Here’s a big “Thank You!” from our Zoning Guru, Rodney Nanney, to Shelley Tucker and the Michigan Townships Association for hosting such a great series of “Summer Evening” planning/zoning workshops across the state!

All four sessions were well attended, and all four venues were top notch. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to present our “Nine Golden Rules for Defensible Decision-making” workshop, and to have a few extra minutes to talk about what Planning Commissions should be doing right now during this period of very tight budgets and little development activity.

If you would like to invite Building Place Consultants and Rodney Nanney out to make a presentation to your community group, check out our Speaking Opportunities page or click here to contact Rodney directly.

2010 Michigan Townships Association Educational Conference Session

Thank you to everyone who attended our recent session on regulating small wind turbines at the recent Michigan Townships Association conference in Grand Rapids. Click here to view our PowerPoint presentation, and to download the handout materials. Click here to contact Mr. Nanney directly with any additional questions.

“What do Planners do?”

The Zoning Guru has been asked variations of this same question many times.

Urban Designer… Developer… Zoning Officer… Master Planner… Planning Commissioner… Elected Official… Grant Administrator… Advocate the public interest… Department Manager… Consultant… Teacher… Coordinator… Downtown Redevelopment Specialist… etc., etc.

Planners wear many hats, and specialize in many areas of community building. Here is The Zoning Guru’s first attempt at…

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Welcome to our new Building Place Notebook readers from Planetizen.com!

We at Building Place are celebrating a couple of milestones that made us smile this week, thanks to our readers:  Our Building Place Notebook online newsletter received its…
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The following case summary was adapted from one prepared by Kurt Schindler at MSU-Extension; excerpts reprinted with permission from the author. The Zoning Guru chose this case because it answers the $Million question elected officials face when confronted with a development-related lawsuit:

“Do we defend our master plan?“

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The term ‘spot zoning’ does not appear in the compiled laws of the State of Michigan, and is rarely mentioned in local zoning ordinances.  Spot zoning is a legal concept determined by judges or juries ruling on individual cases, so the meaning and interpretation of the concept can vary considerably from place to place.

Justice Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court

The most common response I’ve heard to the question “What is spot zoning?” is an echo of Justice Potter Stewart’s quote about pornography:  “I can’t tell you exactly what spot zoning is, but I know it when I see it.”

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Ask The Zoning Guru

• A planning commissioner with a burning question about your zoning ordinance?
  
• A zoning board of appeals member wrestling with a difficult decision on a variance petition?
  
• …or are you just looking for a clear answer to your zoning conundrum?
  

You’ve come to the right place. The Zoning Guru is here to help.

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For many living in Michigan, Thursday, August 14, 2003 was the day we truly experienced the “inky blackness” of a night without artificial outdoor lighting - as the Great Northeast Power Blackout of 2003 left parts of the northeastern United States in the dark for a day or more.

The Zoning Guru was one of those people who learned that week how much we rely on artificial light at night.  We also got a brief glimpse of many stars that we no longer see in the night sky due to light pollution from parking lot lighting and other exterior light sources.

Exterior lighting serves a wide variety of purposes, including:

• attracting attention (advertising),
• entertainment,
• aesthetics (such as landscape or architectural lighting),
• safety and security,
• warnings of danger, and
• illuminating our paths.

When overused or poorly shielded, however, such lighting dominates the night sky, blotting out the starts and leaving the characteristically orange glow of light pollution over urban areas.

Can we do anything about light pollution? …absolutely.  Do we need to cut the power again? No, but we do need to make smarter and more efficient decisions with regards to our exterior lighting choices if we want to restore the night sky in our urban and suburban neighborhoods… (more on this and an upcoming free lighting presentation on March 10th below)

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Three types of land divisions are permitted under Michigan law:

Land developers “created” the most recent type of land division using Michigan’s Condominium Act (Public Act 59 of 1978, as amended) to establish a popular form of development known as:

1.  Site condominiums.

In addition, the Land Division Act  (Public Act 288 of 1967, as amended) allows two more “traditional” types of land divisions:

2. Subdivision plats; and

3.  Metes and bounds or “unplatted” lot splits.

This article will focus on metes and bounds land division, which is a method of describing land using:

• references to the Michigan township and range system and county division;
• local geographic characteristics;
• a point of beginning (and ending) of the legal description, which must “close” to form a polygon;
• directions of bearing (compass directions and degrees);
• distance measurements along parcel boundaries; and
• land area enclosed by the legal description.

This is the basis for many rural legal descriptions of property, which may look something like this: (more…)

A popular form of land division in Michigan.

Metes and bounds lot split applications have become much more common, especially since 1997 when significant amendments to the Land Division Act were enacted into law.  Metes and bounds lot splits are an attractive option for some landowners, primarily because of the relatively low cost to divide the land (in comparison to subdivision plats or site condominium developments).

The Land Division Act indicates that… (more…)

So, you’re a planning commissioner and the worst has happened…

Some applicant for approval of a (probably controversial) site plan or special-conditional use or planned unit development or rezoning doesn’t appreciate the commission’s decision and has filed a lawsuit against the town, the planning commission, and you personally.

The Zoning Guru is sorry to say that it is true - a planning commissioner may be named as a defendant in land use or development litigation against a community if the individual participated in the decision-making process.  Now before all of our citizen-volunteers reading this dash off to pen their resignation letters, please read on…

It is extremely rare that personal liability is imposed, as it must first be proven that the planning commissioner acted maliciously or was grossly negligent.  Otherwise, the commissioner should be dismissed from such cases on the grounds of governmental immunity.

The Zoning Guru recommends that planning commissioners always follow the Nine Golden Rules of Defensible Land-Use Decision-Making…

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UPDATE: Thank you to all that attended our recent conference session entitled “Brevity or Ambiguity: What’s in Your Zoning Ordinance?” Click here for the PowerPoint presentation and links to more information.

ORIGINAL POST:

“Brevity” and “clarity” are not words that leap to mind when referring to the character of most zoning ordinance language.  Local zoning ordinances have a broad impact on residents, property owners and business owners.   Too often the text of such ordinances, having accumulated years of amendments, has become ambiguous and unintelligible.  Clear, brief, and unambiguous writing is a key to developing a zoning ordinance that is easy to understand, administrate and enforce.

State-of-the-art zoning regulations must be well organized and easily understood by those who do not possess advanced degrees in either law or community planning.  Here are the top ten ways for planning commissioners and elected officials to apply the principles of brevity and clarity to a zoning ordinance:

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Ask The Zoning Guru

You’ve come to the right place.  The Zoning Guru is here to help.

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