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Residents press Town of Holland over whether American Orthodontics stays constitute commercial use
Summary
Residents urged the Town of Holland Board to clarify whether a new dwelling at N2047 Pine Beach Road South, used by American Orthodontics guests, is a commercial operation that violates R‑1 zoning. Chair David Huenink said town and AO attorneys view the operation as residential but the public pressed for clearer code enforcement and possible ordinance changes.
Residents at the Aug. 12 Town of Holland Board meeting pressed supervisors to decide whether a newly built dwelling at N2047 Pine Beach Road South is being used as a corporate guest house tied to American Orthodontics (AO) rather than a single‑family residence.
David Valenti told the board he and other citizens have attended multiple meetings seeking a definitive answer and said, "To say that the proposed use isn’t a commercial or business use is a total stretch," urging the town to enforce R‑1 zoning. Other neighbors raised concerns about the house’s size, parking impacts for adjacent properties and the absence of a family living on site.
Chair David Huenink summarized the town’s review of the building plans and on‑site measurements, saying the plans show a combined layout of roughly nine bedrooms with multiple baths and living/kitchen seating counts; he reported his own laser measurements of the building height were about "28' to 29'" and therefore under the 35‑foot R‑1 height limit. Huenink said the town and AO held a conference call with counsel; he reported that both the town attorney and AO’s attorney told the town they consider the properties' use to be residential under current code.
Huenink also said he checked AODestinations.com and that Wisconsin properties no longer require a factory tour for stays, and that some AO materials describe optional tours and reward‑point programs for some properties. Quoting the website as he read it during the meeting, Huenink said AO's posted language described "Optional Plant Tours are available to our guests" and noted the Wisconsin properties were described as "no point program" in a public test described to the board.
Board members discussed enforcement options and the procedural path forward. Huenink noted that the board could amend the town code to list specific commercial or tourist uses as conditional uses in R‑1 and then consider conditional use permits with site‑specific conditions; absent that, he said the town had relied on legal interpretation provided by its attorney. Huenink told the public the town had provided additional information to its attorney and will decide on a course of action "based on a final legal opinion it trusts."
Public commenters pushed the board for a stronger position. Jeremy Williams framed the issue as a matter of principle and urged the board to "be human beings" and seek a win for residents rather than retreat to purely legalistic defenses.
What happens next: the board did not adopt new code language or a conditional use permit at the Aug. 12 meeting. Chair Huenink said the town has compiled additional documents and will rely on its attorney’s final legal opinion before determining whether to pursue code amendments or other enforcement measures.
