Moto Mania Propaganda as Printed in the 7 April 2011 Clare County Cleaver Debunked

According to the latest propaganda piece in the Clare County Cleaver, (aka the Moto Mania PR and Propaganda Rag), by Genine Hopkins, “despite the hopes by some Hayes Township Officials” – (John Scherrer?  Lee Dancer? Lyle Criscuolo?), “that the controversy surrounding Michigan Moto Mania had passed,” the neighbors have exercised their right to appeal the decision made by the Hayes Township Planning Commission to grant Michigan Moto Mania Campground and Resort a Special Use Permit without conditions. 

Really?  Did they really think we wouldn’t?  Once again we have to go through the motions of trying to make the “system” work before we abandon the system altogether and resort to court.  That means, Genine, the appeal has to go to the Zoning Board of Appeals first.  So Michigan Moto Mania must “suffer another appeal.”  (Very dramatic, Genine).  Just like the neighbors had to suffer another SUP application.  But hey, misery loves company.   

Since this Moto Mania business was snuck through in an unadvertised, last minute, hushed up meeting back in October 2009, the legal battle has only been going on for a little over a year.  (The Collins’ lawsuit was filed on 7 April 2010.)  It has not been “ongoing for the past two years” as Genine claims.  (I know.  It just seems longer when an SUP that was never supposed to be granted in the first place keeps raising its ugly head in some new mutation.  Son of Moto Mania.  Moto Mania, the Campground and Resort version.)  If it's overturned on Friday, I wonder how it will be reincarnated next time around?

"This legal battle, which has been ongoing for the past two years, has been a thorn in the side of Hayes Township, ..."

Genine exaggerates the timeframe.  What’s the matter, Genine?  Don’t you trust people to think for themselves?  If all you did was lay out the facts for them, both pro and con, what would happen?  Oh, right.  Nobody knows because you can’t tell it without trying to influence it.

This “ongoing legal battle” may well be a thorn in the side of Hayes Township, but it is a thorn of their own making.  Perhaps they should have thought about it before they bent the rules in the first place.

“MMM’s original application, although it could have fallen under resort, was applied for as a park, which has to be publically owned in order to qualify for an SUP under Hayes Township ordinances,” according to Genine Hopkins.  Wrong again, Genine.  That Doug Longenecker applied as a park instead of as a “resort” is an illustration of the fact that he just didn’t do his homework and went into this endeavor half cocked.  A privately owned park run as a business doesn’t get the same consideration as a publically owned not-for-profit park.  He applied as a “park” without realizing that there were any legal implications whatsoever.  And with key personnel in key positions on the boards, why would he have to worry about that?  I’m sure he was guaranteed to be a shoo-in when he looked at the property, hence his initial lawsuit, which he has since dropped.  (Let's see if he files a new one if his SUP is overturned again.)  Because that’s the way we do business here in Hayes Township.  Always have.  Until some neighbors called foul. 

No doubt that along with “taking their time” or appearing to do so by dragging the so-called process out for three weeks in a row, certain members of the Planning Commission probably coached Mr. Longenecker about just how to word things; assisted of course by Mr. Longenecker’s legal counsel and possibly other interested parties.  Genine with her law classes seems intimately familiar with all the details, whys and wherefores of Mr. Longenecker’s latest application.

I have no doubt that the Planning Commissioners went to Mr. Longenecker’s property. Some of their comings and goings have been noted.  While they may have “extensively interviewed” Mr. Longenecker, their due diligence was lacking in the “extensive interviews” of the neighbors.  None of us remember having any “extensive” conversations with any members of the Planning Commission, unless Mr. Criscuolo soliciting input from Matt Scheffler and Kimberly Kusiak constitutes an “extensive interview” or an attempt “to determine if some kind of compromise was possible.”  In the end, the input provided by those two neighbors was moot since it was never discussed in an open forum.         

“According to Hayes Township’s ordinances, the appeals time is only days, but township attorney David Dreyer adjusted the appeals time to reflect that of the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, which provides for a full 30 days for an appeal.” 30 days seems to be a reasonable time to appeal a decision made by the Planning Commission.  Sometimes it takes some time to have a lawyer word the appeal.  If the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinance provided less time than the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, that would have left Hayes Township vulnerable to a lawsuit for not providing enough time for an appeal to be filed.  It was a prudent thing for Mr. Dreyer to do.  But if needs be, the HTZO should be amended to comply with the MZEA.

In all of her biased writings, Genine continues to refer to the neighbors as “the opposition”, reminding us of her personal biases and the biases of the Cleaver in trying to cast the neighbors in a negative light.  In opposing Moto Mania, we are also opposing the misapplication of the Hayes Township Zoning Ordinances to serve an agenda.  We are in opposition to the bending and breaking of the law when it suits the purpose of our local government leaders.  The fact that this kind of thing, even to achieve a desirable end is tolerated, is worrisome for Hayes Township.  It is no wonder with all the scofflaws representing Hayes Township in local government there is so much more crime in Hayes Township than almost all of the other townships in Clare County combined.  Where there is lax enforcement, there is more crime because the criminal element has learned that the odds of getting away with it are greater in Hayes Township.  The people of Hayes Township have poor examples set for them by their elected and appointed leaders.     

“Although the opposition continues, there is a general belief that since no errors were made,  and the plan for MMM now includes a wider array of activities that are more in line with the exemptions, the appeal may lack the legal standing of the first appeal.”  Really Genine?  Where is this “general belief” coming from, except in your own mind, and in the minds of your colleagues at the Moto Mania PR and Propaganda Rag?  Is this “general belief” shared by the several biased members of the elected and appointed Hayes Township boards?  And this “general belief” is based on whose legal expertise among the general population of Hayes Township?  Yours?  This new application with the new pretty words is the exact same SUP as the last one with window dressing added.  Motocross and ORV riding and racing have not been removed from the equation at all.  (Without restrictions, remember?) Other things have been added, but nothing has been removed. 

“In the appeals document, the parties…cite conflict of interest for new Planning Commission member Wesley Kenney, …” Yes, we have pointed out Wesley Kenney’s conflict of interest  - his business was the very first business listed in the support ad published in the Cleaver on 29 Apr 2010.  How is that not bias and a conflict of interest?  Especially if Mr. Longenecker avails himself of Mr. Kenney’s landscaping services in the future?  One can hardly call Mr. Kenney unbiased.

We have also pointed out Don Atkinson’s conflicts of interest. 

Lee Dancer has admitted to hoping to get some wells out of Moto Mania. 

I’d like to know how Genine knows about a cross that was erected and has since “fallen down” (of its own accord, I’m sure) on the Collins’ property.  Has she been trespassing on the Collins’ property to see it for herself?  It is interesting that the cross was discovered as having “fallen down” about a week and a half before the news of it was printed in the Cleaver.  The Collins’ were out of town at the time it was discovered that it had “fallen down” by a caretaker.  By the time the Moto Mania PR and Propaganda Rag went to print, the cross had been erected again.  You got it wrong again, Genine.     

“The majority of local citizens hope MMM can finally open, bringing tourists to the area and creating jobs for the many unemployed in the area.” 

Let’s break that down: 

“The majority of local citizens…” – How many of these “local citizens” are paying property tax in Hayes Township?  There are a lot of “local citizens” who neither reside nor pay taxes in Hayes Township.  Why should these people have a voice in what happens in Hayes Township? 

“…hope MMM can finally open…” - They want to play on someone else’s property in someone else’s back yard with their noisy toys.

“…bringing tourists to the area…” – more people, not form around here who want to play on someone else’s property in someone else’s back yard with their noisy toys.

“…and creating jobs for the many unemployed in the area.” -  Do you really believe that the “many unemployed” (all of them) will be put back to work as soon as MMM opens its doors?  I have a bridge I want to sell you.  Just exactly what are these jobs that will be opening up on April 16 if Moto Mania is not overturned by the ZBA?  I’d like to see a list of all of those job descriptions and what the pay and benefits are for all the unemployed people of Harrison (besides potentially Wes Kenney and Lee Dancer, and whatever construction company Mr. Longenecker has building stuff for him - these are people who are not unemployed.  They already have their own work in other places besides MMM.).   Those want ads should be out on the PR and Propaganda Rag in the 21 Apr 2011 edition if the ZBA does not overturn the SUP.  Those job descriptions with pay and benefits scales should be available for the ZBA to look over in time to make their decision. Why doesn’t anyone ask Mr. Longenecker to produce them?  How many of the unemployed are there in Harrison and how many actual jobs are going to materialize? 

“An economic impact study conducted by the Outdoor Industry Foundation, that points to a study of the economic impact of outdoor resorts and activities in the state of Wisconsin, similar to the activities that MMM will be offering.  This study was attached to the application as proof of the economic value of MMM to the area.”  The entire Outdoor Industry Foundation study was not attached to the MMM SUP application.  Just a single page with a couple of sentences underlined from a document by Dick Ramey that is at least 9 pages long.  This document references the study and may or may not be relevant.  This is what was attached to Mr. Longenecker’s SUP.  Wisconsin is not Michigan.  The heavy local support is what has been whipped up by the pro-Moto Mania bully pulpit of the Cleaver and Steve and Peggy Rauch, along with Genine Hopkins.  Michigan Moto Mania has been hyping it up on facebook to people who don’t even live in Harrison. 

Instead of taking a commonsense approach to the growth of business in this area, the preferred method seems to be to foment hysteria about neighbors fighting a noisy business going into an area not zoned for it.  How much more of a win-win could it have been if Hayes Township and Harrison and Clare County combined their efforts to help Mr. Longenecker find the right place, properly zoned rather than force feeding the neighbors this business in their neighborhood and calling it good.  A lot less money would have been spent by everyone.