ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

Occurrences at two Planning Commission meetings this past week have revealed two huge challenges now faced by the City of Wayland and Leighton Township.

Because of proposals to construct two substantial residential developments, local officials now are feeling the pressure of how to handle significant population growth with limited infrastructure.

This problem is not new at all. Because Wayland and Leighton are located halfway between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids with handy access to the U.S.-131 expressway, the prospects of serious growth have been bandied about for some 35 years. Now add in the presence of the Gun Lake Casino only three miles south of the city and it appears growth pressure is nothing short of inevitable.

The Wayland City Planning Commission was approached Tuesday night by representatives of Gun Lake Investments, an economic arm of the Gun Lake Tribe and Casino. The proposed project is to install an apartment complex of up to 130 units on the vacant lot at the corner of Reno Drive and West Superior Street.

That lot has been vacant for seven years since the razing of Cars2Go, which replaced the old Wayland Chevrolet dealership. So the news of something being done about that eyesore was welcome. But at what cost?

City Planning Commission members almost unanimously expressed their support, but with two huge caveats — lack of adequate parking and potential for unwelcome traffic congestion at one of this area’s busiest intersections.

So it appears the infrastructure to handle the proposed development may be inadequate.

This was followed by GRI Moline revisiting the Leighton Township Planning Commission to present a scaled-down version of an office, residential and industrial project on the east side of Division Avenue, not far at all from the current Leighton Township Library and offices on 12th Street.

The project was turned down in 2023 by both the Township Board and Planning Commission because of fears the township doesn’t have adequate roads and police and fire department personnel to handle such population growth.

So GRI now has come back with a more modest proposal for 248 units instead of the 320 suggested a year ago. The proposal was tabled, just as Gun Lake Investments’ was earlier in the week.

These two delays in decision making may just be examples of kicking the can down the road. The real issue here is how can Leighton and Wayland come up with long-term solutions to the serious problem of lack of affordable housing in a growing area?

Perhaps the project at the corner of Reno Drive and West Superior can be scaled down to accommodate more parking, but what still remains is unwanted snarled traffic prospects.

So it appears both planning commissions need to come up with more big picture solutions to a problem that only will get worse.

“That which doesn’t destroy me merely delays the inevitable.” — Dr. E.L. Kersten of the Demotivaters.