With the Leelanau County Planning Commission review of Leelanau Township’s farm stay campground amendment now completed, the documents will head to Leelanau Township for its board to examine at its October regular meeting for a final decision.
Although Northport residents and Hallstedt Homestead owners Phil and Sarah Hallstedt originally introduced the farm stay concept years ago to the township, they submitted an application and proposed language earlier this year for a zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow “farm stay campsites” as part of a new agrotourism section of the zoning ordinance.
A public hearing regarding the proposed language was held after their application submission and was then reviewed by the Leelanau Township planning commission and staff. From the planning commission review, it was determined that farm stay campgrounds “should be a special land use, not a permitted use-by-right,” and soon after, the township, along with a planning consultant, helped to prepare a new draft presented this summer. The second public hearing regarding the amendment was held on Sept. 12 and modeled after the 2022 Leelanau Township Zoning Amendment for Campgrounds in the commercial resort district. From there, the planning commission made minor amendments and revisions, and the amended draft was sent to the county’s planning commission for review where they found it sufficient to pass on.
“After considerable discussion and deliberations on the benefits and potential impacts of Farm Stay Campgrounds, the Leelanau Township Planning Commission developed a zoning ordinance amendment that would allow a farm operation to gain additional revenue from up to four Farm Stay campsites, while establishing a process to review, permit, regulate, and monitor the Farm Stay operation,” said Leelanau Township Zoning Administrator Steve Patmore.
Within the amendment, a farm stay campground is defined as a “small campground that is considered an agritourism accessory use to a primary farming operation on a property or tract in the Agricultural Zoning District, and approved as a special land use.”
The minimum location standards for farm stay campgrounds in the amendment include important points like how the minimum gross parcel or tract size will be set at 30 acres, with the size of the parcel, topography and surrounding land uses being factors in determining if an application qualifies for a special use permit, as well as the number of allowable campsites. It’s also noted, among other standards, that the maximum number of active campsites in a farmstay campground will not exceed three sites for a parcel of 30 acres in size, and four active sites for a 40 acres parcel.
The maximum number of campers on any campsite includes either four adults or two adults and children, while the maximum length of stay for any camper will be three weeks. Quiet hours at the campground will be from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. and must comply with the Leelanau Township Nuisance Ordinance in effect at the time.
To view the complete submission to the Leelanau County Planning Commission, which includes more background information as well as the proposed zoning amendment, go to leelanautownshipmi.gov/meeting- minutes-planning-commission.
Leelanau Township board is set to meet for their next regular meeting on Oct. 8.
