Toward the beginning of the Moto Mania fiasco on the part of the Hayes Township Planning Commission, at the point where the township's attorney, David Dreyer got involved, he wrote a 10 page opinion letter which his associate, Ms. Hovey handed out to those who attended the Hayes Township Board Of Trustees meeting on 16 march 2010. In his absence, she ran the meeting.
It is worth mentioning that just prior to that meeting, Mr. Dreyer's other associate, Todd Diederich resigned from the Hayes Township Planning Commission. (Because that wasn't a conflict of interest even before it hit the fan.) Since nobody has brought it up, this seems to be the place to bring up all the elephants in the room that no one else wants to or can talk about. How long was a member of the Township's Planning Commission also a member of the law firm that represents the township? And what genius thought that was a good idea?
But I digress... this article is really about what brings us to court in the first place. The digression is just another piece of fuel for the fire.
David Dreyer's opinion letter. In it, he laid out the infractions the Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees were admitting to, and what they were and were not going to do about it. He laid out a plan that appears to placate both Doug Longenecker (by giving him a second chance to get it right) and the Mostetler Road/Deer Lake neighbors (by causing the Township to retrace their steps and presumably dot their i's and cross their t's this time.) It was also the path of least litigation for his client, Hayes Township. He thought.
In appearing to placate both parties, neither one seemed likely to go to court in the short run. One of the things he opined in the last paragraph of his paper was, "During all these proceedings, Hayes Township does not have the authority to 'red tag' or otherwise stop the activities on the property. Only the Clare County Circuit Court has the power to issue injunctions or other court orders pertaining to this matter. It is within the rights of the property owner making the application or for any other interested party to file for relief with the Clare County Circuit Court."
In other words, Hayes Township has no authority to enforce its own laws and make Doug Longenecker stop working on Michigan Moto Mania while the "do over" is in progress, even though everything else must begin again at square one. Anyone who wants any redress "has the right" to file for said redress with the Clare County Circuit Court because the Township has no authority to grant it, (even though they created the mess in the first place.)
The bottom line is, the Township boards never wanted to stop this from happening, and their lawyer gave them the "out" to not make it stop while the improprieties were being addressed. They were not inclined, and Mr. Dreyer found them a way to not do it. I think that both the Township Boards and their legal representation did not expect a David to fight this Goliath. I think maybe they believed that Doug Longenecker was more likely to seek redress in court if they made him stop developing while this was being decided than the neighbors if they didn't make him stop developing. They thought the neighbors would just gripe and complain, but in the end, they would just suck it up "for the good of the Township." After all, most of them don't even live in Hayes Township, even though they pay taxes in Hayes Township (higher taxes than the residents pay) and they can't vote anyway, so it just stinks to be them. And those who do live in Hayes Township, - there aren't very many of them. That seems to be the prevailing line of thinking among many Moto Mania fans too.
Turns out there is a David among the neighbors, and David's last name is Collins. And there are more Davids than anyone thought there would be. So instead of just letting the Township Planning Commission and Board of Trustees get away with it, the Collinses, with the support of their neighbors sought the only redress available to them in the Clare County Circuit Court. (Of course at the behest of Mr. Dreyer.)
That was Round 1. At the first court date, Judge Mienk granted a temporary injunction against Moto Mania. As I understand it, Doug Longenecker was told that he could not run Moto Mania as a business, meaning no money could change hands, but he could use the property for personal riding, and he could continue to develop at his own risk. The temporary injunction would expire upon the decision to be taken by the Planning Commission in the "do over" The ball was back in the Township's court for action.
After a Public Hearing on 12 May 2010, and a vote on 17 May 2010, the Planning Commission decided unanimously to grant the Special Use With Restrictions not to Doug Longenecker, but to the Gamble-Longenecker property on Mostetler Road, (which would seem to make the Special Use permanent, rather than temporary and amounts to a Rezone.) Why grant it to the property instead of the individual who requested it? Was this in case the property reverts back to Ken Gamble so Ken Gamble can then resell it with the Special Use already procured? These restrictions seriously hinder Doug Longenecker's ability to grow as a business. Did the Planning Commission think the restrictions would placate the neighbors? If so, they were mistaken.
There is still some confusion as to whose job it is to police Moto Mania and violations of the restrictions. One gets the feeling that The Planning Commission, the Board of Trustees and the local constabulary are not inclined to enforce violations. And Lyle got downright testy at the 16 Jun 2010 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting because he was among the members of the Planning Commission called when infractions occurred. Kind of reminds me of a Dad who lays down the Law at home and then leaves Mom to enforce the rules, while Dad is nowhere to be found. The Planning Commission established the rules, but they don't want any part of enforcing them and are not very clear on whose job it is.
So, again, as I understand it, once the Planning Commission took their decision and it was adopted by the Board of Trustees, the temporary injunction was lifted, and Doug was free to run Moto Mania as a business.
Of course, within the required window, the neighbors appealed the decision of the Planning Commission to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Now here is where it seems to get tricky to the Township Board of Trustees, Jim VanWormer (who was the Zoning Administrator at the time, but has since resigned), and Mr. Dreyer.
According to the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, Section 1508 on page 72: "An appeal taken to the Board shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action being appealed, unless the Zoning Administrator certifies to the Board of Appeals after notice of appeal that a stay would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings may not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may, on due cause shown, be granted by the Board of Appeals or by Circuit Court on application, after notice to the Zoning Administrator."
This seems pretty straightforward to me. As I read and understand the above section of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance, as soon as the Planning Commission's decision to grant the Special Use with Restrictions to the Gamble-Longenecker property was appealed, that appeal put a stay on the Gamble-Longenecker property on Mostetler Road. That stay was supposed to be on "all proceedings in furtherance of the action being appealed." Nevertheless, the building of tracks continued, and other violations of the stay have occurred. The Township Board of Trustees and Zoning Administrator, and their lawyer all seem to have a difficult time understanding that section of the Zoning Ordinance as I will illustrate.
Because of the appeal, a Zoning Board of Appeals was scheduled for 16 Jun 2010. It was a public Hearing and although there was no quorum, the meeting was held anyway and then a vote was taken. The vote was 2 for upholding the Special Use With Restrictions, and 1 to overturn the Special Use With Restriction on the Gamble-Longenecker property. Because of a lack of quorum, another meeting was to be scheduled.
Meanwhile, Michigan Moto Mania was preparing to open on 25 Jun 2010. I have no doubt they would have been allowed to open, too, if I had not called and spoken to Jim VanWormer. I asked him when he lifted the stay on the Gamble-Longenecker property on Mostetler Road. He told me he hadn't and that he had no grounds. I asked him why then, was Michigan Moto Mania scheduling their Grand Opening on the 25th of Jun 2010? He didn't know, but he would call Mr. Dreyer who turned out to be conveniently out of town until several days after the scheduled opening.
All of this begs several questions. It was obvious that Mr. VanWormer was not comfortable performing his duties as the Zoning Administrator before talking to whomever was pulling his strings. In this case, I think that was David Dreyer. There is a problem with a system where a Zoning Administrator is hired by the people who are supposed to be accountable to him. He has to "go along to get along" and since Mr. VanWormer was hired by the Township Board of Trustees, and the Board seems to be in favor of the Moto Mania business, he cannot always be honest in the carrying out of his duties as the Zoning Administrator if his duties conflict with the agenda of the people who have the power to hire and fire him. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?
Mr. VanWormer must have miraculously reached Mr. Dreyer, because Michigan Moto Mania did not open as planned on 25 Jun 2010.
Which brings me to Courtroom Round 2.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment