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.
Some history
Prior to filing our lawsuit in October 2023, PTN attempted to present our ideas to the Park Township Board of Trustees, but was not allowed to do so.
We’d spent a significant amount of time building consensus among vacation rental owners in Park Township, and working on detailed Good Neighbor Guidelines with our members.
But because the board was not interested in allowing us to present, we did not get to share or discuss those.
So we’d like to remedy that now, by presenting our proposed Good Neighbor Guidelines to you, the public.
Our proposed guidelines
You can read our proposed Good Neighbor Guidelines here:
The thinking was that hosts would agree to the guidelines for hosts, and the guidelines for guests would be posted conspicuously in the vacation rental, and enforced as part of the house rules.
Our members unanimously approved of these when they were presented in a PTN meeting.
This is especially important because — thanks to the preliminary injunction — the township is currently prohibited from enforcing their ban on vacation rentals.
We truly want to be good neighbors and a valuable part of the community, and believe these guidelines will go a long way towards that.
Of course, we welcome any feedback! You can email us at neighbors@parktownshipneighbors.com
Why guidelines?
Communities around the country have worked on similar types of guidelines, and the Park Township Planning Commission did as well.
Here’s a copy of a draft version of their guide, from the Sept 2022 Planning Commission packet, if you would like to take a look at that.
We believed that was an excellent start, but wanted to go beyond that based on our collective experiences as hosts, residents, area community members, and frequent visitors to Park Township. (And in some cases, based on our experiences living next door to short term rentals ourselves.)
That’s why our guidelines are significantly more detailed, especially for hosts. It’s also why we wanted to require at least one camera and a noise monitor.
We do not believe it should be up to nearby neighbors to monitor our guests for us. It’s up to us as hosts to make sure our guests behave appropriately, and to immediately remove them and make amends if they are not. That type of technology will help make that a reality.
Clearing up some misconceptions about PTN’s goals and vacation rentals
We’ve since encountered a few misconceptions regarding our goals and vacation rentals. For the record, we’d like briefly to clear those up now. Here are a few questions and answers that will do that. If you have additional concerns, please do email us — we’d be happy to hear from you.
Q. Why did people buy a short term rental in Park Township if it was against the law? There’s an ordinance on the books!
A. The short answer is we believe we are following the law. We’re not out to skirt the law or find loopholes, and we don’t believe the law shouldn’t apply to us.
The fact is, there were no regulations or restrictions regarding rentals of any kind “on the books”.
Additionally, many, many of us checked with the township prior to renting, and were consistently told that short term rentals are not regulated. It’s not unreasonable to trust township officials and staff, especially when their words match the ordinances.
(See have short term rentals always been illegal for more details.)
Q. Why should we reward people who were breaking the law by allowing them to continue operating?
A. See the previous answer. We shouldn’t.
But you should be aware that if a zoning law is amended — for example, to say that short term rentals are not allowed in residential zoning districts — those who had been doing so previously are supposed to be granted the right to continue that use. (It’s known as a non-conforming use, aka grandfathering.)
The Michigan Zoning Enabling Act controls that. It’s the law, not a reward.
Q. If our HOA bylaws prohibit short term rentals, can the township override those?
A. No. The bylaws remain in force unless they are changed by the HOA. And HOAs have a lot of power.
Those of us who choose to live in one typically do so for a reason, and those of us who choose not to live in one typically do the same.
Q. Corporations and LLCs are coming in and buying up property to rent out!
A. According to the Granicus data on short term rentals we received from the township via a FOIA request, there are zero corporations that own a short term rental here. (Granicus is the company the township hired to get data on short term rentals in Park Township.)
We learned that there are some LLCs and trusts. However those are normally formed based on tax advice, not for any nefarious reasons. Just like you might put your primary residence into a trust to help protect it upon your death.
Corporations and LLCs are not coming into Park Township, buying up property, and renting it out short-term.
Q. They want to take over neighborhoods!
A. There’s no group of vacation rental owners that wants to “take over neighborhoods”, or even expand vacation rentals into areas where they are not. That doesn’t make sense, financially or otherwise. There’s no benefit to that, for anyone.
And PTN definitely does not want to do that.
The vast, vast majority of our members only have one vacation rental. Typically that’s a second home that we stay in ourselves, want to retire to, or have for family and friends to stay at. Or it’s a family cottage that’s been in the family for generations, often one we cannot afford to keep without renting out.
We do not want to expand the number of short term rentals in Park Township. All we want is to be able to continue to use our homes the way we always have, while integrating peacefully with our neighbors and being part of the community.
Summing up
We want the township to remain the way it has been since its formation: allowing a variety of uses.
Those uses include homes for full time residents, seasonal residents, second home owners who visit only a few times a year, and visitors who rent short term. (Some of whom later become full time residents.)
We agree with the Park Township’s master plan mission: to sustain Park Township’s rich heritage by focusing on community, recreation, and nature.
Vacation rentals are a part of that, and we believe our Good Neighbor Guidelines for Hosts and Guests can help.