EAGLE HARBOR TOWNSHIP — As the Eagle Harbor Township Planning Commission continues to work on a draft ordinance intended to restrict short-term rental units (STRs), there are many in the township, as well as elsewhere in Keweenaw County, who claim planning commission members, as well as some Township Board members, are constituting a conflict of interest in doing so.

The argument for conflict of interest comes from the fact that at least two members own STRs as they continue to work to get the Township Board to adopt the ordinance. The township supervisor also operates STRs. They are all listed as proponents of the draft ordinance.

According to the Michigan Standards of Conduct For Public Officers and Employees Act 196 of 1973, Article 15.342 Public officer or employee; prohibited conduct. Sections 6 and 7 state:

(6) Except as provided in section 2a, a public officer or employee shall not engage in or accept employment or render services for a private or public interest when that employment or service is incompatible or in conflict with the discharge of the officer or employee’s official duties or when that employment may tend to impair his or her independence of judgment or action in the performance of official duties.

(7) Except as provided in section 2a, a public officer or employee shall not participate in the negotiation or execution of contracts, making of loans, granting of subsidies, fixing of rates, issuance of permits or certificates, or other regulation or supervision relating to a business entity in which the public officer or employee has a financial or personal interest.

Whether that pertains to planning commission members appears to be a matter of opinion, but it is shared by many.

David Moss, a property owner at Lake Medora in Eagle Harbor Township, is an outspoken critic of the ordinance, though he owns a number of STRs in the township. Moss is among those accusing commission members of creating a conflict of interest. In an email to the Daily Mining Gazette, Moss stated:

“A leading proponent of tight restrictions on the Eagle Harbor Planning Commission was an STR owner herself. The township supervisor, who owns two STRs, has been another strong proponent of STR restrictions. However, the Township Board ignored this obvious conflict of interest, and it was only after prodding by an outsider that the supervisor belatedly disclosed this conflict and recused himself. Even then, he has not recognized that recusal is an ongoing process, and he remains a strong proponent who’s actively involved in moving this ordinance along, even if he doesn’t vote on the final outcome.”

Similarly, in a recent Letter to the Editor Moss wrote that:

“The Township Board feels they have too many short-term rentals. That may be true in the small 2 sq mile Village of Eagle Harbor, where the density of rentals is 8/sq mile. However, outside of the village, there is only one rental per every 4 sq miles, a 32-fold difference. Having allowed its own residents — including the Eagle Harbor town supervisor and two members of its Planning Commission — to create and profit from their own rentals, they now want to bar the door for everyone else outside the village. Well, they might want to start in their own backyard and police themselves first.”

As several others have also suggested, Moss said that if the planning commission wants to limit the number of STRs, it should confine that limit to the location referred to as Eagle Harbor Village.

When it comes to STRs, Eagle Harbor has used a shotgun approach, when they needed a surgical approach which would address the specific issues in their little village, said Moss. With the proposed ordinance, the rural and lakeshore owners bear the brunt of the real and/or theoretical issues that would play themselves out in the village.

“This ordinance has a disproportionate negative effect on the non-village property owners and taxpayers,” Moss said. “It unfairly stifles an STR market that only needs some gentle management, not the severe cap that seems to be the No. 1 objective of this ordinance. If the Township Board wants to truly address STR issues, they must start with the few square blocks within the Village where the problems have been occurring. They don’t need yet another broad, overarching ordinance that will negatively affect the entire Keweenaw.”

At a public hearing conducted by the Township Board on Mar. 10, an email submitted to the board by Mary Lou Lamonda, experienced Airbnb host, and frequent Airbnb guest who lives in Milwaukee, commented that as a return visitor to the township, she has stayed in the same property for many years. Lamonda said she opposes the draft ordinance because she thinks it is overly restrictive. She agreed with Moss on the suggestion of the commission limiting the draft ordinance to the village, but does not understand a cap outside, where units are almost always full.

Lamonda went on to say that she sees a bias against STRs — and tourists — by the board.

“Short term guests should not be targeted,” said Lamonda. “Go after businesses instead. If you want to attract future residents, welcome short-term renters.”

Editor’s note: In its next article, the Daily Mining Gazette will examine whether there is a bias on the part of Township officials against short-term renters and tourists visiting within the township.