The Cleveland Township Board appeared to be getting ready to pass a new short-term rental (STR) ordinance at its May monthly meeting.
That was until a woman identifying herself as Katy Bertodatto, vice president of the Michigan Short-Term Rental Association, alerted the board of a new effort in Lansing to pass a “short-term rental regulation act,” which caused the board to postpone action.
This isn’t the first time that the Michigan House of Representatives has discussed statewide STR legislation. Back in 2021, the House passed a bill that sought to prohibit some regulations on STRs, but it did not pass the Senate and was never enacted into law.
In mid-April, however, the House had several hearings on a new bill regulating STRs. According to the Michigan Municipal League, the bill would create a statewide STR database and impose a new excise tax of 6% of the occupancy charge.
If this bill gets passed, it could make parts of the proposed Cleveland Township ordinance redundant. Specifically, Bertodatto raised concerns about the proposed statewide database “duplicating” the work that would be done in Cleveland Township by the software company Granicus, which the township planned to contract to monitor STR listings in the area.
“In light of action in Lansing … it would behoove the township to get some further definition on state action,” Supervisor Tim Stein said. “Seeing as we already made the decision at our April meeting that we would not be enforcing (this ordinance) until Jan. 1 anyways, there is no rush, and we can put it on hold and make it a future agenda item.”
Stein said he will start providing the township board with updates on news coming out of Lansing about this bill at their regular board meetings, which are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.
Word about the legislation in Lansing also served to calm the waters at the meeting, as the public hearing on the ordinance was getting heated. The proposed ordinance would have cracked down on STRs in agriculturally and residentially zoned districts in the township, limiting the number of rentals and requiring property owners to pay a fee to get the proper permits.
Some property owners at the meeting appeared to view this as a change from the status quo, but Stein insisted that STRs were never allowed in these districts and the township has simply been “turning a blind eye” on them. When asked why they were considering an ordinance now, Stein said it was because the number of STRs in the area became excessive during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We felt we could self-medicate. We didn’t think we really had the problem that some of the other big townships in the area had. Then COVID came, and all of a sudden, we have a lot of short-term rentals in Cleveland township,” Township Supervisor Tim Stein said.
At the May regular meeting, Stein said there are currently 96 STRs in Cleveland Township, and 32 of them are in residentially or agriculturally zoned districts.
In other business during the May 14 meeting the board signed an agreement with the County Road Commission for work on Little Traverse Lake Road, with the township shouldering most of the cost with a $188,476 contribution.
The remaining 40% of the $314,127 estimated costs will be covered by the road commission.
