Mood:
quizzicalTopic: Owasippes Township Zoning
Saturday, December 09, 2006
By Lynn Moore
MUSKEGON CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
The Chicago Boy Scouts need to go back to Blue Lake Township to pursue use of Owasippe Scout Reservation property for residential development before proceeding with court claims, a Muskegon County judge has ruled.
Muskegon County Circuit Judge William C. Marietti ruled that the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts of America needs to exhaust administrative remedies through the township's zoning board of appeals before seeking damages in court.
Marietti's ruling doesn't affect the Boy Scout council's lawsuit claiming the zoning of its property is unconstitutional, which has been scheduled for an August 2007 trial. Originally, the trial had been set for March.
The lawsuit was filed in May after the township planning commission recommended the township board reject the Boy Scouts' request to rezone the property to allow construction of up to 1,278 homes. The board did reject the rezoning in June.
A $19.4 million offer to buy the pristine property submitted by Holland businessman Benjamin A. Smith III is contingent on the property being rezoned.
The lawsuit filed in Muskegon County Circuit Court requests that the court rule the property's current zoning -- forest recreation-institution -- unconstitutional because it essentially denies the Boy Scouts use of the property for anything other than a camp. It also seeks damages from the township for its inability to fully realize the value of its property.
The council has claimed it loses $5,000 a day on the camp in "out-of-pocket and lost opportunity costs."
To pursue its damage claims against the township in court, the Boy Scout council first must seek a zoning variance from the township's zoning board of appeals, Marietti ruled.
Property owners essentially have two methods of pursuing use of their property in ways for which it's not zoned: secure a change in zoning from the township board, or receive a zoning variance from the ZBA.
Attorneys for the Boy Scouts argued in written court briefs that seeking a variance would be "futile" because two of three ZBA members already have expressed opposition to the plan to rezone the 4,780-acre camp property.
Two ZBA members are Lyle Monette, chairman of the planning commission and member of the township board who is a defendant in the Boy Scout lawsuit, and Scott Haan, president of the Big Blue Lake Association, who testified against the rezoning at a planning commission hearing and turned in petitions opposed to it bearing 1,900 signatures. The third member is Marilyn Belmer, who has not spoken publicly about the issue.
Two of three members would have to vote in favor of a zoning variance for it to take effect.
Devin Schindler, an attorney representing the Boy Scouts, said a variance request had been prepared for the ZBA a year ago, but township officials had indicated it wasn't necessary. But in court briefs, township attorneys argued it was.
"We don't see this as a setback," Schindler said of Marietti's ruling. "It's an annoyance. It's disappointing the township changed gears in an apparent effort to delay the case. In terms of the overall issues, this is a nonissue."
The Boy Scouts have asked Marietti to set a deadline for the ZBA to consider the request. Marietti is scheduled to consider that request Thursday.
Attorney James Nelson, who represents the township, said there was a "breakdown in communication" over the year-old variance request, not a purposeful attempt to delay the court proceeding. He said township officials believed they had come to an understanding with the Boy Scouts that the variance would be considered once the rezoning request had been decided.
He denied that ZBA members essentially have their minds made up.
"We don't look at it superficially at all," Nelson said. "We'll take a very serious look at it."
Members of the planning commission and township board said they rejected the rezoning because it doesn't fit into the township's master plan and would strain existing infrastructure.
The 95-year-old Owasippe Scout Reservation includes several Boy Scout camps that operate during summers. A largely natural area, the reservation is home to three lakes, a trout stream, rare oak-pine savannas and more than 1,000 species of animals and insects, including several threatened and endangered species.
Marietti has scheduled a bench trial in the Boy Scouts' lawsuit for Aug. 8-10 and Aug. 14-17. It previously had been scheduled for late March.
A similar Boy Scouts lawsuit against the township filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids is on hold until the council exhausts its claims in the state court system.
?2006 Muskegon Chronicle
