Township Information, Forms & Ordinances
Homestead and Inland Townships
Joint Planning Committee Workshop
Homestead Township Hall
11508 Honor Highway
Honor, MI 49640
21 July 2009, 7:00pm
Approved 20 October 2009
Meeting Called To Order: 7:00 pm.
Pledge Of Allegiance Recited:
Members Present: Christy Andersen, Bruce Andersen, Cathy Demitroff, Roger Hubbell, Marshall Lambertson, Mary Miller, Dan Moore, Fred Poynor, Jessica Wooten.
Agenda: Roger Hubbell asked that a recess at 7:30 be added to the agenda for a presentation from the Platte Lake Association. Christy Andersen made the motion to accept the agenda with addition. Marshall Lambertson seconded the motion, All Ayes, No Nays, Motion Carried.
Approval of Minutes: Roger Hubbell made the motion to accept the 21 Apr 09 Minutes as presented. Cathy Demitroff seconded the motion, All Ayes, no Nays, Motion Carried.
Approval of Minutes: Christy Andersen questioned the omission of a question from Jessica Wooten to Attorney Graham on 20 Jun 09 Minutes. Attorney Graham recommended tabling the Minutes until the question from Jessica Wooten and the answer from Attorney Graham could be put into the Minutes. All Ayes, No Nays, Motion Carried.
Open Public Discussion:
Marilyn Wareham said for the people that were interested in the petition/referendum. Marilyn Wareham went through the signatures today and according to the number of people who voted for the governor they are short 10 signatures. But, information from the County Clerk Office and State of Michigan don't balance. The County is currently working with the State to solve this issue.
Correspondence: None.
Approval of Bills and Vouchers: Member Expense Vouchers were turned in. Marshall Lambertson made the Motion pay Member Vouchers. Bruce Andersen seconded the motion, all Ayes, No Nays, Motion Carried.
Township Reports:
Homestead Township : Cathy Demitroff stated that they had a joint meeting with Inland Township and that Homestead voted 3 to 1 to approve the Commercial Zoning on US 31. We also approved to transfer funds in the amount of $10,000.00 dollars to the JPC Account.
Inland Township : Mary Miller stated that they voted unanimously to approve the Commercial Zoning of US 31. We also transferred $8,288.22 from Inland Township to the JPC Account.
Training in Gaylord: Mary Miller stated that she is driving to the training in Gaylord and that the expense was approved. Roger Hubbell and Marshall Lambertson will not be going, but Dan Moore is still a go.
New Business: Mobile Homes:
Jessica Wooten stated that it had been brought to her attention through the new Ordinance that Mobile Homes are pretty much allowed in any Single Residential Area, where before that was not allowed. So, there is some discrepancy here. I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention, to see if we want to pursue that, or if we already did. For Example, I heard from a couple whose roof collapsed on their home. They decided to basically demolish the house and want to replace it with a mobile home trailer. I found out this was in an area where it had been previously not allowed. I spoke with Roger Williams, and he did find out that the way he had it written, that they did have the right to put in a mobile home trailer. The people who are neighbors are upset, here they have an area where they have very nice homes, and they don't want it there. I am just basically bringing this to your attention.
Marshall Lambertson stated that he had given this some thought and he doesn't have a problem with one of those homes. But, he does have a problem with someone wanting to put one in the area where 300-400 thousand dollar homes are. From a personal stand point, it would lower total property value significantly, resale value, and from a Township perspective, it could potentially harm the Property Tax cash flow. So, I would recommend that we take a deeper look into this to protect the Township and the Residents. There are several subdivisions that have hundred year old houses and are all stick built or modular, and there is a trailer there, and according to zoning ordinances that were adopted 30 years ago, once that trailer is taken down there cannot be another put in its place. A trailer house does affect overall property value. So again, I think we should take a deeper look at this to protect our Townships and Citizens.
Roger Williams stated that he has been in this position for just about a year and that he has only had one actual call on putting in a mobile home. They are a couple who are retiring and currently do not live here. They are thinking of moving here and asked if it would be alright if they put a single wide home on their property. They don't need a big place or a lot of space. I told them; I don't think this is going to be a problem, that there are some in the area that people have put in and added onto, and there are some Townships that will tell you that you cannot discriminate against a single wide home. Some Townships have tried different techniques to get around this; they say that you have to have a certain number of square feet, so people are adding onto their single wide homes. With all that being said, I would caution you not to get yourselves into a legal challenge.
Jessica Wooten stated that she knows that there are Townships that get around allowing single wide mobile homes to be put in.
Roger Williams stated that he has a hard time believing that, because I know it is against State Law.
Jessica Wooten: My question is about mobile home parks.
Roger Williams stated that is a long standing thing and has to do with property taxes.
If you want to discuss it that's fine, just remember the legal part of it.
Jessica Wooten wants to have this put on the Agenda for the next meeting.
Roger Williams stated that he would like to have the attorney take a look at this issue also.
Old Business: None.
Roger Hubbell Called for a Recess for a Presentation from Platte Lake Association at 7:30pm.
Presentation from Platte Lake Association: Mr. Wilfred Swiecki of the Platte Lake Association shared the History on Restoring, Protecting, and Preserving the Platte Lake . He provided Data, Reports, Statistics for the Improvement of the Platte Lake/Watershed of Platte River up through Homestead/Inland Township Areas. He offered the Platte Lake Association expertise to the JPC on any Watershed issues that may come before them in the future. The Slide Presentation and information can be attained by going to www.platte-lake (dot) org .
Roger Hubbell personally thanked Mr. Swiecki on behalf of the JPC Board for an outstanding briefing.
Roger Hubbell Reopened the meeting from Recess at 8:09pm.
Cell Towers :
Jessica Wooten brought up the discussion on whether or not to use the term Co-Location on Towers in the Master Plan. Other Townships have used it to reduce the volume of Cell Towers going in, but it can also severely limit our options and lead to several Towers clustered into one location. Also the verbiage of using Micro-Towers which can only be tree line in height?
Roger Williams stated the Master Plan seems to cover everything, could leave us laterability in zoning issues.
Oil and Gas:
Bruce Andersen stated that in the last two meetings there was a lot of talk and information on Oil and Gas, so I talked it over with Dave Niger. One day about a week ago, I called him and he is willing to put on a program about oil and gas, what is going on in Benzie County , Inland Township and Homestead Township . He is willing to put the meeting on, if were interested in setting up a program with the people, or just for the JPC too.
Jessica Wooten asked what kind of information will be in it.
Bruce Andersen stated that he will be giving information about the oil and gas, where it is in the ground, how and where they will be drilling, and that sort of thing, about oil and gas lines going down US 31 Highway.
Christy Andersen asked if he (Dave Neiger) was speculating on that.
Bruce Andersen stated that he was not speculating on that, and that he does have this information.
Christy Andersen stated that he doesn't know for sure. He probably has more of an idea than we do, but he does not know for sure.
Bruce Andersen it would take two to three months to get it set up because it goes through the Extension Office.
Christy Andersen stated that maybe we should just contact the Extension Office ourselves and setup this meeting.
Bruce Andersen stated that you have all these people out there that don't know what is going on, they are all guessing about oil and gas, they just don't understand it.
Christy Andersen stated that if the Gas Company was going to come in and speak to us, then yes I would be interested.
Jessica Wooten stated that she felt that we should put on our own program to ease the tension off everybody. Board Members all agreed. Roger will contact Extension Office to set up.
Zoning Ordinance:
Roger Williams: Been Zoning Administrator for almost a year now and it went better than I expected it would. I ran into what I guess you could call a wrinkle, where in the Ordinance we define a Kennel as six (6) or more dogs that worked out pretty well. Although this situation is where a homeowner wants to have their own sled dog team. To me, I hate to deny a person to have sled dog team on their property if they want too, without them having to be a permanent kennel, which is what our ordinance says it has to be. So, I just want you to take a look at this, I don't think it is a major issue to this person, but I get a lot of calls from people that say that they want to buy a piece of property, can I have a horse on it? This particular gal wanted to but this piece of property and she wanted to have a sled dog team.
Jessica Wooten: What is the difference between having eight dogs and having it called a commercial kennel? Does that restrict where you can do that?
Roger Williams: Yes, they only allow that in the mixed residential which is around the Village of Honor . They are putting Veterinary Clinics with Kennels all in that same area.
Christy Andersen: Is this something we could write a Section on?
Jessica Wooten: Yeah, they could apply for a Variance.
Roger Williams: I am not sure what the solution is? If you say well yes, you can have a sled dog team, and then everyone can have 8 or 10 or 12 dogs. I don't know that a Section is the magic number but if you have 1 or 12 dogs barking everyone knows. I am not sure of or suggesting a Solution. I don't think it is that big of a deal. I have had many calls about horses on the property, they ask how many acres do we have to have and I have told them 2.5 acres for a cow, a horse, or a pig. I am not issuing a lot of land use permits, I am issuing a few. They are for new homes, additions or garages, pole barns, storage facilities, that type of thing. I am also getting a lot of phone calls from Appraisers. I think there is a lot of reappraisals and refinancing going on right now, a lot of calls on what is it zoned, and what is it used for, things like that. I just wanted to let you know, that there are plenty of people that are trying to look for ways to increase the value of their home.
Roger Williams also stated that that he did not know, that he (Dave Neiger) sent it to Mr. Richmond, and that the County told him that our plan was flawed, and I thought that the County did not have any business saying that for one, and number two that it wasn't flawed. Our Plan meets all requirements, it might not please the County, but it is our Plan. So what I am asking, is the JPC Board to approve the Draft Letter I presented you, and send it to the Benzie County Planning Commission and Commissioners. Board unanimously approved letter with minor corrections (Attached) and also requested that the Letter be read out loud at the next County Planning Meeting and a Courtesy Copy be sent to the County Commissioners .
Open Public Discussion:
Marilyn Wareham said she would keep us up-to-date on Petition status.
Roger Hubbell stated the Board will need to come up with verbiage for a Ballot Vote if the Petition is upheld at the State Level. Board Members may want to start thinking about a positive question versus a negative question.
Marilyn Wareham said the Election would probably be held in the November timeframe.
Closed Public Discussion:
Board Go Around:
Marshall Lambertson asked if anyone has heard anything about Mr. Whitney situation on expanding his metal business.
Nobody has heard from him.
Roger Hubbell stated it is Mr. Whitney's responsibility to come back to the Board for Approval.
Roger Hubbell made the motion to adjourn the meeting; Mary Miller seconded the motion; All Ayes, No Nays, Motion Carried.
Submitted by
Sharon Peregoy
JPC Recording Secretary
Approved by
Dan Moore
JPC Secretary
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