EAGLE RIVER — At its regular February meeting last Monday, the Keweenaw County Planning Commission tabled further discussion or action on short-term rental (STR) ordinance amendments until late next month.

Since the planning commission began the process of updating the county’s master plan, the issue of STRs have become an increasingly contentious issue in the county, both in favor of them and against them. Like other communities across Michigan, the Planning Commission has been struggling to strike a balance that will at least partially satisfy all stakeholders.

As part of that process, the KCPC said that it will attend a webinar sponsored by the Michigan State University Extension next month.

The webinar, Short-Term Rental Policy Options for Michigan Communities, is 90 minutes long, and discusses trends and STR-related research, and where local communities can find data to examine their own local situations. The webinar will be followed by an overview of policy approaches, regulatory tools, enforcement and key STR court cases.

Commission member and County Zoning Administrator Sara Heikkila said that on March 28, the KCPK will attend a webinar as a body. The webinar is from 6:30-8 p.m.

“That’s not a zoom set-up, because that’s going to be a cost, so that’s not going to be zoomed for the public,” Heikkila said. “But the public is invited to come to the courthouse if they want to attend the webinar; they just won’t get the supporting materials that go along with that.”

Heikkila said that at the conclusion of the webinar, a zoom will be set up for a special meeting of the planning commission. The meeting is scheduled from 8-9:30 p.m., she said, but the meeting may not be that long.

PC member AJ Kern commented that in reality, STR regulations and ordinances are not a county matter but are the concerns of the individual townships and suggested the township governments be tasked with drawing up their own, as Eagle Harbor Township did a couple of years ago.

“It’s turning into a headache, frankly,” Kern said. “I’m just saying technically, that’s where it should be.”

Parsons concurred, saying that the entire zoning ordinance should be managed by the townships.

“We might want to go ahead and alert the townships to do it,” Kern said.

Once the townships complete them, the county can adopt them, so it is no longer a headache for the PC.

“We’ve had that talk before,” said Parsons. “As far as the entire ordinance is concerned, it should be at the township level, but they have no interest in doing it — none.”

Parsons suggested that the commission members revisit Eagle Harbor Township’s STR ordinance before the March 28 meeting.

“We’re going to listen to what the state recommends on the issue overall.”

May 6 has been tentatively scheduled at 4 p.m. for a public hearing on the STR ordinance.