Claim:
Short term rentals have been illegal in Park Township since 1974. The 1974 ordinance prohibits them in residential zones.
Facts:
There are no mentions of short, medium, or long term rental properties in the zoning ordinances at all.
And there is nothing in the zoning ordinances that says any of those types of rentals are prohibited.
Rentals are simply not mentioned at all.
While we can’t speak for the drafters of the 1974 zoning ordinances, it’s likely this is because the right to rent out one’s home was assumed to be part of the bundle of rights that are granted when someone purchases real estate in the United States.
Experiences support this
Additionally, dozens of vacation home owners have been told over the past several decades that there were no restrictions or requirements on renting in Park Township.
They weren’t told it was a gray area, or that “wink wink nudge nudge it’s illegal but everyone does it”.
They were told there were no restrictions or requirements on renting, as recently as early 2022.
A township does not have to vote to end or disallow something that’s already illegal. Yet that’s exactly what the township did in November 2022.
Here are some recent quotes from township staff, board, & commission members related to that:
“The motion is to end short term rentals by October of 2023, correct?” –Jim Gerard, township supervisor, in the November 2022 board meeting.
“In the residential zoning districts it will be illegal. And that will be communicated to anybody who is doing short term rentals.” — Howard Fink, township manager, in the November 2022 board meeting.
“Alright, so the big headline for tonight is – and I’m sure you all know – the board voted to disallow short term rentals in any residential zoning district.” –Dave Kleinjans, planning commission chair, in the November 2022 planning commission meeting.
The takeaway is that in November 2022, after many significant and lengthy discussions, Park Township officials were still using words and phrases like “end short term rentals”, “it will be illegal” (emphasis added) and “voted to disallow short term rentals”.
As Dave Kleinjans, planning commission chair, said in the June 2022 planning commission 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.
Other interesting facts:
To the best of our knowledge, Park Township is the only municipality in our part of West Michigan that is attempting to prohibit all vacation rentals in residential areas. Park Township is home to the most visited state park in Michigan, and is a jewel for residents and visiting families to enjoy. Yet, Park Township refuses to allow the small number of already existing short term vacation homes (around 3% of all available housing) to continue welcoming visitors.
Park Township’s stance on short term rentals has often been compared to the City of Holland’s, which is frequently cited as only allowing 25 short term rentals. The City of Holland does allow a maximum of 25 investor owned short term rentals. But they also allow every home that is “owner occupied” to be rented out short term, in every zoning district, for up to 60 days a year.
From their website: “This is the owner’s primary residence. One room may be rented while the owner lives there, or the entire home while they are away. This is allowed in any zone district.” (Emphasis added.)
Park Township’s recent stance has been “short term rentals are not listed as a permitted use in the Code of Ordinances, therefore it is illegal use.” The Township now states publicly on the Park Township website that “Monthly leases and longer are permitted in all residential districts.”
Yet there is no mention of monthly or long term rentals in the Code of Ordinances. Therefore by the same definition as applied to short-term rentals by Park Township, monthly and long term rentals are also an illegal use.
It is much more likely that the right to rent out one’s home was assumed to be part of the bundle of rights that are granted to purchasers of real estate in the United States. And that short term rentals (aka weekly rentals, weekend rentals, and vacation rentals) have not “always been illegal” in Park Township.