Complaint Prompts Orion Ordinance Review

In September, after Orion Township resident Dan Myslakowski received a warning about a boat trailer parked in his driveway in violation of the zoning ordinance, he complained to the board of trustees about similar violations being committed by other residents of his Keatington neighborhood.

The complaint prompted an ordinance officer to visit the neighborhood, and at the Monday, Oct. 15 board meeting, the board will learn that quite a few violations were found.

In a letter to the board, Supervisor JoAnn Van Tassel says the building department toured the neighborhood Oct. 3-5 and found 30 violations in 76 locations checked. The violations included jet skis, pontoons, boat trailers, campers, commercial vehicles and the like, all parked in residential areas where they are not allowed under the township zoning ordinance.    

However, in her memo, Van Tassel was understanding. “Since this is the time of year people are removing their boats and other recreational vehicles from the water and cleaning them before storing them for the winter, they are being given 10 days to come into compliance with township ordinances,” she wrote. After that, enforcement is expected.

Myslakowski, who was not ticketed, said he felt he was being harassed by township employees and someone in the neighborhood who filed a complaint. He presented the board with a list of alleged other violations and asked that the township either change the rules or “stop selective, biased code enforcement.”

At the Sept. 17 board meeting, Myslakowski said the ordinance, as currently written, puts “just about everyone in violation” in his subdivision, based on lot sizes and the ordinance’s required setbacks for recreational vehicle parking.

“If this ordinance is going to be used, enforced and not rewritten, it must be enforced equally,” he said. “I’m being singled out, and I don’t like it. And it’s because someone doesn’t like me and made a call.”

Trustee John Steimel, who also serves on the planning commission, said the commission recently amended the ordinance to relax the standards “because there were a whole bunch of violations written in one area” last year.

Also on the agenda

The board is scheduled to hold two public hearings. They are for a special assessment district for Royal Troon’s private road maintenance and for the 2013 block grant application.

The board is also expected to award a bid for waste disposal, consider a special land use for a Verizon Wireless monopole, and consider several requests for use of the Orion Center.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the township hall.