Keweenaw considers ordinance repeal
Public hearing, Sept. 14
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EAGLE RIVER - The Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing regarding the future of county zoning. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, September 14, at Horizons Alternative High School, in Mohawk.
The board is considering a full repeal of the Keweenaw County Zoning Ordinance and transferring zoning enforcement to the townships in favor of retaining a sheriff’s deputy position.
At the regular August board meeting last Wednesday, county treasurer Eric Hermanson warned of budgetary challenges facing the county in 2027, focusing on the sheriff’s office.
Hermanson said the position of a deputy was funded using temporary American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which are rapidly running out.
"All else being equal in 2027, we cannot afford to keep that deputy. We simply can't," Hermanson warned. "A lot of [the COVID funds] are drying up and going away, and all of those expenses are going to hit the general fund," adding, "we cannot afford to keep that deputy. We simply can't. We don't have the funding."
County Board Chairman Don Piche emphasized the core functions of the county must take priority.
"We've got to consider essential services," Piche said. "I mean, that's the most important part."
Because the county cannot support both essential services and zoning, the board is considering essential law enforcement over administrative overhead. If the county moves forward with cutting its zoning department to protect the deputy’s position, zoning enforcement authority would be eliminated and returned entirely to the townships.
"We're kind of right back to where we were before," Rajala said. "Trying to decide what to spend the money on… We find the money to keep the deputy on. We're at the end of that road."
Rajala was referring to 2024 when the same challenges faced the county. The county board held a similar meeting in July of that year was for the board members to hear from county residents on whether they wanted zoning done by the townships, by the county, or if they wanted zoning at all.
At that meeting, Hermanson cautioned the board that budgetary gap between the county's revenue and its expenditures was narrowing, primarily due to the county's zoning.
“When current (process) zoning came into play, it represented a significant growth in government -without funding to offset it,” Hermanson said, adding it still has not been allocated the resources it needs.
The consensus of the audience at the 2024 hearing was that the majority of the residents understood the necessity of zoning and wanted to keep zoning ordinances, but that the individual townships lacked adequate population to fund their own zoning. Each township would be required to have its own planning commission, its own zoning administrator and its own zoning board of appeals.
In response, during a subsequent special meeting, unanimously approved a motion for a proposal for a dedicated millage that will appear on the November 2024 ballot. If passed, the 1 mil proposal will support zoning administration. The proposal resoundingly failed. Two years later, the county is facing the same issue.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioner Mike LaMotte suggested approaching the township officials. "Is it not worth sitting with township supervisors and trying to see if they would be amicable to contributing to public safety?" he asked, "if they can levy the tax and contribute it to public safety, which helps their community."
Commissioner Bob DeMarois dismissed the suggestion. "We've tried many times to talk to township supervisors over the years," he said. "It was tried many times before, and basically, several times we got no response."
Piche said when the zoning issue came up in 2024, he spoke with Ken Stigers who at the time, was the township supervisor of Grant Township. "He told me at the time "we'd like to have our own zoning, but we don't have the money to do it.'"
Of the five township within Keweenaw County, Eagle Harbor Township is alone in maintaining its own zoning ordinance.