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Residents accuse Lapeer mayor of pushing faith-based message, criticize overturn of planning recommendation
Summary
Public commenters used the commission's public-comment period to criticize Mayor Jeremy Hing’s blog for advocating a 'Bible-based city' and to object to his overturning of the planning commission’s recommendation for the Brookwood development, while urging respect for both housing needs and local planning rules.
At the start of the meeting, multiple residents used the public-comment period to press the Lapeer City Commission on local governance and development issues, with several speakers criticizing the mayor’s public comments and one chastising his reversal of a planning commission recommendation.
Susan Hough, who identified her surname in the record, told the commission she was "invested" in Lapeer City and raised two specific concerns. She said the mayor’s blog — which she attributed to Jeremy Hing — telegraphed an inappropriate preference for declaring the city "Bible-based," and she urged the commission to represent citizens of many faiths and none. Hough also criticized the mayor’s decision to overturn the planning commission’s recommendation on a preliminary site plan, saying developers deserve clarity and that local decisions that appear to limit development risk inviting state-level preemption.
"When the mayor of the city says in his blog ... that we basically need to be a Bible-based city, I have a problem with that because you represent all of the citizens," Hough said during public comment. She added that overturning the planning commission on the Brookwood plan was "laughable" and risked pushing state legislators toward taking away local control.
Other speakers likewise praised recent commission oversight of the Brookwood North development and asked that developers comply with the city code and respect neighborhood character. Several commenters urged the commission to maintain open forums and criticized the tone of recent meetings, with one resident urging commissioners to "look inward" at how they run meetings rather than accuse others.
There were no formal motions or corrective actions taken in response to the public comments during the workshop; commissioners acknowledged the remarks and moved to the advertised workshop on agenda-format and procedural changes.
