Governmental Response to Urbanization Three Townships on the Rural-Urban Gradient

"«."> Agricultural Economic Report No. 132 GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSE TO URBANIZATION THREE TOWNSHIPS ON THE RURAL-URBAN GRADIENT TRl-AGENCY READING R00¥ MAR 23 1S72 6 M i I I I IJ isT Economic Research Service UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE in cooperation with Institute for Community Development and Service nn n MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY hOr—Ûr^ ^-£2—tur" ^Qr—rrilè CONTENTS Page SUMMARY iii CHAPTER 1~INTR0DUCTI0N 1 West From the Metropolitan Core 1 The Three Townships 2 The Assumptions : Urbanization and Local Government 4 CHAPTER 2~MEASURES OF URBANIZATION 5 Agricultural Patterns 5 Personal Experiences in Agriculture 8 Land-Use Changes 8 Subdivisions : Signs of Suburbia 10 Outside the Subdivisions 11 Other Urban Uses of the Land 15 General Population Characteristics 16 Influences of the Metropolitan Core 16 The Journey to Work 16 Other Physical Attractions of the Core 19 CHAPTER 3~T0WNSHIP GOVERNMENT : STRUCTURES AND PROGRAMS 21 Structural Variations Among the Three Townships 21 Service and Regulatory Programs 22 Variations in Functions 23 Expenditures for Specific Functions 25 Changes in Service and Expenditure Patterns 25 CHAPTER 4~THE MONEY POLICIES : TAXES AND OTHER REVENUES 32 The Revenue Sources 32 The Taxpayer ' s Responsibility : Property Taxes 33 Public Debt 38 "Let the Benefited Pay" 39 Summary: Breaking the Traditional Pattern 40 CHAPTER 5~RUNNING THE TOWNSHIP: ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BEHAVIOR.. 42 The Division of Labor : Board Members as Legislators 43 Administrative Complexity and Specialization 45 Personal Government 46 The Case of Land Use Regulation 48 CHAPTER 6~THE NATURE OF THE GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSE. 50 The Sequence of Change 50 Who is Responsible? 54 Farmers and Newcomers 55 A Final Note : The Recourse to Politics. 56 BIBLIOGRAPHY , 58 Washington, D. C. r,^^ ^^^^ SUMMARY Local governments in once rural communities respond to urban growth over time by adopting new and expanded services, and by changing their patterns of finance and administration. Areas undergoing the most rapid process of urbanization generally experience the most rapid innovations in government. However, the governmental changes are not automatic nor immediate- a political process operates to translate the conditions of urbanization into new public activities. These findings emerge from a comparative study of three Michigan townships extending westward from Lansing and included in that core city's metropolitan area. From 1950 to 1964, the most urban of these three communities initiated the greatest number of changes in its local governmental programs, structure, finance, and administration. In 1964, Delta, Oneida, and Roxand Tov7nships--in order of their proximity to Lansing—could be described as suburban, semi-rural, and rural respectively. In other words, there was a gradual and somewhat linear decrease in urban characteristics as one moved away from the core city. The urban-rural traits were defined by an examination of four variables: (1) The relative importance of agricultural production in each community as measured by the amount of land in farming and the size of farms: (2) land-use practices—particularly the extent to which agricultural uses were replaced by subdivisions and other types of urban development; (3) population characteristics such as mobility and size; and (4) the relative attraction of each^ community to the metropolitan core in terms of employment, shopping, and nonphysical (cultural) patterns. Variations in urbanization from one community to another were related to variations in the structure, service activities, financial policies, and administration of the three local governments. Thus, by 1964 the structure of township government in Delta, the most urban of the three townships, varied con- siderably from that of Oneida and Roxand; Delta was the only township with a charter form of government and consequently had greater legal and financial powers. Also, as a result of the growth of subdivisions, Delta introduced the largest number of new programs and expanded more older ones, while Roxand, the most rural township, accomplished the least in this area. From 1951-52 to 1963-64, total governmental expenditures in Delta increased more than fourfold, while total expenditures in Oneida and Roxand increased by only 47 percent and 60 percent, respectively. As regards public finance policies. Delta and Roxand made extensive use of the property tax and depended less on State-collected funds. This was a clear break with the traditional pattern of almost exclusive reliance on State-collected funds. The property tax became a stable require- ment in Delta after 1956 when its large-scale expansion of services began. Finally, compared to the other two communities. Delta had developed a larger and more complex administrative structure by the early sixties. Conditions of urban growth in Delta produced issues of higher public interest whereas the township boards of Oneida and Roxand concentrated on more routine, noncontro- versial matters. iii A sequence of governmental response occurs in rural communities undergoing urbanization, as illustrated by the experiences of the three townships. Local governments have moved from regulatory to facilitative programs, from minimum to maximum levels of finance and administration, and from stable to changing formal structures. The establishment of water and sewer systems by the Delta township board in the early sixties was a major development in the sequence. Structural changes in township government stopped short of city incorporation in Delta. Responsibility for operating additional services in a community can be divided among a number of agencies, both private and public, in several ways: (1) No public responsibility; (2) some public responsibility, with financing and/or administration shared by private individuals and groups, or by other units or levels of government; and (3) complete responsibility by the local unit. A combination of patterns based on these elements is possible. To change traditional patterns of local governments, political action is necessary. During 1950-64, political activity in Delta Township took two major forms; at first, some groups tried to gain control of the township board by supporting new candidates, and, later, interest groups went before the township board with requests for particular programs. While Oneida Township has initiated a number of actions in recent years, township politics in Roxand have been relatively uneventful. iv œVERNMENTAL RESPONSE TO URBANIZATION: THREE TOWNSHIPS ON THE RURAL-URBAN GRADIENT by Alvin D. Sokolow -'' CHAPTER I--INTRODUCTION West From The Metropolitan Core Where it runs west from Lansing, Mich., State Highway M43 is typical of a number of heavily-traveled roads that traverse southern Michigan and the metropolitan-rural mixtures of other States. No distinctive changes of scenery mark the area where the four-lane pavement leaves the city, runs for a mile through an adjoining township, and then enters another county. Shopping centers line both sides of the county border to the north of the road. On the south, a municipal golf course gives way to a strip of gas stations, root beer and ham- burger stands, stalls selling farm produce, old residences serving temporarily as real estate offices, and newer one-story buildings occupied by insurance offices and barber shops. This miscellaneous collection of business continues on both sides of the highway for several miles. Behind the strip, at intervals, are the backs of small houses in lower- and middle-income subdivisions. At a new parochial high school, with its building set back from the road, the grass struggles to break through the raw landscaping. Further along, the highway is bridged by a pedestrian walk, providing the children of a subdivision access to their public school on the other side. Impermanence and speed are the impressions of this stretch of road. The dump trucks leave dirty tracks on the pavement, and the utility and highway crews dig endlessly alongside the road. A thin median divides the east and west streams of traffic that move at a constant 10 to 15 miles above the speed limit. Two and three miles from the city limits, the business strip shades into more open country. The first farm fields, many unworked, come up to the road. But the small business places--although spaced further apart--are still in sight. And many large fields have billboards offering the land for commercial development or promising a complete shopping center at some undisclosed future time. ]J Mr. Sokolow, formerly assistant professor at Michigan State University, is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Institute of Government Affairs, University of California, Davis. Opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Research Service or the U. S. Department of Agriculture. At a clover-leaf interchange, M43 intersects a high, limited-access highway. This new interstate route, bypassing Lansing on a wide east-west curve, carries much of the long-distance traffic formerly handled by M43. But the free-access State road still records a higher daily traffic count at this point than the interstate highway. Commuters are more numerous than long-distance travelers. The farms in this area are interlaced with single residential plots occupied by white Cape Cod and brick ranch homes. Many have impressive fronts of neat lawn and trimmed shrubbery. This is the "gardener's belt," away from the construction dust and confining spaces of the business strip. Four and five miles west of the city, another set of subdivisions appears, with some houses facing directly on the road. The homes and lots here are bigger than those in the plats close to the city. A bowling alley with an acre of parking comes up, along with a motel. On one side of the road, for almost half a mile, stretches a church academy and camp grounds. Seven miles out, the road narrows to two lanes and starts into a long curve that skirts the fringes of Grand Ledge, a self-contained city of 5,000 population.

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