The current proposal would add additional units to The Lodges, but Capstone Development — the development company heading the project — hopes to improve drainage to the man-made wetlands in the area before it can continue.

“One of the ways we’d like to do that is by directing some of the storm water into those wetlands,” Capstone Development Executive Vice President John Acken said. “Because they’re man-made, they have been drier than we’d like … and that will help them thrive.”

The board will discuss the issue again at its meeting on Tuesday, and Acken said he hopes a decision will be made by the beginning of June.

Meridian Township Principal Planner Gail Oranchak could only speculate about what the board will decide, but said the wetlands problem — along with a recurring issue involving a logjam in the nearby Red Cedar River — has been brought up at several meetings by members of the public. She added that although the problems were highlighted in Capstone’s application, they aren’t a direct result of the proposed development.

“This is something that has been going on for a long time,” Oranchak said. “There are trees that have been falling down and debris collecting at a certain spot in the river — that is something that’s going to take a group-think effort to decide what needs to be done.”

Acken said the expansion would be another step toward turning The Lodges into a “seamless blend” into Meridian Township. He said with the first phase, Capstone modeled The Lodges to feel like a neighborhood community, and the second phase would continue with that in mind.

“We want to expand that in phase two (by) creating urban blocks, improving the streets and creating a grid network within the development itself so that really we see a continuation of that urban pattern,” Acken said.

Economics senior Kevin Pierfelice currently is subleasing a summer apartment at The Lodges and said the complex already feels like part of a mini community.

To Pierfelice, an expansion would increase the community feel, something he said has been ignored by other apartment complexes in the area. He added The Lodges benefited by being based in Meridian Township, where he feels more welcomed than he does as a student in East Lansing.

“That’s where East Lansing (complexes) fail,” Pierfelice said. “They kind of are done expanding, they’re okay with the (usual) and The Lodges have potential.”