Thomas Township, between the river and the drain

Thomas Township covers about 31 square miles of land on the west side of Saginaw County, with its centre roughly 8.2 miles from downtown Saginaw in a straight line. It is a suburb of almost 12,000 people with farmland at its western edge, and the Tittabawassee River runs along its northern side. The 2020 Census counted 11,931 residents and the 2025 estimate is 11,900, so the population has been steady.

What the houses are

The Census estimates 5,444 housing units here, with a median year built of 1978. That is newer than Saginaw or Bay City and close to the regional middle. The 1970s were the busiest decade by far, with 1,391 homes, a quarter of the stock, and 55.2 percent of all homes went up before 1980. Another 1,030, about 18.9 percent, date from 2000 or later. Most homes, 75.5 percent, are single detached houses, and 346, about 6.4 percent, are mobile homes, which have no basement to waterproof. Owners occupy 87.0 percent of occupied homes, and the median owner occupied value is 191,900 dollars.

A 1970s basement is usually poured concrete or block with a footing drain to a sump, which is a more forgiving starting point than the clay tile and combined sewers of the older cities. The common failures here are pumps that have run for decades, pits too small for the spring, and settlement cracks in poured walls. Our crack repair page explains how to tell a shrinkage crack from one that is still moving.

The permit comes first

The township's guidance, read through a search summary, is plain: a building permit must be obtained at the Thomas Township office before any work begins. The office is at 249 N. Miller Road, on 989-781-0150, with the building inspector on extension 201. Electrical and plumbing work have their own inspectors and their own applications. Where a job disturbs soil outside, the township points to Saginaw County Public Works for soil erosion permits, on 989-790-5258. New building also goes through a stormwater drainage plan review under township Ordinance 09 G, which matters if exterior work changes how water leaves the lot.

May 2020 and the floodplain

On 19 May 2020 the Edenville and Sanford dams upstream failed, and the Tittabawassee River flooded downstream through Midland and Saginaw counties. The township published a special flood edition of its newsletter and set up a self report process for damage. It takes part in the National Flood Insurance Program, which means flood insurance is available to every resident, and it asks anyone planning work in a mapped floodplain to speak to its floodplain manager on the main office number first. A basement that took river water is a flood question, not a drainage contract, and the order of calls matters.

Swan Creek and the farm drains

South of the river, much of the township drains through county drains rather than streams. The largest is the Swan Creek Intercounty Drain, an 18.5 mile open channel serving about 140 square miles and more than 8,000 parcels in Saginaw, Midland and Gratiot counties. Thomas Township petitioned in 2017 to consolidate it with the Jo Drain, and construction began in January 2019, including clearing log jams that had slowed the channel. When those drains run full in spring, the water table under nearby lots rises with them, and a sump that is quiet in August can cycle constantly in April. On that kind of ground, a sized pit and a reliable interior drain do most of the work. Typical prices are on the cost page.

Nearby

Saginaw Charter Township, immediately east, publishes a flat permit fee formula and runs its own floodplain desk, so a few hundred yards can change both the paperwork and the price.