By James Windell
A special meeting of the South Haven City Council was called on Thursday, January 16, 2025, with just two items on the agenda. That limited agenda seemed to promise that the meeting would be brief and uneventful.
However, since a proposal related to an amended Short Term Rentals (STR) ordinance was on the agenda, it turned out to be a meeting that was anything but short and sweet.
The first item on the agenda was a motion for the City Council to go into a closed session to discuss “land use matters” with the City Attorney. After passage of this motion, the mayor, City Council and City Attorney left the council chambers to hold the meeting. Following this 50-minute closed meeting, the mayor asked for public comments. All of the comments from citizens related to STRs and featured both positive and negative comments about the proposed amendment to the STR zoning ordinance.
The second item on the agenda was to consider scheduling a public hearing on the STR zoning ordinance, as early as January 21. That did not proceed quite as planned.
As indicated by the public comments regarding the STR ordinance, the amended ordinance generated considerable discussion. While there seemed to be general support for the ordinance among the citizens who addressed the council, it was also apparent that the prevailing viewpoint was that the ordinance needed revisions. As Bishop Joe Wilkins noted in his public comments, while the ordinance was a good start, “It falls short and needs tweaking.”
The ensuing discussion by the City Council became acrimonious and the flaws pointed out by Wilkins and other citizens short-circuited the plans for a public hearing on January 21. Instead, after the intense, conflict-laden discussion, the Council agreed to refer the amended zoning ordinance to a small working group to hammer out some troublesome areas and come back with a less flawed ordinance.
Among the issues that the City Council directed the working group to address were: 1) capping the number of STRs that would be approved; 2) parking problems; and 3) ensuring occupancy is done safely.
As decided by the council, the working group will consist of two City Council members, the mayor, the City Attorney and certain city staff. The council stipulated that the revised STR zoning ordinance should be returned within four weeks. The amended ordinance can be found on the City of South Haven website under agenda packets.
