Short-term rental meeting is 7 p.m. Wednesday

Laketown Township will begin working on the future of short-term rentals at a special joint meeting of the board of trustees and planning commission at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, at the township hall, 4338 Beeline Road.

“This is the first joint meeting of the planning commission and the board of trustees to review the Laketown Township short-term rental (‘STR’) ordinances and to receive input from residents about STRs,” said Supervisor Steven Ringelberg.

“The first meeting is to come up with a plan to (a) gather feedback from the citizens of Laketown, (b) develop a better understanding of the current STR situation in Laketown, (c) develop a better understating of what other communities are doing, or not doing, to regulate STRs, and (d) review, and if necessary, revise the Laketown STRs,” he said.

Residents are always encouraged to share their thoughts on short-term rentals in writing to the township and can do so at this meeting during the public comment period as well, but the main comment gathering will be during the future meetings.

To join the meeting on Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/4556718351

Meeting ID: 455 671 8351. VIA telephone: (312) 626-6799

To contact the township, call (616) 335-3050 or email office@laketowntwp.org.

Moratorium and history

The township board enacted a six-month moratorium on free-standing short-term rentals effective May 19 in an effort to decrease complaints and preserve housing.

Unlike other types of short-term rentals where the owner lives on the property and complaints from neighbors about noise or disruptive behavior are almost non-existent, the owners of free-standing short-term rentals do not live onsite.  Some owners of such properties do not even live in the township, and they often use an outside property management company.

There is an almost century-long history of short-term rentals in Laketown Township.

“In the early days, the first STRs were lakeshore cottage rentals,” Ringelberg said. “A hundred years ago people learned about the lakeshore cottage rentals by word of mouth, or through advertising in print publications, and because there were no credit cards, such short-term rentals required trust between the owner and short-term renter. These days the bulk of the STRs in Laketown are booked online in an app and paid for with a credit card. Often the owner and the short-term renter never meet.”

In 1955, Laketown adopted its first zoning ordinance, and STRs were not included as a permitted use in any residential zoned area. From 1955 to 2020 the only “legal” STRs where those that were operated as STRs before 1955 and continually used as STRs until 2020.

In 2020, the board of trustees enacted the current Laketown ordinances on STRs. The focus of the board was on guest safety, and the primary goal for the inspections by the Graafschap Fire Department was to ensure adequate egress, fire extinguishers, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

Short-term rentals became “legal” in residential zoning areas if the owner obtained an STR license between 2020 and 2025.

Today, 111 homes are registered and licensed as STRs. About 200 homes in Laketown Township are listed online as STRs. Non-compliance with the ordinance is frequent, Ringelberg said.

The board of trustees in 2020 did not allocate resources for enforcement of the ordinance.

“We rarely receive complaints about STRs that are either attached accessory dwelling units or detached accessory dwelling units. The primary use of those properties is as the owner’s residence,” Ringelberg said. “We do receive complaints from neighbors about free-standing STRs which the owner does not use as a residence. The only use of those free-standing homes is for a commercial purpose not a residential purpose.”

The people who are occupying those homes on a short-term basis are not considered “residents” or “tenants” under Michigan law. They are considered “transients,” and they have no status as a “tenant” or as a “renter,” Ringelberg said.

“The citizens of Laketown Township, who for the most part were not consulted on the 2020 STR ordinances (it was during the initial stage of the Covid pandemic), should have an opportunity to weigh in on whether they like free-standing STRs, or do not like free-standing STRs, and whether they want more or less regulation of STRs,” he said.