Clearwater Township Planning Commission Public Hearing TONIGHT on STRs, Elmwood Township Planning Commission Public Hearing on Wellevity LLC's proposed development, and Lake Township suggests a need for an STR Ordinance in Master Plan.
This week features a call to members and their clients in Clearwater Township to attend the Clearwater Township Planning Commission meeting TONIGHT Monday, April 3rd as they consider a Short-Term Rental Ordinance (yes, we are running this back from last week’s GAD Top 3, it’s important!), Elmwood Township Planning Commission’s Public Hearing on Wellevity LLC's proposed development on Tuesday, April 11th, and Lake Township suggested adopting a Police Power Ordinance along with zoning to regulate Short-Term Rentals.
1. Clearwater Township Planning Commission Public Hearing on STRs TONIGHT
The Clearwater Township Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on Monday, April 3rd, 2023 at 7 pm, in the Clearwater Township Community Center (5407 River Street, Rapid City, MI) to consider an amendment to Ordinance 22 (Zoning) to add Article XXII classifying Short Term Rentals as a permitted use within Clearwater Township. The Clearwater Township website does not appear to have any way to view the proposed Article XXII. However, thanks to Aspire North REALTORS member Gary Scheitler you can view the most recent draft of Clearwater Township’s proposed Short-Term Rental Ordinance HERE.
2. Elmwood Township Planning Commission Public Hearing on Wellevity LLC's proposed development
The Elmwood Township Planning Commission will be considering whether to approve a special use permit for a proposed wellness resort developed by Wellevity LLC on a 100-acre site at their April 11th Planning Commission meeting held 6:30 pm at the Elmwood Township Fire Station (10086 East Lincoln Road, Traverse City, MI 49684). This April 11th meeting is an extension of a Special Meeting held on Wed. March 22nd where over 2 hours of comment was offered on the ability of the roads leading to the resort to handle the increased traffic caused by the development, if they meet slope requirements, and additional comments which were outside of this scope of public comment as established by the Elmwood Township Planning Commission. You can view the March 22nd Special Meeting minutes here. For additional context on the March 22nd Elmwood Township Meeting on the proposed Wellevity resort development, you read the Traverse City Record Eagle’s March 23rd article and the Leelanau Ticker’s March 27th article on the Special Meeting, and the Record Eagle’s Feb. 26th article providing additional context on this proposed development. You can view Wellevity’s Special Use Permit through this link.
3. Lake Township suggested adopting a Police Power Ordinance along with zoning to regulate Short-Term Rentals
Lake Township in Benzie County just recently conducted and completed its Master Planning process establishing Four goals:
- Zoning (to include: reviewing their current zoning ordinance, assessment of the proposed Crystal Lake Overlay Ordinance amendments, and review of their annual zoning enforcement)
- Short-Term Rental (STR) Assessment and Recommendations
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (maintain a dialogue with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore management personnel, Scenic Drive Land Acquisition, and stay connected with the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council)
- Environmental Quality and Preservation (maintain a dialogue with all lake associations in the area for input on how they can help the condition of the lakes)
Lake Township’s STR assessment and recommendations are planned to be completed by mid-year 2023 (coming up quickly!) and the Lake Township Master Plan Future Land Use section (page 5) went further to suggest amending their current zoning ordinance to control STRs and “to adopt a police-power ordinance along with zoning, which would regulate not only the location of STR’s but would regulate the operation of STR’s and tenant behavior.” This could mean a big change from Lake Township’s current allowance of Short Term Rentals in most zoning districts with the approval of a site plan (view Lake Township’s current STR policy on the Aspire North REALTORS STR Guide).
