Park Township landlords got a short-term win Dec. 1 when 20th Circuit Court Judge Jon Hulsing issued a preliminary injunction stopping the township from enforcing its ban on short-term rentals.

“The issuance of an injunction is a big deal,” Hulsing said. “It’s a huge deal.”

The ruling took even opponents of the ban by surprise. Jeremy Allen, president of Park Township Neighbors, a nonprofit made up of 120 short-term rental homeowners fighting to prevent the ban, told Michigan Capitol Confidential he teared up when the judge issued the injunction.

CapCon previously reported on Park Township’s ban on all short-term rentals, which the city aimed to begin enforcing Oct. 1. The Dec. 1 ruling means the ban will not be enforceable until the case is brought before Hulsing, which is currently scheduled for August 2024.

The township ordinance was enacted in 1974 but never enforced until this year. Some of the property owners were told by township officials and real estate agents that short-term rentals were legal, Allen said. This was a determining factor for some of the owners when they purchased property. Most people did not know about the 1974 ordinance because it was not enforced for almost 50 years.

Allen said short-term rental owners have asked the township to work with them to craft reasonable regulations and licensing requirements. So far, township trustees have refused, he said. Allen suggested a system of annual licenses, costing up to $500, for short-term rentals. This, he said, would provide enough money to hire a summer enforcement officer to enforce rules the township puts in place.

Howard Fink, Park Township supervisor, stated in an email that the township does not comment on pending cases in court.

Allen said the judge asked the township how many arrests and citations were issued during the 50 years since the original ordinance was enacted. Dan Martin, the township’s attorney, said there have been virtually no citations or arrests.

Ford Motor Co.’s BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall is the worst economic development deal of 2023, the Center for Economic Accountability has announced.

The center “exists to change the way Americans think and feel about economic development in their communities,” according to its website. In its new report, the center, which is led by former Mackinac Center staffer John Mozena, explains that the deal required a pledge of $1.7 billion from Michigan taxpayers, to be paid through direct cash giveaways and tax abatements.

But the center takes special aim at the aggressive and dishonest attempts by project backers to manufacture public consent and to scare off dissenters.

Residents who spoke out against the project were sent postcards showing their faces crossed out by red Xs, according to a Detroit Free Press report. Reporter Dave Boucher called the threats “part of a larger campaign to shout down opponents of” the project, funded by “dark money” tied to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Democratic Party’s national apparatus.

“The reported use of political consultants to run a smear campaign against skeptical local residents set Michigan’s subsidies for Ford’s Marshall battery plant apart from all the other terrible corporate welfare deals across the country,” said Mozena in a statement accompanying the award announcement.

“It’s one thing for politicians to use fuzzy math to throw massive amounts of public money at a giant corporation so they can take credit with voters for so-called ‘job creation’; we see that all the time,” Mozena added. “This award was nailed down for Michigan when a governor’s political cronies reportedly pushed out campaign-style mailers and robocalls against average, everyday people who dared to exercise their fundamental right to ask their elected officials for straight answers to questions that mattered to their community.”

In the end, the $3.5 billion project was put on pause during the UAW strike. After the strike ended, Ford announced a scaled-back version of the BlueOval Battery Park: a $2.2 billion investment, with 1,700 jobs to be created rather than 2,500.

State officials insist that state incentives for the project will roll back in commensurate fashion.