Park Township homeowners seek millions from local government

Park Township Neighbors, a nonprofit group of short-term rental homeowners in Ottawa County, has filed a federal lawsuit against Park Township, saying its ban on short-term rentals violates the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The organization seeks monetary damages and a ruling to prevent the ban.

The township used a 1974 zoning law to ban short-term rentals, though that law had been neglected until October 2023.

The nonprofit organization has records of various township officials saying that short-term rentals were lawful. These communications go back to 2003.

“Park Township officials have repeatedly interpreted the Park Township Zoning Ordinance in effect from 2003 until March 2024 as allowing short-term rentals (STRs) in residential districts,” the group says in its federal lawsuit. Township administrators, including zoning administrators, have told residents that short-term rentals are allowed in residential districts, it added. “And most telling,” it said, “the zoning ordinance administrator in 2003 testified that the township amended the zoning ordinance of 2003 to ensure that short-term rentals could be used in residential districts.”

Federal Lawsuit by mcclallen

Park Township Neighbors say the township’s enforcement is unconstitutionally vague, depriving owners of short-term rentals of their property interest without due process.

The case has been assigned to Judge Paul L. Maloney in the United States District Court Western District of Michigan Southern Division, Jeremy Allen, president of Park Township Neighbors, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a text message.

Maloney ruled on July 7 against Peninsula Township of Grand Traverse County in a zoning dispute involving business interests, filed by Wineries of the Old Mission Peninsula Association.

The wineries alleged that “decades of strife, arbitrary enforcement, and frustration” came from the township using zoning ordinances to prohibit weddings, live music, and fundraisers. This, the wineries said, limited business activities such as advertising tastings and selling merchandise.

Peninsula Township also restricted the wineries’ operating hours, the plaintiffs claimed, and dictated the share of grapes in various wines that came from within the township.

The judge ruled that the township ordinance was unconstitutional and awarded the wineries $50 million in damages.

Park Township Neighbors has also filed suit in state court, losing in Ottawa Circuit Court. Judge Jon H. Hulsing ruled that statements by township officials are not binding because the zoning board is authorized to enforce the ordinance, as Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in December.

The association filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals on Nov. 21.

A township ordinance enacted in 2024 bans all short-term rentals in residential districts.

Usually when a new zoning ordinance is put in place, state law — the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act — allows for “nonconforming use,” or a “grandfathered” use, which lets existing properties remain in their current state. Grandfathering, as applied to Park Township, would allow current owners of short-term rentals to continue their practice.

Township officials say short-term rentals were never legal and thus will not be grandfathered.

Rental owners in Park Township told CapCon that township officials have invested a significant sum of taxpayer money in the fight.

“We recently learned the township has spent well over $400,000 just on this short-term rental issue alone in the last few years,” Allen told CapCon in an email.

“While I am saddened that we have had to file a federal lawsuit, property ownership rights are important,” Allen said. “And even more so, it’s important to me that the township look to decades of their own interpretations and choose to, hopefully, do the right thing.” Allen estimated that 1% of homes in the township are used as short-term rentals.

Township officials did not respond to an email seeking comment.