Garfield Township leaders are eyeing a visioning process that could create a corridor plan for South Airport Road – what Township Planning Director John Sych called “the most essential corridor” in the region, with major commercial and shopping centers, a Boardman River crossing, and traffic that can climb upwards of 50,000 vehicles in the summer. Township planning commissioners discussed the potential plan Wednesday, with township trustees soon to follow – a process that could eventually lead to creating a corridor improvement authority that could fund public improvements along South Airport Road.

Township leaders were inspired to look at a corridor plan for South Airport after discussions with East Bay Township, which recently undertook a visioning process for its US-31 Beach District. East Bay has also considered the possibility of a corridor improvement authority – a tool in Michigan similar to a downtown development authority (DDA) district that uses tax increment financing (TIF) to fund public improvements. Michigan has several requirements for establishing a corridor improvement authority, including the corridor having been in existence for 30 years, having at least 51 percent of first-floor space classified as commercial, and being served by municipal water or sewer, among other criteria.

Sych said South Airport Road – which is six miles in length from Silver Lake Road to Three Mile Road, the last section of which crosses into East Bay Township – is “critical for not just the future of the township but for the region.” In addition to providing access to properties like the Grand Traverse Mall, Grand Traverse Crossing, Logan’s Landing, and Cherryland Center – in addition to dozens of other commercial sites along the way – it’s one of the few major urban river crossings and has adjacent non-motorized and parkland amenities like the Boardman Lake Loop Trail, Medalie Park, and the Boardman Valley Nature Preserve. Sych also pointed out it’s “the primary corridor that feeds the activity of the airport” – an important note given that Cherry Capital Airport is planning a $120 million terminal expansion.

A corridor plan – which would be developed in partnership with numerous other local stakeholders, ranging from the Grand Traverse County Road Commission to neighboring municipalities to property owners to residents – could consider transportation, infrastructure, and land use solutions for South Airport Road. Sych cited as one example an access management plan, which could help consolidate driveways on South Airport – reducing traffic conflicts – and outline other options for better configuring parking lots, driveways, and cross-access drives. Staff showed planning commissioners before-and-after photos of the recent reconstruction of Shell at the corner of South Airport and LaFranier, a project that resulted in consolidated driveways and an improved layout near the intersection.

Sych outlined three main phases for developing a corridor plan. The first includes initial discussions and investigation – reviewing previous studies (like the Road Commission’s recent East-West Corridor Study and the township’s Barlow Garfield Neighborhood Plan) and having informal conversations with local stakeholders to define the scope and timeline of the planning process. From there, the township could move into community engagement, assessment, and visioning – the core of the public participation process. That could use surveys, meetings, open house discussions, market studies, natural features assessments, and transportation analyses to collect both data and public input identifying issues, challenges, and opportunities along South Airport Road.

The final phase would be the plan development and implementation. “That’s when you start getting into the details,” Sych said. Such a plan would “address future land use, access management including driveway and parking design, motorized and non-motorized infrastructure and connections, utility improvements, stormwater management, river crossing and floodplain management, and railroad crossings,” Sych wrote in a board memo.

“Moving towards implementation, the primary focus would be on zoning, including design guidelines, applied to private development and redevelopment,” Sych continued. “However, a more impactful approach would be to leverage private development and investment with public funding mechanisms, including corridor improvement authority, brownfield redevelopment authority, and/or land bank authority. This combined approach of private and public investment would ensure that corridor improvements are completed successfully and in a coordinated and efficient manner.”

Township planning commissioners were supportive of exploring a corridor plan – though they noted it would likely be a “huge” undertaking, in the words of multiple members. Sych concurred, estimating the planning process would take three years. “The plan is really the foundation for a very long-term process,” he said. “It creates that vision and guidance...we know that South Airport is going to be in place for the foreseeable future, so if there are ways that it can be improved upon, I think this process really sets the tone for that and allows for us to make those improvements.”

Thanks to related studies that have already been completed and internal staff capacity, Sych said he didn’t see the need to hire outside consultants except for potential specialized areas of analysis during the planning process. He suggested the possibility of starting with one specific project area – Logan’s Landing – and then gradually expanding outward to encompass the whole South Airport corridor. Sych pointed to the traffic and redevelopment pressures around Logan’s Landing, as well as the presence of the Boardman River, TART Trail, and parkland – plus concerns about the low elevation of the roadway in that stretch. “If there was a flood or an event that caused that roadway to be blocked, you can just imagine what the impact would be to not just the road but to the area in terms of commerce,” Sych said. Focusing on Logan’s Landing first could be a more manageable bite of the apple that could lead to “something larger,” he said.

With the support of planning commissioners, Sych is next expected to go to township trustees to get their feedback on undertaking a corridor plan. He emphasized Wednesday that developing a vision for South Airport “isn’t something we’re going to do by ourselves,” adding that the goal of such a project would be to “build cooperation and support” across the community for a desired approach.