City Council votes “no” on 120 Baseline rezoning

By James Windell

After more than a year of controversy, debate, protests, claims and counterclaims, the South Haven City Council finally voted on whether or not to rezone the property known as 120 Baseline.
The City Council chamber was packed with people – a majority of whom were vehemently opposed to rezoning the property – at the regular City Council meeting on September 8, 2026. The crowd, at times raucous and out of order, basically dominated the Public Comments portion by voicing their opposition to the rezoning request.
The last major item on the council’s agenda was for the council to make a decision: Would they overrule the City’s Planning Commission and approve an ordinance to conditionally rezone the parcel commonly known as 120 Baseline Road from RM-1 Multiple-Family Residential to MHC Manufactured Housing Community?
Hotly debated for months, residents in the area have been protesting this request for rezoning the property. At every Planning Commission, Committee of the Whole, or City Council meeting when this issue was on the agenda, dozens of people showed up to protest the development of this property with manufactured housing.
That was the case at the September 8 City Council meeting. More than 20 people, many of whom were regulars expressing their concerns about a manufactured housing community, made their way to the podium to speak. No one, during the Public Comments part of the meeting, indicated support for the rezoning ordinance.
However, when the item was finally addressed later in the evening, Emily Palacios, an attorney representing Countryside Estates, LLC, Eric Rothner’s company, was given 10 minutes to speak in support of the ordinance.
“I’d like to start out by pointing out that the applicant here is not a nameless developer,” Palacios said. “It is Mr. Eric Rothner. He is sitting in the audience this evening. Mr. Rothner and his family have been participating in the South Haven community since 1947. He is not new to this community, and he is not a developer who comes in without experience in the community and without great devotion to the community. In addition to his ongoing involvement in this community, he’s been a dedicated and active member of the South Haven Jewish Community for all of those years, and that is a very significant component of the basis for this request that is before you this evening. It is his vision to see this property developed in such a way that supports the continuation of the local synagogue, and that is something that’s very dear and important to him.”
She went on to say that they disagree with the Planning Commission’s finding that the development would not be consistent with recent development trends. “The Planning Commission mistakenly focused on the type of recent construction contrasting manufactured housing units from traditional stick-built homes in the area,” Palacious said. “We don’t believe that that is what the consistent with recent development trends factor is intended to consider, a difference between manufactured and stick-built. What we believe it is intended to reflect is land use development patterns.”
After Palacious’ statement, Mayor Brown asked for a motion regarding the rezoning request. After a motion was made and seconded, Brown asked that each Council member indicate how they planned to vote and the reasons why they were voting that way.
Councilman David Flack was the first to indicate his vote.
“It is a noble aspiration, I think, to create a development that supports your community, and we do need housing in South Haven,” he said. “That said, I do agree with the Planning Commission and their interpretation of the five criteria, that the applicant’s attorney just reviewed. And I do agree with their view of not agreeing to a zoning change in this case.”
Other City Council members gave their rationale for voting against the rezoning. The last to speak was Mayor Brown.
“I’m going to be voting in favor of this,” she began, “because it brings a type of housing. And when you have housing, it’s bringing people to South Haven. And when you bring people to South Haven, they’re bringing their talents, their great ideas, their backgrounds in manufacturing and engineering, and education and healthcare. So, I see this as a good thing for South Haven. I respect what the Planning Commission did, but sometimes we don’t always agree, so I will be voting yes.”
After her short speech, Mayor Brown called for a roll-call vote.
The votes were six opposed to rezoning and one vote – by Mayor Brown – in favor. The request to rezone 120 Baseline was officially defeated. This brought applause from the partisan crowd. And the meeting was soon adjourned.
As everyone filed out of the City Council Chambers, Eric Rothner, his attorney, and Dave Wiatrowski, who has represented Rothner in various meetings, were left in the room quietly talking to each.
“You want to know what I’m going to do next?” Rothner said. “I’m going to do this.”
Asked what he meant, he replied: “There’s never a question in your mind, and that’s all I can tell you.”
Then he added, “And I’ll keep a secret of my second thoughts.”
Rothner and his representative were asked for a more formal statement regarding their plans related to the future development of 120 Baseline.
“Mr. Rothner is disappointed with the outcome and is evaluating his options for moving forward with the project and he is committed to seeing it to fruition,” Wiatrowski said. “This project is very special to him. The opposition feels they have won a decisive victory, but they should beware of what could take its place if a middle ground cannot be found.”