CALEDONIA, Mich. — Caledonia Township is growing.
"It's a great community with, you know, good neighbors and good people," said Caledonia Township resident Donovan Visser.
This growth isn't expected to end anytime soon. That prompted Caledonia Township and their planning commission to hold a joint meeting Monday night, addressing what Caledonia's "M-37 Corridor" could look like years down the road.
That corridor spans from 100th Street to just past 92nd Street, made up of mostly undeveloped farmland.
While that land isn't up for sale, and there are no plans to entice landowners to sell their property, Caledonia Township Supervisor Bryan Harrison said they want to get ahead of the curve and think about what the corridor could look like if developers ever bought the property.
"As we look at that trend, we have to ask ourselves, are current standards adequate," said Harrison. "Or do we want to look at a different housing mix, a more creative mix and how we place commercial development? Do we want the strip mall and mega-developments that we're seeing in other communities here in Caledonia?"
Some ideas discussed Monday night:
- Would there be interest in commercial buildings with apartments above them
- Would future community members want detached garages from their homes
- Should duplexes be introduced into single-family home environments?
Caledonia Township hired Ann Arbor firm Beckett and Raeder to come up with renderings for a developed corridor.
Beckett and Raeder partner John Iacaongeli said it's not uncommon for townships to look to the future.
"Based on projections, it's going to continue growing because of the quality of life here," said Iacaongeli. "So either you are reactive to development and maybe have to accept something that you don't want, or you want to be proactive and have a vision of how things could be in order to direct that development."
Donovan Visser lives in Caledonia. He spoke up during Monday night's meeting saying he's unsure of some of the ideas passed around.
"Pretty much everybody I know that loves Caledonia Township is really against more commercial, you know, higher density, more residents, that sort of thing," said Visser. "People like the rural community that Caledonia is now and, you know, we don't really want to see that change."
These conversations come at the same time that Caledonia prepares for the expansion of the M-37 roadway, a $40 million project that will span from 76th St. to 92nd St. turning it into a four-lane road.