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The Lake Township Planning Commission revisited its July 15 agenda Monday after unanimously voting to invalidate all actions taken during that meeting.
Although commissioners largely reached the same conclusions as they did at the voided meeting, one notable change was the commission expanding its RV and watercraft storage discussion beyond properties adjacent to Lake Huron.
The planning commission reconvened after concerns were raised that notice for the July 15 meeting was not posted far enough in advance, as required by Michigan’s Open Meetings Act. Residents also questioned why the meeting was labeled a regular meeting on the agenda when July 15 was not listed on the planning commission’s schedule of regular meetings.
Commissioners revisited the township’s RV storage rules for waterfront properties in the R-1 district July 15 after hearing from property owners who said the current ordinance does not work because of how their properties are laid out.
According to Lake Township’s zoning ordinance, RVs and motorized watercraft are generally required to be stored in a rear yard. However, the zoning administrator may permit side-yard storage when there is no practical access to the rear yard.
The ordinance has posed issues for owners of waterfront properties who do not have conventional lots. To accommodate the owners of these lots, Siver suggested reworking the language and adding it to the accessory building provision of the township’s zoning ordinance.
“We could flip that around and have it (so) in that waterfront area, it has to be in the side yard and if the side yard wasn’t practical it could be in the front yard,” he said. “But again it has to meet the criteria for accessory buildings.”
With no objections, Siver said he would start working on adding that provision to the existing ordinance language to present to the commission at the next meeting.
At Monday’s meeting, Siver proposed revising the ordinance to allow RVs and motorized watercraft on Lake Huron waterfront lots to be stored in side yards instead of rear yards. If side-yard setbacks could not be met, front-yard storage would be permitted.
He added that the language would need to make clear that stored RVs and watercraft cannot obstruct drivers’ vision or be placed in the road right-of-way, per the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Although the drafted language still focused on waterfront properties, planning commission member Matt Pryor questioned whether similar flexibility should be extended to residents in other zoning districts who cannot access their rear yards.
“If we’re going to get into this, it’s already been mentioned more than once about (doing it) across the board and not just for R-1,” he said. “Because I’m sure there are certain lots in R-2, or what have you, that are narrow, and they may be deep, but they can’t access their backyard.”
Siver and the commission ultimately agreed it would be better to handle the issue all at once, even though it might be more difficult.
“Let’s take a look and see what we can do to fix it across the board,” commissioner Keith Hoffman said.
Although commissioners discussed the shortcomings of the current ordinance and proposed updates to the language, no formal action was taken to adopt any changes, schedule a public hearing or recommend the language to the board.
Commissioners also clarified that the discussion applied only to RV and watercraft storage. Rules governing the use of RVs for camping are expected to be revisited separately after the zoning administrator provides additional information this fall.
The next regular meeting of the Lake Township Planning Commission is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the Lake Township Hall, 4988 W. Kinde Road, Caseville.
