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LANSING TWP. - Lansing Township's study into possible construction of new hotels, a conference center, and a water park has the potential to shake the region this summer.
Renewed ties between the township and the city of Lansing could be severed entirely by the proposed developments - possibly to be funded by the township itself - that would add to the popular Eastwood Towne Center.
Promising more than 600 on-site and spinoff jobs, the $100 million project would include 250 hotel rooms; 27,500 square feet of meeting space and a 65,000-square-foot indoor-and-outdoor water park the size of a football field and then some.
City officials are concerned that the development could threaten the Lansing Center, which serves the entire region.
And, "there's a history of distrust," said former Mayor David Hollister, who brokered the recent agreement between the city and the township to allow the township to use more of the city's sewer system.
Thursday, Steven Hayward, the township's planning and development director, meets with the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, one of several attempts to rally public support for the proposed developments.
Hayward also hopes to meet with the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and the Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority.
The Michigan Association of School Boards has rotated its annual conference between the Detroit Marriott, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Grand Traverse Resort in Grand Traverse County and the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing.
Kathy Hayes, a director, said that downtown hotel rooms are an issue whenever the conference comes to Lansing, requiring a rental bus to shuttle school officials between the convention center and local hotels.
"We, of course, would welcome more hotel space," Hayes said. "That is one of the problems with downtown Lansing."
A Cleveland-based firm's study acknowledges that new hotels, meeting space and water parks in the township could threaten the Lansing Center. City officials said the Lansing Center has about 120,000 square feet of rentable space and relies on an annual city subsidy of about $800,000.
The township paid $40,000 for the study.
"We project the (proposed development) will capture some smaller groups and events from the Lansing Center," the study reads, "which would, in turn, allow Lansing Center to target larger groups.
"We recommend that the developer consider Lansing Center and the subject conference center be operated by a professional management company that would jointly market both the facilities."
Regional leaders have concerns.
"Will it bring new business into the area or will it just pull from our existing hotel space?" asked Marc Thomas, chairman of the Ingham County Board of Commissioners. "It worries me that - instead of bringing in new economic development - what this will do will take away from our already-struggling economy."
Eric Hart, who oversees the Lansing Entertainment and Public Facilities Authority, which oversees the Lansing Center, has his own questions.
"It's kind of hard to say what the bigger concern is," he said. "How do we protect the Lansing Center, ... because it does support the entire region and how do we grow the region instead of pick off of it?"
"My hope is the whole region can get behind something that benefits everyone," said Hayward, noting that he wants the proposed developments to have the least negative impact on the region.
The market, he added, is driving the interest in hotels at Eastwood.
Lansing Township's involvement in the building and perhaps leasing - two things Hayward said the DDA can do to control the scope and impact of the project - "is going to come down to the financial feasibility, and it's going to come down to the partnerships to be formed between everyone," he said.
It might take some time, Hayward said, before township officials decide how much they want to control the proposed developments.
A partnership sealed with a tax-sharing agreement extending greater tax revenues to both the township and the city is Hollister's recommendation.
He runs the Prima Civitas Foundation, a regional community and economic development collaborative organization. He has been working with the township and city on several regional issues, including hotels, sidewalks and emergency services.
Lansing City Council President Brian Jeffries concurred that a tax-sharing agreement could grow the city's tax base.
But city and township leaders have angered each other in the past.
"It takes a lot of time to build trust in relationships," Jeffries said. "We just haven't done that yet."
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero acknowledged the impact development in Lansing Township has on the city.
"We know we're affected by the development of Lansing Township," Bernero said. "We ought to just work together."
Right now, Hayward said a tax-sharing agreement isn't his priority, although he said that could be a consideration.
"If there's a tangible benefit for both parties, I wouldn't just limit it to tax sharing," he said.
Some city residents hope Bernero recognizes both the positive and negative impact of the Eastwood development.
They say that it's already tough to ease their vehicles onto Lake Lansing Road around noon and after 3:30 p.m. during the workweek.
"You either plan extra time for travel along that road or you just don't go," north Lansing resident Wendie Karpinski said.
But she's rather fatalistic about Eastwood's future expansion.
"It's going to happen, so what do you want?" she challenged. "A water park would be fun. Anything that would generate revenues for Lansing that is a positive growth, ... that's good for Lansing."
Contact Susan Vela at 702-4248 or svela@lsj.com.