The Rock River Township board approved all 36 decisions made by Interim Zoning Administrator Trevor Case at the township’s regular board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15 “We went through every one of his permits and decisions and double checked what he did, including conditional use permits,” Rock River Trustee Rowan Bunce said. “They all checked out and all came out correct.”
The investigation into Case’s actions was based on a complaint from a township citizen, who claimed that township policy prevented a sitting board member from serving as the zoning administrator. This was based on Section 1005 of the township’s zoning ordinance stating as such, but questions occurred on whether or not that clause was removed due to the township’s inability to find a long-term zoning administrator.
According to Township Supervisor Teri Grout, there was evidence that the change had been discussed but could not find evidence that the change went into effect.
Grout also highlighted Section 1001 of the zoning ordinance as establishing local zoning control through the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MZEA). That state law gives municipalities the power to give zoning authority to any party it deems, including keeping the zoning responsibilities to the board directly.
According to township legal counsel, a clause prohibiting a board member was unusual given its direct contradiction of the MZEA and that neither the MZEA nor the township zoning ordinance addresses situations where an interim zoning administrator is hired.
“The appointment of a board trustee as interim zoning administrator may or may not have been defective. Fact finding has not definitively determined this,” Grout said.
Rock River Township hired Mark Maki as the permanent zoning administrator in July, so no future issues will arise from the uncertainty of the situation. However, questions remained about what to do regarding the decisions made by Case. Since the complaint was not made about Case’s ability to do the job, but rather whether or not the township appropriately assigned Case with the power to act as zoning administrator, the township created a subcommittee of Grout and Bunce to review the zoning decisions. All decisions were deemed to be correct by both state law and local ordinance. Maki did not object to the results of the verification investigation.
Grout said that because of state law and Section 1001, the township could vote to reaffirm the decisions after they were investigated.
“As long as the zoning decisions, permits or orders could lawfully be implemented by a properly-designated zoning administrator, they are not invalidated if the appointment proves to be defective,” Grout said. “Whether or not defects occurred in the appointment process, the authority to administer and enforce the zoning ordinance was necessarily retained by the township board. Therefore the township board in its statutory authority could have issued the same zoning determinations during the relevant timeframe, assuming they were otherwise consistent with the zoning ordinance.”
Case was not in attendance at the meeting, as he was excused to pick up a donation from a Chicago-based snowmobiling group to the township’s ski hill. Rock River Township Clerk Maria Strand also recused herself from the vote, as Strand is Case’s long-term partner. The vote to affirm the zoning actions was 3-0, with the other three members of the board voting yes.
Maki also ruled that there was not a zoning ordinance violation for Case regarding offering a camper for those willing to work voluntarily on his farm as Case was recovering from surgery. Maki said that the issue is unclear in the zoning ordinance, but providing employee housing on farms is a wide standing practice both locally and nationally and protected through various federal labor and farming legislation.
