PARK TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A judge dismissed a lawsuit between Park Township and short-term rental owners on Thursday, allowing the township's ban on STRs in residential areas to be enforced.
In his opinion, Judge Jon Hulsing said Ottawa County Circuit Court had no jurisdiction over the case because "the entire posture" of it had changed.
While short-term rental owners, represented by nonprofit Park Township Neighbors, had alleged that Park Township improperly amended its ordinances in 2022 and 2023, the township amended them again in March 2024. This time, according to Judge Hulsing, the amendments were "properly" passed. Due to the new development, the court therefore lacked "subject matter jurisdiction" over the case.
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"In reality, there is no longer a legally recognized dispute before the court," Judge Hulsing said, dismissing the preliminary injunction he had placed on enforcement of the ban.
"This decision protects the family-friendly, residential character of our neighborhoods," Park Township Manager Howard Fink said in a statement released to FOX 17.
Now, short-term rental owners must plead their case to the Park Township Zoning Board of Appeals, as a means of "exhausting [their] administrative remedies" before they can return to court.
"The decision was a bit expected but it was still disappointing," said Jeremy Allen, president of Park Township Neighbors. "The judge's opinion is right and I respect it."
Allen and others who operated STRs in Park Township before March 2024 will now seek non-conforming status from the township, allowing them to be grandfathered in.
"If the Zoning Board of Appeals says no, then the next step is to take the township to court," Allen said. "Then we might end up back in the very same courtroom."
