In reading this please be advised that I am not an attorney and am not giving legal advice. If you need legal advice, get advice from an attorney. These are my views as a layman.

(References to our zoning ordinance refers to the proposed revision of Ordinance 16, which had its first reading 12/12/2017. The referenced sections are strengthened versus our current ordinance, to make developments meet more requirements. )

I followed Oakland Township affairs very closely during 2013, 2014 and 2015. I either attended each meeting of Board of Trustees, Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission (except subcommittees) in person or by watching the video or then read the resulting minutes. I then usually attempted to summarize the results in Oakland Township Sentinel. Attempting to summarize forced me to understand more fully what had transpired.

My observation during that time was that issues of Zoning and Planning were the main issues that would bring voters out with “torches and pitchforks” to comment at public meetings. The predominant sentiment was usually “I don’t want this housing development, high-density housing, gas station, parking lot for a park, etc. near me, please stop it altogether!”

One resident has suggested that all the Board has to do is declare an indefinite “moratorium” on development.

The problem is that stopping a development altogether is not an option if the request fits our zoning ordinance.  

However,

If the development proposal requires rezoning, voter opinion against the re-zoning can stop it, or a prompt voter referendum initiated by voters can reverse the decision of our Board. However the Township can still be beaten in court by a developer willing to spend big lawyer $$ on variety of arguments and depends on a judge’s views of law and fairness and the Board’s views on the possible financial exposure of resistance (consider Novi’s recent $40,000,000 lawsuit judgment).

If the development proposal requires approval of a special land use listed in 16-500 to 16-528 of our zoning ordinance, residents can and should assist our Planning Commission by providing convincing arguments why the request for special land use does not meet the criteria in our zoning ordinance in section 16-502 “Special Use Review Standards” so the request for special use can be rejected.

 

If you are serious about being a lay expert, knowledgeable enough to evaluate our Board decisions about Zoning and Planning, the education steps in order in my view are:

 

Read Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (link on this site)

Read Michigan Planning Enabling Act (link on this site)

Read our Oakland Township Ordinance 16 (link on this site)

(You don’t need to read every word, but get an idea of what is in it.)

Oakland Township Master Land Use Plan (link on this site)

 

Read Michigan Planning and Zoning and Land-Use ($145 – hardcover, $135 for one year on-line) by ICLE http://www.icle.org/Modules/Store/Books/book.aspx?Product_CODE=2008557140

You can get this at the library via Melcat, but often only very old editions are available. (Again, you don’t need to read every word, but get an idea of what is in it.)

 

 

Now you have a list of questions that can be answered at this excellent $275 Citizen Planner course

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/program/info/michigan_citizen_planner