Vocal locals are revving up their grassroots support of the proposed Timber Shores Family RV Camping & Beach Resort (Timber Shores) near Northport, while the RV park’s opponents say developers should pursue more “visionary plans” for the 213 acres of shoreline property. And now the developer has filed a lawsuit against Leelanau Township and the Leelanau Township Board seeking an end to the current 180-day moratorium on applications for RV parks and campgrounds in the commercial resort zoning district in Leelanau Township.

The suit asks the Leelanau County 13th Circuit Court to remove the moratorium and order the township to move ahead with the Timber Shores special land use application. The suit also seeks an injunction against Leelanau Township Supervisor John Sanders and Township Trustee Georgina Murray, his spouse. The complaint says, as their home borders the Timber Shores property, Sanders and Murray should not be allowed to participate in any township activities regarding Timber Shores, including discussions, deliberations, hearings and votes on the project. 

A full copy of the complaint is available here. 

The litigation attorney for the developer, Brion Doyle of Varnum LLP in Grand Rapids, shares the backstory leading to the suit being filed, citing conflict of interest due to the township supervisor and trustee living next door to Timber Shores: “I asked the township to confirm that they would recuse themselves from any decisions regarding the proposed development going forward.”

He also “provided case law to the township’s attorney demonstrating that the township’s six-month moratorium on applications for development in the commercial resort zoning district is unlawful and void.”

Doyle says he told the township’s attorney that his client was willing to forgo contesting the moratorium if the township would commit to completing its review and any amendment of the zoning ordinance within the existing six-month period and not extend the moratorium and further delay the development process. 

According to Doyle, the township’s attorney responded by indicating that the township believes the moratorium was properly enacted, “and the township would not commit to completing its review and amendment of the existing zoning ordinance within the six-month period. In addition, the township’s attorney did not agree that the supervisor and trustee have a conflict of interest.”

RV parks and campgrounds are currently permitted in Leelanau Township’s commercial resort zoning district, subject to special land use and site plan review and approval. Timber Shores proposes to establish and construct 300+ RV sites and 15 tent sites on West Bay property that was previously an RV park until the late 1980s. After the township attorney and a professional planner reviewed the application submitted by Timber Shores, Leelanau Township Zoning Administrator Steve Patmore says, “They found that it was significantly lacking information that the township needed in order to perform our thorough review.”

Then, on March 17, after a closed session, the Leelanau township board adopted the ordinance to impose a temporary moratorium on RV parks and campgrounds in the commercial resort district.

The developer maintains that the site plan and special land use application was still active, with “the project team 35 days into a 90-day process for adding information to several sections of the application.” But despite what Timber Shores believes to be an active status, its application was included in the moratorium. The suit says the township action violated the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act and the project’s due process rights under the US and Michigan Constitutions.

Township Supervisor John Sanders says he has no comment on the pending litigation, and the township’s legal counsel Robert Thall was not able to be reached for comment.

At the time the moratorium was imposed, Thall shared this rationale: “It has been over 15 years since the Leelanau Township zoning ordinance has been studied with regard to recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds as a special use within the commercial resort district. It would allow the study of the public health, safety, and welfare concerns regarding the special use.”

Meanwhile, the RV park remains a hot button topic in the Northport community: Many who remember the 70s-era Timber Shores wish for a modern revival of the campground and the vacation dollars it brought to the area. Others share concerns over its scale and impact on the watershed and neighboring properties — most visibly via the “Save Our Bay – No RV Park” signs dotting coastal properties from Omena to Northport.

Northport residents and co-owners of North Shore Outfitters, Will Harper and Rachael Dean, tell the Leelanau Ticker they have spearheaded a “Share The Bay” sign campaign in support of the RV park, its verbiage running counter to the “Save Our Bay” signs.

“I don’t understand what we are saving ‘their’ bay from,” Harper says. He calls the sentiment “elitist,” adding, “it backfired in a huge way; they stirred up a lot of resentment in people who have lived here a long time. They are not representing the majority voice.” Harper, who also currently serves on the Northport village council, adds, “I ran to represent the business sector of Northport. I don’t know a single business owner in the village or the township who is against this.”

Dean says she supports “a community effort to work together in the common interest of getting [Timber Shores] off the ground again. Most people who live in Northport want to see Northport thrive, and see more and more businesses in the area.”

She adds, “There are preconceived ideas about what this park is going to look like, profiling of people, and those calling it a ‘trailer park.’”

Harper says he and others are “concerned about the lack of transparency” in the township’s handling of the project. This includes Omena resident Ruth Steele Walker, who is also a local consultant to the Timber Shores development group. She says, “We find it questionable at best that the township alluded to health, safety and welfare in its action but didn’t [publicly] specify any risks.”

She notes there is an “informal” petition circulating among township residents stating support for Timber Shores and demanding that the moratorium “must end after not more than 180 days after adoption and the Leelanau Township planning commission, in that time, shall complete the review process and approve the developer’s application for a special use permit.”

To date it has 90 signatures.

Tom Oehmke, whose property abuts the Timber Shores property, maintains the moratorium was necessary so the “planning commission can stop and take a deep breath and contemplate what we need today…and the next 50 years.” He adds the neighborhood surrounding Timber Shores’ 200+ acres “changed greatly” since it was last an RV park.

“Some of my neighbors are well meaning, thinking back to the halcyon days, but these are different economic times. Year-round and seasonal housing as well as vacation rentals are what the need is. No one is demanding a parking place for their RV.”

He fears the lawsuit filed against the township could “stop the planning commission from reflecting on and making sure there is no negative impact on surrounding neighborhoods.”

Oehmke says, “We purchased 25 years ago. Of the homes in the vicinity, many have been here 25 years or longer. We are all invested in this community.”

He notes “no one wants to stop it from being developed,” adding that he and his neighbors are “hoping for vision like the developers had 20 years ago when they proposed condominiums on that site, development that doesn’t ruin our property values and most of all our quiet enjoyment. I’d like to see something like The Homestead. Reach for the stars; not go back 30 to 50 years.”

As for the planning commission’s part, Zoning Administrator Steve Patmore says, “In this 180-day period, the planning commission is tasked with reviewing and possibly updating the zoning ordinance. Public input will be a critical part of this review process, and our planning consultant is working on possible survey questions to gauge the public’s perception on an RV resort’s impact on the community.”

The survey and input sessions would be conducted over the summer.