Park Township NeighborsIn November 2024, Circuit Court Judge Jon Hulsing dismissed our case. Essentially, the judge found that Park Township amending the ordinance in March of 2024 changed things.
Because the township had not issued any citations under that new zoning ordinance, the judge found that PTN had not exhausted our administrative remedies, and that he did not have jurisdiction on the remaining issues. You can read the court’s opinion here.
After decades of actively allowing short term rentals, in March of 2022 Park Township set revisionist history in motion with a press release aimed at property owners and Realtors.
The press release proclaimed that, “Short Term rentals are currently illegal in Park Township, and have been since the Zoning Ordinance was adopted on February 7, 1974.”
(See have short term rentals always been illegal for more on that assertion.)
Naturally the public believed what the township said in the press release, concluding that short-term rental owners must be lawbreakers, or perhaps assuming the owners did not check the ordinances themselves.
But that is not the case.
The truth is that vacation home owners were told that there were no restrictions or requirements on renting in Park Township.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Local non-profit Park Township Neighbors (PTN) has published a sampling of emails supporting the assertions in their legal case against Park Township over its short-term rental ban.
These documents, which Park Township was required to release, strongly support the experiences of short term rental owners and PTN’s lawsuit.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Park Township, Michigan, July 10, 2024 – According to a recent economic impact study conducted by The Frost Center for Data and Research, a ban on short term rentals (STRs) in Park Township would negatively impact local businesses. It also shed light on some common misconceptions about the effects of STRs on housing availability and prices.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Park Township, Michigan – Local nonprofit Park Township Neighbors (PTN) has engaged the Frost Center for Data and Research to conduct an economic impact study regarding short term rentals in the Holland area.
The Frost Center is a social science research center at Hope College that has conducted other local studies, including studies on the economic impact of Tulip Time.
An economic impact study generally attempts to determine the amount of income generated in an area due to the activity being studied. This income can affect area jobs and businesses.
PTN was formed in response to Park Township’s surprising ban of vacation rentals, which have long been a part of the fabric of the community.
Because as the Planning Commission chair said in the June 2022 meeting, “There have always been rentals in Park Township. Cottage rentals, family rentals. That’s been going on for more than a century.”
PTN would like to keep it that way. Our primary goal is and always has been working together to improve everyone’s experience in Park Township.
We deeply appreciate the natural beauty, wide range of recreational opportunities, and high quality of life that Park Township offers residents and visitors alike, and want to see that continue.
That means allowing a limited number of well-integrated vacation rentals to continue to exist.