By James Windell
If it wasn’t evident before, now there is no doubt about it. This was made clear at the last South Haven Planning Commission meeting. There is a groundswell of opposition to the proposed manufactured housing community at 120 Baseline Road on the north side of South Haven.
Residents in the vicinity of 120 Baseline, which is near the corner of North Shore Drive and Baseline Road have been speaking out at South Haven City Commission meetings and at the South Haven Planning Commission meetings for several weeks. However, at the November 6, 2025, Planning Commission meeting, the voices of those who are against the development, which would require both the Planning Commission and the City Council to approve a change in zoning on the parcel of land, reached a crescendo.
Planning Commission Chair Bob Sherman reported on approximately 100 emails and letters that were sent to the City and the Planning Commission. In addition, several leaders of the organized opposition, leaders who indicate they represent many other citizens, spoke out during the public comments portion of the meeting.
The themes voiced by those who do not want to see a manufactured home community built on the 120 Baseline property were stated repeatedly through emails and the public statements of individuals who spoke to the Planning Commission. They say that a manufactured home community will:
Not be consistent with the other houses in the area;
Cause fewer taxes to be paid to the City and the South Haven School District;
Not be under control of the City of South Haven, but will, because it is a manufactured home community, be shifted to the Michigan Manufactured Housing Commission;
Be a seasonal rental community and, thus, will not contribute to increase the number of affordable houses needed in South Haven;
Over burden the infrastructure available to handle water, electricity and sewer services.
The leaders of the opposition include Mike and Gwen Kline, Jim Wettlaufer, Rick and Diana Flemming.
“A mobile home park is inconsistent with the City’s Master Plan, “Mike Klein said as the first speaker during the public hearing on the 120 Baseline development project at the November 6, 2025, Planning Commission meeting. “While the developer claims that these are detached, single-family homes that is simply not true.”
His wife, Gwen, said at the same meeting that she had a concern that the public meeting was being rescheduled since the developers and applicants for the rezoning request could not attend the November 6 hearing. Referring to Mary Hosley, the representative from the City Council to the Planning Commission, as having to be recused on any discussion or voting related to the 120 Baseline rezoning request, Kline said the residents in Ward 3 are placed at a disadvantage. “We have no voice,” she said, “and we are the ones who are going to be most affected.”
She also said that a manufactured home community would not be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
Jim Wettlaufer, who speaks frequently at City Council and Planning Commission meetings, told the commission that “We are all concerned about a zoning change. The property should remain as RM1.”
The property at 120 Baseline Road, which once housed a nursing home, had been vacant for several years prior to its purchase a few years ago by a group that has proposed to build a manufactured home community of 24 single-family homes. The property is presently zoned RM1, which stands for a Residential Multiple-Family district and means the property is designated for multiple-family dwellings. This zoning classification allows for housing developments with more than one unit, distinguishing it from single-family or lower-density residential zones. In order to build a manufactured home community, the property would have to be rezoned to allow such buildings.
In material prepared by those opposed to rezoning to allow a manufactured home community, Rick and Diana Fleming have expressed their concerns about allowing a manufactured home community on the north side of South Haven.
“Why do private equity forms love Michigan?” Rick Fleming has written and stated publicly in meetings. “It’s because we have an industry-controlled manufactured housing commission that perpetuates a lax regulatory environment, and operates under 1987 laws.”
Flemming’s concerns are that a privately owned manufactured home community would not maintain the property, and that when they raise lot rents and the cost of services most residents would not be able to afford the prohibitive costs of relocating their manufactured homes.
The Planning Commission is well aware of the concerns raised by residents because of the number of speakers at City Council and Planning Commission meetings. The Planning Commission will decide at a future meeting whether they will recommend rezoning the 120 Baseline property.
