Part III: Costly competition

    “Folks like serving in office and having their little governing units,” Harvey said. “We know there’s a cheaper way.”

    Competing for jobs, businesses, taxes, residents and school kids remains the standard practice among Metro Detroit’s many enclaves.

    Like other communities nearby, Canton Township recently completed a multimillion-dollar recreational facility.

    Canton’s Summit on the Park works almost like a country club, with a sauna, aquatic center, drop-in day care, and fitness center.

    Bonds helped pay for Summit on the Park, and an expansion of the township’s Pheasant Run Golf Club. At nearly $11 million, Canton’s annual leisure services budget is part of the cost of a competitive edge.

    “It’s part of getting people to come here and stay instead of having starter homes and moving away,” said Ann Conklin, the department’s director. “We are an essential community service. It attracts and retains residents.”

    The hottest attraction in Canton right now is Cherry Hill Village, a new neighborhood and part of a wave of “new urbanism” across the country.

    The idea is to re-create small-town, friendly living in what used to be farm fields. “Sold” signs sit in the windows of almost all the half-finished, color-coordinated homes along the community’s narrow, winding lanes near the corner of Cherry Hill and Ridge roads.

    When completed, the town will have some 1,300 homes, 600 apartments, shops, offices and an arts center. Parks among homes with big porches pull neighbors outside to build friendship and community.

    “It’s really a lot of social engineering,” said Melissa McLaughlin, a Canton Township trustee.

    “We looked back at what made America work 100 years ago and replicated it,” she said. “People will vote with their pocketbooks and their feet. People want good schools and good property values. Until then, those inner communities will continue to lose people.”

Part IV: White flight continues