By James Windell
A day before the South Haven City Council’s Committee of the Whole planned to meet, an email was received by the South Haven Beacon and certain city officials.
Sent by Ann Pantalone and Dan O’Donnell, residents at 77 North Shore Drive, South Haven, the email purported to provide factual information about the unpaid taxes on Eric Rothner’s properties in South Haven.
The major item on the Committee of the Whole’s (COW) agenda for Monday, August 3, 2026, was a discussion of the 120 Baseline conditional rezoning application.
What seemed clear in the Pantalone and O’Donnell email was their attempt to show that Rothner has a history of paying property taxes late and “in many instances, not paying the full amount assessed.” The email stated that “From the summer of 2022 through the summer of 2025, Mr. Rothner paid $77,937.93 in taxes, while an astounding $228,793.91 appears to have been removed from the amount originally due, forgiven, or otherwise accounted for differently.”
The email concluded by saying: “We are also asking that you do not rezone 120 Baseline and loose oversight of this delinquent tax payer.”
However, soon after that email was sent out, another email was posted. This one came from South Haven City Manager Kate Hosier.
In her email, Hosier wrote that “We have checked the Van Buren BS&A Online site for 120 Baseline and it shows that the property taxes have been paid through the 2025 taxes as of 3/30/26. Since 2022, he has paid $343,676.87 in taxes.”
The BS&A online site is the official online portal for accessing property tax, assessment, and delinquent tax records for Van Buren County.
When the 120 Baseline rezoning application came up for discussion shortly after the beginning of the COW meeting at 5:30 pm that same day, City Council members reviewed some of the major arguments previously given to deny the rezoning request.
Councilman Tom Capps led off the discussion by doing a brief recap of the issue.
“One, we know it’s a very tough issue,” Capps said. “Both sides think that they are very correct in their opinions. I should say, I think that this is a project they can probably do without a change. I hear that a lot of the people at 777 North Shore Drive aren’t opposed to the project. They’re just opposed to making a manufactured housing development…They’re not opposed to the houses themselves; they are opposed to losing control.”
Council member Dave Flack then followed with a lengthy statement offering his thinking on the issue.
“Tom, I agree with you,” Flack began. “I think it’s great to have a development. New homes in this town are very much needed, so having a development is urgent. But, that can be done in a number of ways…It could be done under current zoning via a PUD is my understanding.
“It’s clear that the Planning Commission weighed in and went through their five criteria and determined that it shouldn’t be rezoned. I’m sure like us, they are in favor of housing development, but they don’t want the property to be rezoned. They want the property to remain current zoning and have a PUD to make the same development on the lot.”
During the discussion during the next 45 minutes, all of the council members chimed in with their opinions. One of the points made by more than one council member was that the Master Plan would like to see housing on the property. However, it was stated that perhaps the Master Plan was more in favor of workforce housing – rather than $500,000 manufactured homes, which as one council stated is “out of the price range of a single person making
$52,000 to $79,000 or a four-person family making $75,000 to $113,000.”
As the discussion wound down, council members agreed they had talked about it enough and that the rezoning application should go on a future City Council agenda and that a public hearing would have to be scheduled before a final vote by the council. The matter will be on a future City Council agenda.
