Cheboygan Zoning Laws Created Behind Closed Doors

Once upon a time, back on October 21 of 2015, the Cheboygan County Planning Commission started a public discussion to amend Article 19, Planned Unit Development (PUD). PUDs have the potential to be a significant departure from property developed under traditional Euclidean Zoning. Euclidean Zoning translates to Cheboygan County Planning telling you “you can’t build that, sell that, rent that, or do that here”. A PUD can be an antithesis to the “No, you can’t” and permit flexibility in the regulation of land development; encourage innovation in land use and variety in design, layout, and type of structures constructed.  There is no specific requirement that a PUD be limited to a single residential, commercial, or industrial land use. I have attended many Cheboygan County Planning Meetings. There have been hushed references to a previous failed PUD in Cheboygan County and a clear reluctance to try anything again that may have failed once. In Cheboygan County, it seems easier to just say no and not risk another failure.

Back to 2015 when Community Planner Scott McNeil stated that reviewing the PUD ordinance was a Master Plan goal for 2015. A PUD would permit a mixture of uses that allowed across the various zoning districts. The amendment would provide for a pre-application conference that would be general discussion only with no decision made on the application. Mr. McNeil stated this amendment also provides criteria and procedure for preliminary plan approval and final plan approval by the Planning Commission and Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners. Mr. McNeil explained that the amendment provides for expiration and renewal of preliminary plan approvals and amendments of an approved final plan.

I can relate all of this to you because I was there. Don’t believe me? Bob Lyon, Tony Matelski, Jim O’Donnell, and John Moore attended and heard the same words. Planning & Zoning Clerk Debbie Tomlinson later transcribed the meeting and noted who was there. At the next Planning Commission meeting, the Board approved this as the official record of a public meeting. I refreshed my memory from those official minutes. That is the way local government bodies are supposed to conduct business. It is not efficient, but the public has a ringside seat and ability to comment. Every member of the public who is interested in the process used to create or amend the zoning laws that affect our land use can participate.

That was in 2015 and things have changed. The expression that observing lawmakers is like watching sausage being made is really not apropos because ground meat does not tell us what to do. The six Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners in attendance on Tuesday, Chris Brown, Rich Sangster, Cal Gouine, Michael Neuman, John Wallace, and Robert Bollinger, none representing the best interest of the public on this issue, lawyered up and took their sausage making behind closed doors into a “closed session”. It is a moot point whether legal opinions provided by the County’s legal counsel outside of filed or pending litigation truly enjoy attorney-client privilege. I have little patience arguing with a professional who succeeds by cloaking the truth. A lawyer by definition is a one sided argument and the opposite of open government.

Here is the truth. Those Cheboygan County Commissioners are attempting with a lawyer, Administrator Jeff Lawson, and until proven otherwise the involvement of Development Director Steve Schnell to work behind closed doors to usurp the power of an appointed Planning Commission that makes zoning amendments in public view. There was a covert attempt earlier in the year to remove two independent thinkers from the Planning Commission to create a Planning Commission more compliant to Community Development Department. Commissioner Matelski stopped that. This most recent covert operation is another attempt that will not bode well for the County.

PUDs are one of the best tools available to accommodate a growth opportunity when it makes an appearance. These past headlines are proof of that; “The Emmet County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday voted 6-1 to approve Meijer's request for a preliminary PUD,  The Emmet County Board of Commissioners on Thursday approved an amendment to the county's Planned Unit Development agreement with R.G. Properties to allow a third sit-down restaurant such as Bob Evans to locate next to Applebee's on U.S. 131 just south of Petoskey”.

The Cheboygan County Community Development Department, an oxymoron, wants to remove “County Board of Commissioners” from the PUD process and from the headlines. We will continue to read, “Griswold Mountain Properties has chosen to withdraw their conditional rezoning application” and of the ongoing litigation with Heritage Cove. The Cheboygan Meijer project remains high and dry with a signage variance denied and zoning approvals lapsed.