Heritage Cove Farm-Cheboygan County P & Z Failed

More than a hundred year round and seasonal Cheboygan County residents participated in the recent Planning Commission hearings as Heritage Cove Farm sought a Special Use Permit.  The applicants desired to operate a residential therapeutic treatment facility for the mentally ill on 33 acres on Grandview Beach. Many vocally opposed the proposal and specifically the location. For many it was clearly their first exposure to Master Plans, Zoning Districts, and Michigan’s Planning and Enabling Act. It is not a democratic or majority rules process and some were not pleased with the outcome. 

Anyone who is interested in creating a better future for Cheboygan County should seize this opportunity do some Monday morning quarterbacking and work toward changes to better serve your future needs. We all walk a fine line between defending our private property rights while avoiding a negative impact on our neighbors’ rights.  A basic fault with the majority of current zoning laws is that they define “permissive” uses rather than prohibited uses. Any uses that were not foreseen by the authors of the law then require a Special Use Permit and sometimes rezoning. Many of the problems in the Heritage Cove application resulted from undefined or poorly defined terms and a land use that the authors of Ordinance #200 had never envisioned. Solar farms, data centers, and fulfillment centers are just three of an infinite number of fast growing commercial uses of property never foreseen or addressed by Ordinance #200. 

I’ve spoken with both proponents and opponents of the Heritage Cove Farm and am sympathetic to both. Some Heritage Cove opponents correctly stated that both the Tuscarora and Cheboygan County Master Plans identified the subject property as retaining the existing zoning.  P & Z staff stated that Master Plans are forward thinking documents envisioning future zoning districts; not specific uses. The Heritage Cove approval required no rezoning. Less than one year after the current County Master Plan was adopted, the Meijers’ store Special Use application required rezoning and that received rubber stamp approval. So much for 20 year plans. 

Grandview Beach residents discovered they were not protected within Cheboygan’s most restrictive single family residential zoning. Most of their properties are instead in the more permissive zoning of Lake & Stream. Cheboygan has numerous established lakeshore communities. They may deserve some form of status quo protection simply because they are some of our larger properly tax generators.

Many of lakeshore owners are already organized as associations to promote their special interests. There are options available to restrict uses that could negatively impact their neighborhoods and property values. Most of us are familiar with deed restrictions and covenants in planned or platted developments. An association that has an elected board could democratically define community boundaries and then enact and record protective deed restrictions on all the properties within those boundaries. These deed restrictions can protect against negative impacts and convey with the property if it is sold. The question then is whether the association members can all agree on what defines a negative impact? Is it only a use like Heritage Cove? Or is it a commercial use; bed & breakfasts, restaurants, marinas, weekly, weekend, or cottage rentals by the day, pole barns, or even tear-downs of historic cottages and consolidating lots to build a McMansion?  Indian Woods Trail and Woodside already have some covenants in place. Many other long established west Mullett lakeshore neighborhoods, with numerous non-conforming uses, may find themselves beyond the point where any deed restriction can effectively protect against negative impacts. 

A less desirable option involves property owners, their local township Board, and Cheboygan County Planning and Zoning and Commissioners. A few years ago Cheboygan County Planning & Zoning had amended Ordinance #200 allowing anyone to build a "private storage building", ie: pole barns, in residential neighborhoods as a primary use. No house, no residents, no kids in school. Just a big tin shed sitting next to your $150,000 house. This proved to b a bad move. After five stand alone pole barns were built on one street in Topinabee, numerous Topinabee residents proposed a more restrictive overlay. The overlay would restrict stand-alone pole barns as a primary use in existing single family residential neighborhoods in Topinabee.

Cheboygan County P & Z staff stated it was open to enacting an over-lay with the support and endorsement of the Mullett Township Board. About 40 residents and owners signed petitions asking for this action. Mullett Township Supervisor MaryAnne Gale felt it stepped on the rights of private property owners. The entire Mullett Board ignored 40 taxpayers and bowed to the Supervisor. A lesson learned? If you want it done right, do it yourself.