Park Twp short-term rental saga heats up as municipality spends $338K to litigate with 80 owners

PARK TWP. — A widening legal battle over short-term rentals in Park Township has intensified as a resident group pressures officials to adopt a neighboring town’s compromise or face what they warn could be a multimillion-dollar taxpayer liability.

Members of the nonprofit group Park Township Neighbors presented a petition signed by 372 residents to the township board of trustees, urging leaders to grandfather in homeowners who operated rentals before a March 2024 ban.

The group publicly called on the board recently to replicate the strategy of nearby Laketown Township. 

Read More: Park Twp. residents pen petition to end 'bait-and-switch' rental ban

In an updated news release, the group noted that Laketown recently enacted a ban on future freestanding short-term rentals but permitted existing operations to continue.

In contrast, Park Township's March 2024 ordinance prohibited short-term rentals in all residential zones and declared nearly all existing rentals unlawful. The retroactive enforcement has sparked state and federal litigation from property owners who claim the township enacted a "bait-and-switch" after decades of permissive oversight.

"Laketown has demonstrated that it is entirely possible to protect neighborhood stability without punishing property owners who were repeatedly told they were playing by the rules," Jeremy Allen, president of Park Township Neighbors, said in the statement.

Township officials maintain that the restrictions are necessary to preserve neighborhood character. 

Township Manager Bill Cousins previously defended the enforcement, stating that a shifting vacation culture had pushed local neighborhoods to a "breaking point" marked by traffic and noise complaints.

However, data compiled by the rental owners' group indicates that only 14 complaints regarding short-term rentals were filed between 2019 and 2021. According to 2023 census data, short-term rentals comprise fewer than 1.5 percent of the township’s 8,270 housing units.

The legal dispute centers on how the township interpreted its own zoning laws for nearly a quarter-century. In 2014, then-Zoning Administrator Ed de Vries wrote to a resident confirming that the township did not "license, regulate or inspect rental housing,” according to previous media reports. 

Property owners say they built their lives and financial investments around those assurances.

"We are fighting for the right to be treated with integrity," said Jackie Beck, a township resident and member of the advocacy group. "To be able to trust that the word of the township is genuine.”

The defense of the ban has come at a direct cost to local taxpayers, according to financial records. Records show Park Township spent more than $338,000 in legal fees through October 2025 to litigate against approximately 80 remaining rental owners, with total costs continuing to climb.

In the latest statement, the group warned that continued litigation could mirror the financial fallout seen in Grand Traverse County’s Peninsula Township. There, a lengthy legal fight over restrictive zoning ordinances resulted in a nearly $50 million judgment against the municipality, which now faces additional lawsuits from its own insurance providers seeking to deny coverage for the damages.

— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org.