Township officials urge Clinton County to keep planning and zoning services

A coalition of township supervisors and residents urged the Clinton County Board of Commissioners to preserve county-run planning and zoning services, saying local governments cannot absorb the startup costs, insurance liabilities or staffing demands of running their own programs.

"If we did do it, we got sued—we just lay down for it because we can't afford it," Greenbush Township Supervisor Lee Thelen told the board, summarizing concerns heard across northern townships about legal defense costs and the limits of small budgets (SEG 308–496). Several speakers said township budgets are constrained by priorities such as roads, fire and EMS services.

Township speakers offered concrete cost examples. DuPlain Township noted the county is paying a consultant roughly $240,000 a year (about 1,000 hours at $240/hour), and Greenbush estimated initial insurance and startup needs could exceed $100,000–$126,000 in the first year for a small township to stand up zoning functions (SEG 497–569; SEG 308–496). Bingham Township and others called the county-level deficit—described later by a commissioner as roughly $180,000–$295,000 depending on contours of contractor costs—small relative to countywide priorities and not justification to shift costs to townships (SEG 571–659; SEG 1960–1980).

Speakers repeatedly invoked uniform standards and protection against blight as reasons to retain a single county planning authority. "Uniformity is huge," Greenbush Supervisor Lee Thelen said, arguing that county-level zoning prevents neighboring jurisdictions from having conflicting rules that could drive down property values (SEG 308–496). Charter townships with their own services also warned that removing county zoning could harm nearby jurisdictions’ property values.

The board heard requests for clarity on specific questions: whether a county umbrella insurance policy could be extended to townships if county services end; why planning commission vacancies have remained open despite many applicants; and what caused repeated turnover in the planning director role. MSU Extension facilitator Eric Walcott summarized those questions for the record and said facilitators would capture participants’ concerns in a listening-session report (SEG 1401–1420).