Oakland Township Board of Trustees Tables Controversial Ordinances

The Oakland Township Board of Trustees has tabled the proposed revised Zoning Ordinance No. 16, Nuisance Ordinance No. 102 and Performance Standards Ordinance No. 103 after almost from residents who felt the proposed ordinances restricted many of their rights as property owners and residents.

The ordinances were developed to replace or update existing aging ordinances, including the 30-year-old zoning ordinance, but many of the changes and additions to the ordinances rubbed residents the wrong way.

Some of those changes include clearly defining and limiting the number of animals residents could have on their property, limiting the number of accessory buildings to just one per five acres, placing restrictions on home businesses, detailing how and where brush must be disposed of and restricting where and how firewood may be stacked outdoors.

All three ordinances are attached to this story.

Township residents have spoken out against the ordinances at several Board of Trustees meetings in the past two months, regardless of whether the ordinances were on the meeting agenda or not.

"There are more restrictions, and that's a concern," said Oakland Township resident and attorney Joseph Langlois, whose public comment drew applause from a packed audience at the Feb. 8 public hearing for proposed Zoning Ordinance No. 16.

"If they're not a reaction to a problem, why are you restricting our rights? That's a concern," Langlois told the board.

"It is shocking to see the extent to which the township is willing to go to take control of your property rights," Oakland Township resident Jayson Corey wrote in a letter to the editor of Oakland Township Patch this month.

Oakland Township resident Jeff Fosnaugh commented that he thought the proposed ordinances would "basically make all of Oakland Township as orderly and uniform as a subdivision" and that the result would be "heaven according to some (and) hell to others."

It was due to this public outcry that the Board of Trustees chose to table the ordinances at its March 22 meeting.

The board members "indicated that they would not be acting on 102 and 103 and would maintain the status quo," leaving the current ordinances in place "until the board chooses to take up the subject again," read the minutes from Tuesday's meeting.

As for the revised Zoning Ordinance No. 16, it will likely remain in limbo until 2012, when it would be passed back to the Planning Commission for "further public input."

Opponents of the revised and proposed ordinances are applauding the board's decision to table the ordinances for now.

"This will allow time for interested residents to gather their concerns and present them to the board in a coherent and organized fashion," wrote Corey in another letter to the editor after the March 22 board meeting.

"Praises to the Oakland Township Board of Trustees for doing the right thing."