Jerome Township, around Sanford

Jerome Township lies in the north west of Midland County, about 10 miles from the middle of the City of Midland in a straight line, by the 2025 Census Gazetteer centre points. It has 33.2 square miles of land and 2.5 of water, most of that Sanford Lake and the Tittabawassee River. The Village of Sanford sits inside the township at the foot of the lake. The April 2020 Census base counts 4,627 people in the township, about 782 of them in the Sanford part, and the July 2025 estimate is 4,613, almost unchanged.

After May 2020

On 19 May 2020 the Edenville Dam upstream failed and the Sanford Dam then failed by overtopping, according to the national dam incident record and the state environment department, both read through search summaries. The incident record puts losses for residents across five counties at about 190 million dollars and says more than 3,000 homes were affected. Public radio reported five years on that downtown Sanford lost most of its businesses and that some homes in the village were pulled off their foundations. Rebuilding has gone on since, and the lake itself is being restored.

For a basement, the lesson is that river flooding and seepage are different problems. No sump or drain will hold back a river over the yard. What a basement in Jerome can be set up for is the ordinary wet spring: groundwater, a high water table near the river, and surface water that sits on flat lots. If your house took flood water in 2020, it is worth having the walls and floor checked for cracks or movement before paying for drainage, and keeping flood insurance questions separate from waterproofing ones.

The houses

The 2020 to 2024 Census survey counts 1,867 homes, with a median build year of 1979. The 1970s were the busiest decade, with 408 homes, followed by the 1990s with 351 and the 1980s with 286, and 260 date from 2000 or later. Only 122 predate 1940. Mobile homes are an unusually large share for this site: 260 of them, 13.9 percent, none of which has a basement. Owners live in 1,551 of the 1,813 occupied homes, 85.5 percent, and the median owner occupied value is 192,000 dollars. A house of that age usually has a poured or block wall with a footing drain to a sump pump, and the pump, its check valve and where it empties are the first things to look at when water appears.

Permits from the township

The township's building inspector page, read through a search summary, says Jerome issues its own building and zoning permits, with inspections by appointment, while electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits come from separate inspectors. Soil erosion permits go through the Midland County Drain Commission, wells and septic through the county health department, and water service through Water District 1. The township lists its hall at 737 W. Beamish Road, Sanford; one directory gives a different address and number, so use the township's own site.

Nearby

The City of Midland lies downstream to the south east, and Larkin Township is on the far side of the city to the east.