New Buffalo Township Board approves engaging law firm to begin drafting marijuana ordinance

New Buffalo Times

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New Buffalo Township Board approves engaging law firm to begin drafting marijuana ordinance

Members of the New Buffalo Township Board approved engaging Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith PC to begin drafting a marijuana ordinance at their Monday, Aug. 15, meeting.

In July, there was a joint township board and Planning Commission public hearing with attorney Laura J. Genovich from Foster Swift regarding potentially allowing recreational adult use marijuana establishments in the township.

At their August meeting, planners discussed potentially sending out a survey; however, ultimately, they decided that engaging the attorney was the best way to move forward on the matter.

New Buffalo Township Supervisor Michelle Heit said that this didn’t mean that the township was opting in with regards to allowing the sale of recreational marijuana.

“We thought this was the appropriate way to officially start (the process),” she said.

Board members approved allowing Carts on 12 an extension of one week (Aug. 22) to erect a fence per their SLU.

At their July meeting, board members approved official notice be given to Carts on 12 that their SLU permit may be revoked if a fence made from fencing material comparable to what exists currently is not erected on the northwest side of the property and along the back of the neighboring property to the northwest of the property by Aug. 16, 2022, per conditions of the SLU permit.

After discussion the original motion, which called for allowing the business an extension of three weeks to erect the fence, it was amended to one week.

Heit said that owner Ed Arnold had submitted a letter asking for the extension due to August still being a “very busy month” for them.

She said he mentioned that a metal fence would be erected but she’s not sure what that means, as it could be a chain link fence with slats that one couldn’t see through.

She added that there “could be concerns” with a 12-foot-tall fence that is metal, and she would like to see the material.

Asking why Arnold wasn’t present at the meeting, member Pete Rahm said that the board went through a similar situation with the business regarding an SLU, and that “over and over he got extension after extension.”

“He had a month - if he doesn’t get it done by tomorrow then he closes it down until he gets the fence up and he’ll have to work extra hard to get it up,” Rahm said, adding that he “knew all summer he had to do this.”

Heit said Arnold did pull a permit to erect the fence in March and she doesn’t know why he hasn’t done so.

As a compromise, she said that they could give him the one week, as he said he has the materials to construct it.

Board members approved a Local Revenue Sharing Board loan of $20,000 to the marina fund, which Heit said would be used to make necessary upgrades to the marina. Once payments are paid to the Deputy Fund, the township will reimburse the LRSB fund.

Board members approved the purchase of a truck for the water department not to exceed $40,000. Heit said a truck had been found after that afternoon’s agenda approval that’s roughly $34,000; however, enough money is needed to afford add-ons, such as emergency lighting.

A resolution to receive the grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources that will go toward the Marquette Greenway was adopted.

A private road for a parcel off Glassman Road (owned by James Kucera) per recommendation of the building and zoning administrator, pending road name approval from the county, was approved.

Board members approved payment application #2 to Selge Construction for $131,085 for the Lift Station 51, 52 and 53 project.

The fire cadet application for Audrey Proctor was approved.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

Today is a Life Time. — Dino

(269) 469-4438 212 S. Whittaker St.

(269) 469-4438 212 S. Whittaker St.

Gregory A. Bubb, CIC 269-469-4438

212 S Whittaker St. New Buffalo, MI

Local Government Meetings

New Buffalo Times

Democracy Requires Transparency

CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL LOU O’DONNELL, IV. MARK ROBERTSON, JOHN HUMPHREY, ROGER LIJESKI, BRIAN FLANAGAN City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM

NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD CHUCK HEIT, PRESIDENT HEATHER BLACK, VICE PRESIDENT JOHN HASKINS, TREASURER LISA WERNER, SECRETARY JOYCE LANTZ, TRUSTEE FRANK MARGRO, TRUSTEE PATRICIA NEWSTON, TRUSTEE CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MARY ROBERTSON, CLERK DEBORAH LINDLEY, BLAKE O’HALLORAN, JAMES BRACEWELL, PETER DOERR, PAUL LEONARD, JR. MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM

Mayor disputes claims from detractors

Recall effort fails for now

BY STAN MADDUX

New Buffalo Mayor John Humphrey is taking strong exception to claims by two of his critics will make clear who the real bullies are,” he said. Humphrey also disputed allegations by O’Donnell and Davis that other things like improving the involved in the effort to recall him and City Councilman Brian Flanagan over their support of the cap on short term rentals.

Local realtor Carie O’Donnell called Humphrey “a bully” in an article published by the New Buffalo Times Aug. 11.

In the same article, Michael Davis claimed Humphrey has “treated people horribly.”

Humphrey said he has not publicly insulted any resident, but he and his family have been “repeatedly attacked” or “harassed” personally by Davis on social media.

He said the retaliation from Davis came after he questioned him about the status of his “nonconforming short term rental property” in the city.

Humphrey said Davis’ actions included taking photographs of his wife’s car and license plate and posting the images on a website used by his detractors. He also said O’Donnell began accusing him of impropriety on social media shortly after he was elected in 2020 and has kept up her cyberattacks of him and his family with “countless false accusations.”

Humphrey said she has also encouraged further online harassment of him.

“There is zero evidence of me bullying anyone and not a single person has made a complaint in this nature against me. Any honest examination of the public record condition of streets and sidewalks were ignored because of the focus on developing restrictions on short term rentals. Humphrey said short term rental reform would have likely been completed several months earlier but dragged on throughout 2021 because of legal action challenging the effort. Nevertheless, he said many projects and initiatives were worked on last year but failed to capture much attention from the public. “They just don’t get the interest that the short term rental debate does, because the short term rental debate is a national issue, not just a local one,” he said. People opposed to the cap have claimed the local economy built on tourism is going to suffer from limiting the number of vacation home options. Humphrey said there are still 150 registered short term rentals in the city along with a large number of vacation homes operating without a permit that haven’t been caught. He also said additional shortterm rentals can still go up in commercial areas of the city. “Business owners are reporting their busiest year ever. There are more people coming here on summer weekends than ever before. Short term rentals are still plentiful. They are just limited in residential districts,” he said.

AAn effort to recall two elected officials in New Buffalo for supporting restrictions on short term rentals has failed at least for now.

The Berrien County Clerk’s Office has ruled there were not enough valid signatures to trigger a recall vote in November.

There were 294 signatures in favor of recalling Mayor John Humphrey and 271 signatures in support of recalling City Councilman Brian Flanagan that were obtained on petitions seeking their ouster halfway through their four-year terms.

The signatures were submitted to the clerk’s office Aug. 5. However, more than 80 of the signatures could not be verified. There are 219 verified signatures from people registered to vote in the city that are required for a recall election to be called. Local realtor, Carie O’Donnell, who helped collect most of the signatures, said efforts are underway to challenge the decision. O’Donnell said the reasons cited for throwing out the signatures included signatures from people not matching their signatures on file and people not being registered to vote in the city. She said several people who signed the petitions have already agreed to give sworn written testimony on affidavits that the signatures belong to them. She hopes to have enough of the thrown out signatures overturned as quickly as possible for a recall election to be scheduled for Humphrey and Flanagan. “We’ll see what happens in the next couple of days,” she said. If enough thrown out signatures are later ruled valid, Humphrey said he will exercise his right to investigate all of the signatures on the petitions and dispute any signatures he believes are not eligible. Humphrey also said he was not surprised by the difficulties in obtaining enough valid signatures. He said he and Flanagan were elected in 2020 by about a two to one margin after promising to impose restrictions on short term rentals. Humphrey feels supporters of a recall are still in the minority even after the recent distribution of what he called “propaganda” and “false information” from the opposition to try and turn residents against them. “I think it’s a very narrow set of people with one goal in mind and that is the proliferation of short term rentals in the city of New Buffalo. The petition circulators, the majority of them, were people who are currently suing the city over the short term rental issue,” Humphrey said. — STAN MADDUX