Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 121

7tt REPORT Feb. 12. 1978 35 'Good news, bad news9 .111 rl Delta explosion to continue from points in Eaton County, thus unsnarling the traffic congestion at Elmwood and Saginaw. The new roads are also expected to al: low township officials to close off Elmwood at Michigan and get most of the traffic off two blocks of residential streets. OLOFG60D jzzzZ: sprawling over a six-mile square.

Delta, which had a population of only 2,618 in 1940 and a state equalized valuation of $1,484,000, now has a valuation of well over $200,000,000 and is by far the largest taxing unit in Eaton County. Larry McKnight, township assessor, said the SEV in 1977 was $187,009,200. His estimate of the boost to over the $200 million mark in one year is based mostly on the increase in the market value of property and doesn't take into consideration the fact that several large tax-paying units were added to the tax rolls for the first time last year. These include a new Meijer warehouse (distribution center) on Millett two truck line terminals, the Friendly restaurant, a part of Delta Square apartments, a savings and loan building, a portion of Taurus Apartments and a portion of the new Auto Owners building which was not completed in time to make the, 1977 tax rolls. SEVERAL MOVES have already been made to accommodate what township officials fear will be a tremendous crush of traffic in an already heavily-congested area once the expanded Malfand the Hudson store open.

(The latter, incidentally, will occur sometime in 1979 and the immediate traffic problem stands to be initially worse than it may be later on because the Delta Hudson store will open before the one in East Lansing does.) Scheduled for construction this spring is a "relief valve" stretch of road which will extend Mall Drive southward to Michigan Avenue from the present location of the Mountain Jack restaurant. That cut-over street, which will be constructed by the Eaton County Road Commission using a sizable federal grant, and the extension of Ivan Street westward-from Elmwood to meet it, will provide new routes for traffic approaching the Mall area from the east and south. The Ivan extension would be a township project. Township officials hope the new routes will be used by shoppers coming off 1-496 from Lansing and East Lansing, and even BY DICK FRAZIER Staff Writer Delta Township's future could be categorized as one of those "good news, bad news" situations. The "good news," of course, is that within the next couple of years, the Lansing Mall is scheduled to double in size; the J.L.

Hudson Co. is planning a large retail store at the Mall's west end, with construction scheduled to begin within a few weeks; and several other business and industrial ventures are peeking over the horizon, including an $11.6 million expansion project at the General Motors parts warehouse, a $3 million Coca-Cola distribution and office facility and further expansion of Meijer's warehouse facilities. AND NOW for the "bad news" the nagging question on how much of a drain all this commercial expansion coupled with the steady increase in private and public housing will make on various township services and systems. Specifically, some township observers wonder if the sparse network of streets and highways, especially in the commercial core around the Mall, can begin to handle "all the traffic the expanded shopping facilities will generate. They also wonder if the township's eight-well water system can continue to supply water for drinking, baths, swimming, car washing and lawns and gardens for the 21,000 township residents plus all the increased industry and business needs.

The township sewage system could also become taxed in the years ahead if the phenomenal growth continues, township officials admit. THEY HAVE taken action in recent months to head off all the possible shortcomings, but aren't certain yet if they started soon enough. And always nagging away in the background is the question of just how long can a township government, with its limited local taxing capabilities, continue to supply the needs of what amounts to a full-sized city, with adequate-suburbs, populated by 21,000 people and FARTHER IN the future, and still under study, are other the east to the Mall area by routes other than Saginaw, which is al- ready five lanes wide and during peak periods carrying about all the traffic it can. While Delta continues to grow commercially, it also keeps on getting more and more populated as a residential area. And the residential boom, which had tapered off during the recession years, was back in full swing during 1977, when 221 single fam-x ily home building permits were issued for dwellings with a total value of $8,909,737.

Also included in Delta's total of 460 building permits for construction worth $32,245,010 were permits for 23 buildings containing 356 living units and another 70 permits for home remodeling. ALL THAT housing is expected to swell Delta's population by another 1,500 or so, 'l increasing the township's head count to 5. 22,500. That would be a considerable boost from the 2,618 in the federal census of 1940, 4,131 in 1950 and 7,627 in 1970, and allows township boosters to claim they're one of the fastest growing areas in Michigan. The township's immediate answer to its water storage problem is a huge ground level tank scheduled for construction later this year.

The township already has a $770,000 federal grant to help finance the project, which temporarily had a snag when one of the firms in the No. 4 water district on the tonship's south side objected to a special assessment covering its share of benefits from the new water service. A court deci-y sion on the case is expected soon. DELTA ALSO has plans for expanding its sewage disposal plant. THE LF CORPORATION Growing with Greater 1 J- MALL DtfVt SA04NAW I HANSON ir i MALI oeivi IVAN JT 1 Map indicates proposed street sions to solve traffic problems in Delta Township's central business area.

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