The decision puts the future of local land-use control in question, say opponents of the project who fought it for years. "This case could be an unfortunate precedent that causes our courts to become a zoning board of appeals," says attorney John Rohe of Petoskey. He represented a Bear Creek resident in one of six lawsuits filed against local governments by Strathmore Development Co. of East Lansing.
Emmet County commissioners voted unanimously last week to allow Petoskey Investment Group, an affiliate of Strathmore, to develop a 300,000-sf retail center, a 240-unit apartment complex and a number of homes on 91 acres south of an existing Wal-Mart. The parcel in question is zoned residential and farm-forest.
Bear Creek Township's planning commission recommended approval of the Strathmore development in 2001, but the township board voted it down. Strathmore sued the township. The board voted in 2002 to allow a scaled-back development to settle the suit, but township residents gathered enough signatures to have a referendum on rezoning the property.
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