The Suttons Bay Township Board approved a revised shortterm rental (STR) ordinance at their Dec. 13 meeting, which will limit the number of occupants and require owners to notify their neighbors, among other things.
While introducing the draft ordinance, zoning administrator Steve Patmore reminded the board that the township was the first municipality in the county to adopt an STR ordinance back in 2016 and has served as a model for some surrounding municipalities’ own ordinances. However, earlier this year, a committee reviewed and discussed the ordinance and found it was time to make some changes.
Besides improving the “structure” and “flow” of the document, Patmore said the new ordinance applies to the entire township, rather than just the residential zoning district as it did before. There are also new occupancy limits, which are determined by the lesser number of people that the septic system can support or the amount of parking available.
