Harbor Springs council asks staff to draft broad letter defending local zoning against state bills

Harbor Springs ' The Harbor Springs City Council voted to ask the acting city manager and city attorney to draft a broad letter to the Michigan Legislature affirming that zoning decisions should remain local and summarizing the city's recent local zoning work.

The motion, offered by Council Member Graves and seconded by Council Member Benjamin, followed public comments from planning commission chair Bob Buckner, who urged the council to oppose a package of state house bills he said would "undermine years worth of efforts by the planning commission" and local collaboration on the 2025 zoning ordinance. "Many of the suggestions that are being contemplated in legislative bill package HB 5529, 5530, 5531, and 5532 were the source of great divisiveness in Harbor Springs," Buckner told the council.

Buckner enumerated provisions he said were in the bills and that had caused local controversy: permitting duplexes by right in any residential district, mandating accessory dwelling units, uniform reduced setbacks and small minimum-lot-area requirements. He said the local 2025 ordinance resulted from 18 months of work with year-round and seasonal residents and the planning commission, and warned that statewide mandates would be difficult to reverse.

Resident Yoran Veld read a response from State Representative John DeMause saying he "absolutely unequivocally oppose[s] these bills" and would plan to vote no if the package reached the Senate, remarks the speaker encouraged the town to share widely.

Council members debated whether a council-signed letter or individual constituent letters would be most persuasive. Several council members said they would prefer a broad statement affirming the local process and asking the legislature to respect municipal zoning decisions, with the council reviewing the draft before any signatures.

The motion directed Acting City Manager Kyle Knight and City Attorney Jill Raemer to prepare a draft broad statement for return to council. The council requested that the draft avoid presuming specific outcomes of bills and focus on the city's process and reliance on local planning expertise. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.

The council did not adopt a final substantive position on each bill at the meeting; it asked staff to return a draft for review at a future meeting so council members could decide whether to sign as a body or submit individual letters.

Next steps: staff will circulate a draft letter to council before the next meeting; council members requested time to review the wording and asked that the letter remain broad and focused on local zoning authority.