtown, a piazza, village offices and ultimately two big box stores. They’ve also doubled roadside buffer zones, connected the project to the TART Trail, preserved wetlands and woods on the site and created a wildlife corridor for deer passing through the area.
“Not once in Garfield Township with four million square feet of retail -- not once did anyone say, ‘oh no, what are we doing here?’” says Hayward in frustration.
FILLED THE BILL
A land use planner who has completed 93 Smart Growth plans for towns in the state of Michigan and who was formerly employed as a planner on Hilton Island in South Carolina, Hayward says the Village has been through numerous revisions and 12 public hearings in an attempt to assuage local fears. He compares the project favorably to showcase “lifestyle center” developments across the country, such as Kentlands in Maryland, which blend new retail and residential units to create walkable communities.
Hayward says the Village plan lives up to 21 out of 22 requirements in the governor’s Michigan Land Use Leadership Council guide for growth, lacking only a historical preservation facet. He adds that the project won the unanimous approval of the local New Designs for Growth board, which emphasizes an anti-sprawl vision for the region. With a potential for up to 700 residential units, the developers feel the Village more than lives up to the New Urbanist ideal of a mixed-use community.
The sticking point for many critics, however, is the inclusion of two big box stores on the site.
To this, Hayward responds that Acme’s 2001 master plan allowed for the inclusion of big box stores as part of growth in the township which is considered inevitable. Developers also claim they can’t build the Village without the magnet effect of a Meijer’s.
“Why a big box store? Our market analysis came back and said that this kind of project is only supported if the big box stores are there,” says Smith. “We need it for the (shopping) trips and the exposure to support the smaller shops we’re building. You even need it to get the small retailers you want to attract because you’ll have co-tenancy with a national anchor.”
The developers also claim that many banks require at least three big box stores to finance a project like the Village, and that other “lifestyle centers” such as Kentlands have six of the superstores.

HEAVY TRAFFIC
But it’s the heavy traffic and urban hassles that come with big box stores that alarm opponents. At a packed public hearing on the project last week, one flyer claimed that the Village “would draw over 12 million visitors per year, twice the draw of Birch Run (the huge outlet center north of Flint).”
Currently, an article about the Eastwood Towne Center from the Lansing State Journal is circulating among opponents of the Village. A project similar to Acme’s Village proposal, Eastwood includes a Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club and has sparked an explosion of growth beyond its borders, including a new 48-unit appartment complex, 7,000-square-foot strip mall, and 9,400-square-foot office center, among others.
Although developers in Acme claim to have the township’s best interests at heart in stopping sprawl, there’s a damning quote in the Journal article by Hayward in which he seems to be gushing over the increased -- and anticipated -- development the Lansing Township project has attracted: “We always thought spillover development would be coming, but to be honest, I never expected the community to be this supportive, especially this early before Wal-Mart or Sam’s,” says Hayward in the article in his capacity as Lansing Township’s director of development and planning.
Tegel feels that Acme’s flimsy zoning won’t stop the development dam from breaking if the Village is built. “How can they claim the Village is going to concentrate development when there are other residential projects in the works?” she asks. “The fact is that a new mall in East Lansing did not act as a receiving zone but actually promoted sprawl.”

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