The Chikaming Township Board of Trustees is drafting a new ordinance to govern short-term rental housing in the community.
Supervisor David Bunte tells us the board met last week to discuss the results of a short-term rental study completed by a committee tasked with making recommendations. He says the committee heard plenty from residents across several meetings.
“And the committee put together the ordinance recommendations based on all of their findings, all the data generated, all the hundreds of emails and commentary we had gotten from the public and presented that to the board, and then we reviewed that at our meeting last Thursday on the 5th, section by section, and came to consensus on each section,” Bunte said. “We are in the process of revising that, and then that will be presented as a revised ordinance proposal to the board at a special meeting this Thursday at 5 o ‘clock in our fire station.”
Bunte says there’s a broad range of opinions that have been expressed by residents as this issue has been explored.
“The majority, I believe, of opinions were for stronger enforcement of current ordinances, noise, parking, things like that. Some in the community would prefer that we put a limit on the number of short-term rentals in township.”
Bunte says the issue is sensitive because there are residents who want to limit STRs and residents who feel the opposite.
The study found short-term rentals account for 13% of the housing in Chikaming Township, or about 520 homes. In 2018, that number was in the low 300s. Bunte says some believe the vacation rentals are contributing to the high cost of housing in the township.
“Housing stock here has gotten to be unaffordable for anyone that would like to live and work in township, especially in the service industry and teacher positions, school positions. Even here at the township through our police and fire departments is trying to get people that can live here and work here has been a challenge.”
Bunte says the township will seek to strike a balance between those who want to encourage short-term rentals and those who are concerned about housing costs, noise, and the character of their communities. It’s an issue that’s been discussed throughout Berrien County.
“Every community on the coast has got their own. I wish there was a one-size-fits-all that you could drop into a community and it works for everybody, but every community is a little different, and you have to look at the nuances of them and try to get the input from the public. You do the best you can possibly do and try to find balance and some type of middle ground.”
Bunte says the fire station is being used for Thursday’s meeting to accommodate all of the people likely to attend. Residents of the township have certainly been engaged throughout these discussions.
“We had approximately 100 for last week’s meeting. We’ve had two prior back in October and then another one in November. The first one was an overflow crowd in our main meeting room, so we scheduled a second in our fire station. And each one of those was well attended, over 100 people. Plus, like I said, we’ve gotten well over 200, probably 250 to 300 comments, emails that have been submitted to the board members and to the township based on differing opinions.”
Chikaming Township’s current STR ordinance was drafted in 2018. Bunte says it was updated a few years ago. Township trustees are now back to the drawing board.
