Cheboygan County has employed a professional Community Development Director since June of 2007. Like Cheers, everyone knows his name. The Director’s on-line resume states he oversees the departments of Planning and Zoning, Building Safety, Soil Erosion, Address Enforcement, Geographic Information Systems, and Code Enforcement. He also serves as the County Housing Director, overseeing the program, which provides much needed homeowner rehabilitation loans for area households with income at or below 80 percent of area median income. His efficient customer service systems process permit applications in a timely manner. He also completed many successful planning processes that involved thorough public input. He guided the creation of a new County Master Plan including facilitation of over 40 public input sessions.
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| Cheboygan County Community Development Director Steve Schnell |
What has gone wrong in Cheboygan County after more than ten years of efforts by a county economic development department led by an individual with this impressive resume? Ten years and seven months ago, when this qualified professional planner resigned from the position of Community Development Director in Mackinaw City, the Village Manager reorganized and the Village Council concurred. His former position was filled by a Planning/Zoning Administrator, and the Mackinaw Board called that “an apt description.”
Most of our competitors, surrounding counties and neighboring cities, have recognized that communities develop when government creates a welcoming environment that minimizes arbitrary zoning restrictions. Few if any employ a Development Director. Big dreams, a desire to succeed, and a work ethic drive the entrepreneurs who start small businesses that sometimes become the next Google or Amazon. These ambitious people do not need or desire direction from a community planner who has spent a bureaucrat’s life putting in desk time to earn his retirement benefits.
Looking back ten years, our current Cheboygan County Administrator Jeff Lawson was the Mackinaw Village Manager smart enough to see the Mackinaw Community Development Director had been ineffective. He created the simpler business model of a Planning/Zoning Administrator that serves most communities. Emmet County’s better practice is typical of many; a Planning/ Zoning Administrator for land use and a Building Official managing Building Safety. Two departments operating within their own areas of expertise and I suspect communicating much more effectively than our dysfunctional planning and zoning process.
Dysfunctional is a strong term, but it seems earned by a planning and zoning department that was unable to deal with a Griswold Mountain or Heritage Cove Farms. One application abandoned and the other still in Court. We might excuse controversial applications if those were the only fails. The much amended Planning and Zoning bible, Ordinance #200, affects our property rights and has had about 140 amendments. Seventy of those amendments made in the past ten years. Land uses are permissive only. If a business or land use is not defined and listed, too bad for Cheboygan County. Recent omissions notpermitted; beauty shops, fitness facilities, and the list goes on. If Google wanted to build a server farm or data center, the applicant would hear the same answer, no.
A successful dog-grooming business is attempting to relocate from Emmet County to Indian River. That is not high tech. It is a dog groomer. Cheboygan County’s Planning and Zoning Ordinance with 140 amendments does not permit a dog groomer in Indian River Village Center, the Village Center Overlay, a commercial district, an industrial district, a residential district or in fact anywhere in Cheboygan County. Our professional Community Development Director apparently never envisioned the need. The good news is he is now peddling off to greener pastures with well-groomed bike trails and we are on the cusp of a new era.
Our Cheboygan County Board of Commissioners need to be proactive, reorganize now, and work with County Administrator Jeff Lawson to assure our good employees in Planning and Building Safety can work to their full capabilities while providing a stable environment that encourages growth.
