Letter to the Editor: Pleasant Lake property owners seek representation on planning commission

Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017

To the Editor;

In December we attended the regional water protection and safety conference at Freedom Township hall and were pleased to see the significant turnout, including most of our township officials and those from several other townships and the county. We also attended the December 13th township Board meeting and witnessed a series of discussions that started with resistance to accepting anyone new on the 5-member Planning Commission (PC), to an understanding of the benefits of having more township representation and expertise (including an engineer), to a vote resulting in the expansion of the Freedom Township Planning Commission to seven members. Progress at last, we thought!

We just learned, however, that the Freedom Township Board may now be attempting to reverse its December 13th decision. Why do that? We are shocked and disappointed – for Freedom Township, Pleasant Lake and the message this would deliver to all township residents. As recently as 2011 the Planning Commission consisted of seven members. Having expanded representation on the Planning Commission is a reasonable request, especially since it allows more segments of the Freedom Township community to participate, don’t you think?

We have been Pleasant Lake residents for 15 years, and Stan has been a member of the Pleasant Lake Property Owners Association (PLPOA) Board member for most of that time. Pleasant Lake has been highlighted as a centerpiece of Freedom Township in the Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance.

Lake District residents comprise nearly 30% of residences in Freedom Township, yet we still have no representation on the Planning Commission. Oh, wait – we forgot. We learned at the December 13th Board meeting that one PC member’s family does own property on Pleasant Lake, zoned Agricultural. Yet in recent years, the new zoning ordinance lacked critical keyhole lake protections, and waterfront fence zoning did not reflect resident preferences or view preservation, and public boat launch restrictions were not defined, and a Planning Commission effort ensued to reduce waterfront setbacks to 25-feet when the regional, state and national trend is quite the opposite. Yes, those problems were eventually resolved but not without considerable lake resident efforts. That’s been our experience for all the time we have lived here – it’s always a fight to get proper Pleasant Lake protections and never could we get fair representation.

We were finally starting to feel more optimistic with the positive votes at the December 13th Board meeting. There were tough but good discussions; the Board understood resident concerns about the need for fair representation and addressed those concerns. The Board did the right thing by expanding the Planning Commission to seven members. There is no valid basis for reversing that decision and returning to five members. The cost of adding two highly qualified Planning Commission members is minimal, especially compared to the thousands and thousands of dollars the township has spent on resident disputes in past two years with the fence issue, Elmdale situation and other problems. We urge the Freedom Township Board to do the right thing and honor its December 13th vote to expand the Planning Commission to seven members and listen to the residents who voted them into office and fund their salaries and operations.

Sincerely,

Stan and Helen Parker, Pleasant Lake Homeowners

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.