PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The partial ban on short-term rentals in Park Township has been temporarily lifted after an Ottawa County judge granted a preliminary injunction.
In the 20th Circuit Court, Judge Jon Hulsing called the Friday afternoon ruling a "huge deal."
"This is not the end of the case," Hulsing said. "This is the beginning of the case, frankly."
The ruling favors the plaintiff, Park Township Neighbors (PTN), a newly-founded nonprofit that sued the township over the ban, which went into effect on October 1 and prohibits short-term rentals in residential areas.
"I didn't expect that," PTN President Jeremy Allen said about the judge's decision. "Incredibly thankful. Surprised. A little bit teary-eyed."
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For the past few months, Allen and his family have been renting out their Park Township property on a "medium-term" basis, though he's seen around a "half a dozen to a dozen" PTN members sell their rentals on account of the ban.
"I'm sad if they had to make that decision," Allen said. "But for the majority of folks who have held on to this point, I think this is a big victory."
While the lawsuit works its way through the judicial system, the preliminary injunction prevents the township from enforcing the ban, at least temporarily allowing rental owners to offer up their second homes on a short-term basis.
"We really need to ascertain and get this right," Judge Hulsing said in his closing comments.
During the hearing, the attorney for Park Township Neighbors argued the township broke the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act, enacting the ban through a regulatory ordinance when it should have been written as a zoning ordinance.
"The township probably pretty quickly realized that its township board cannot just vote to ban a property use," said PTN attorney Kyle Konwinski.
Conversely, the township claimed the ban regulates business, rather than land, and cited its 1974 zoning ordinance which prohibits the building of hotels and motels in residential areas.
"But as soon as somebody who owns a singe-family dwelling in a residential zoning district uses that to rent it out to transient guests, that use is not longer within the definition of a dwelling," said Dan Martin, the attorney for Park Township.
Following an hour of argument, the judge sided with the short-term rental owners, saying the ban "would appear" to be "a zoning-type of ordinance," despite its regulatory classification.
"It's a really big deal to get a preliminary injunction," said Jackie Beck, a short-term rental owner. "I couldn't be happier."
Despite the ban, Beck has continued to rent out her Lake Macatawa-adjacent property on a short-term basis, defying the township's desire.
"I think I do have a strong sense of right and wrong," Beck said. "I wouldn't go out and do something I thought was wrong."
The Park Township resident lives next door to a short-term rental herself and says she has not been cited for breaking township law, though the township has issued at least four infractions since the ban went into effect, according to PTN.
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"I don't believe that short-term rentals are illegal in Park Township. I think they are legal," Beck said, noting that she has not heard any complaints regarding her rental practice. "If there's a question, it should be for the court to decide."
