Leland charged a business $8,000 to apply for a zoning appeal

A property owner’s dispute with Leland Township zoning officials turned more expensive when the owner paid the township $8,000 to revisit a decision to deny a zoning request. Three others who filed an appeal over the last five years paid $300 each, by contrast.

Apollos Properties LLC allowed a Youth for Christ high school club to use its private property for meetings, but the township told the company that the club’s use was not lawful under the local zoning ordinance. The company filed an appeal and paid the required fee. Local officials rejected the appeal and the owner sued the township, as Michigan Capitol Confidential previously reported.

Jim and Lisa Vansteenhouse, owners of Apollos Properties, filed a petition with the Zoning Board of Appeals after the planning commission refused to issue a special use permit for the club to meet at their property.

The standard fee for filing a motion for reconsideration to the Zoning Board of Appeals is $300, according to the township’s standard fee schedule. The schedule contains two lines that address a special use permit. One, called “special use permit,” lists a charge of $300. A second, called “special use permit and special industries,” is also listed at $300, but includes a caveat that there could be additional charges for engineering, survey, planning and legal fees.

Michigan Capitol Confidential submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to Leland Township, asking for the identity of all appeals submitted since January 2021 to the township Zoning Board of Appeals.

Records returned from the township revealed four such requests. Three petitioners were charged $300. Apollos was charged an escrow fee of $8,000, which was, in the words of its attorney, “applied to professional fees incurred by the Township and related to the pending appeal before the Zoning Board of Review.”

CapCon asked in an email about the discrepancy in charges.

“All applicants pay the $300 fee. Not all applicants are required to have funds in escrow,” Lisa Brookfield, township clerk, told CapCon in reply, suggesting that Apollos had to make an escrow payment.

The township clerk is responsible for fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests but not for determining fees or making appeals decisions.

A co-owner of Apollos decried the escrow requirement.

“Forcing the applicant into an $8,000 pre-funded escrow for the township’s expenses, an amount unprecedented in its history, to defend against their own appeal defies logic,” Jim Vansteenhouse told CapCon in an email.

The township is allowed to charge petitioners a fee to cover any legal fees associated with a dispute. But it did not do so with several applicants that used an attorney of their own.

Dick’s Pour House requested a variance for a fence on Aug. 25 and was charged $300.

A township resident, using legal counsel, requested on Nov. 14, 2025, a reversal for approval of a construction permit for a home on a piece of property. The home, according to the request, violated local setback and environmental regulations.

He was charged $300.

William and Main LLC filed an appeal after it was denied a special use permit for a mixed commercial and residential space in the C-1 district of Leland. The township charged $300 to hear the appeal, which it denied.

The company, which had hired a lawyer, filed suit in local court, but Judge Kevin Elsenheimer ruled in favor of the township, according to the Leelanau Ticker.

CapCon emailed members of the township appeals board to ask why they charged $8,000 to file an appeal, but they did not respond.