With the Leelanau County Planning Commission review of Leelanau Township’s farm stay campground amendment now completed, the documents will head to Leelanau Township for its board to examine at its October regular meeting for a final decision.
Although Northport residents and Hallstedt Homestead owners Phil and Sarah Hallstedt originally introduced the farm stay concept years ago to the township, they submitted an application and proposed language earlier this year for a zoning ordinance text amendment that would allow “farm stay campsites” as part of a new agrotourism section of the zoning ordinance.
A public hearing regarding the proposed language was held after their application submission and was then reviewed by the Leelanau Township planning commission and staff. From the planning commission review, it was determined that farm stay campgrounds “should be a special land use, not a permitted use-by-right,” and soon after, the township, along with a planning consultant, helped to prepare a new draft presented this summer. The second public hearing regarding the amendment was held on Sept. 12 and modeled after the 2022 Leelanau Township Zoning Amendment for Campgrounds in the commercial resort district. From there, the planning commission made minor amendments and revisions, and the amended draft was sent to the county’s planning commission for review where they found it sufficient to pass on.
