House committee hears testimony on bill to allow up to 10 land divisions per parcel (HB4081)

Representative DeBoer introduced House Bill 4081 to the House Committee on Regulatory Reform as an amendment to Michigan’s Land Division Act that would increase the number of allowable parcel splits under section 108 from four to ten and give local jurisdictions authority to permit additional splits by ordinance. DeBoer and proponents described the change as a limited, local-option tool to create more buildable lots and ease housing supply constraints; the bill includes an effective date provision of July 1, 2026 to give communities time to adopt ordinances.

The bill drew sharply contrasting testimony. Brett Hollingsworth of the Michigan Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS) told the committee HB 4081 raises “significant unintended consequences,” citing risks that the bill’s expansion could produce ambiguous parcel legal descriptions, gaps and overlaps in parcel boundaries, urban sprawl, strained infrastructure and shifted costs to taxpayers. MSPS emphasized that current land-division applications allow only tentative maps and nonstandard legal descriptions; surveyors and some…