WLHS: Knowing Your Neighbor
We are all together now
The Brief
On Monday, the City Council approved appointments for Commissions and Boards. The Mayor proposed dozens of new candidates. Council members Behrmann, Motschall, and Melke failed to second all but a few of Mayor Graham’s slate.
Future appointments should have more discussion and debate. The process should encourage candidates to introduce themselves during public comments.
The Planning Commission meets to elect a chair and provide orientation to new members on January 9th at 5:30 PM, followed by a second meeting on January 16th.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for February 3rd, 2025. Our objective is to make improved communications with non-residents an agenda topic for that session. Please email the City with any suggestions to improve communications and engagement - citymgr@cityofharborsprings.com
With 62% of property owned by non-residents, it is unwise to plan the zoning update without first fixing the failure of communication and engagement.
We should retire the term “Summer People.” Informal surveys show of the non-residents, 60% live in Harbor Springs for more than three months. 40% of non-residents are here for more than 6 months.
Any new zoning proposal can be subject to a property petition. If 20% of the property owners (voter or non-voter) file a petition, zoning would require a super-majority vote of the City Council. All the more reason to ensure collaboration.
The simpler answer to avoid conflict is effective engagement across voters, residents, non-residents and the other contingents representing the Harbor Springs community.
We will get to the right answer by holding ourselves accountable for results rather than effort. The PC had 22+ zoning meetings, but 478 voters overturned. The City posted notices, but the majority did not attend. City surveys touched younger residents but missed the median over 62 years of age. The right communication approach achieves engagement. The referendum demonstrated it is possible to achieve.
Trust Your Neighbor
A mantra in the zoning discussions has been “Trust your neighbor.” It has meant trusting the Planning Commission to make the right decisions. But it also means your actual neighbor. In this city, it is likely your neighbor is a voter, a generational homeowner, or a second homeowner. Or it could be the vocal minority or the silent majority.
While one group may advocate “A” and another advocate “B”, the right answer is “C”. Not as a compromise. But “C” as something that solves “A” and “B” better than either. But you only get to C by listening.
When someone says “You need to wait for the summer people to make this decision,” you can oppose that and say, “We do not have time to wait”. Or you could say, “What needs to be true to include non-residents in the discussion now?”
“They did not show up” is not an answer to that question. Fixing communication is. Examples include….
Zoom meetings where you can see the face of the person speaking, where you can hear them, where the live transcription is visible to help discern the conversation and the chat is alive to ask innocent clarifying questions.
Town halls, like the 2012 focus group visioning exercise, which are interactive and work through compromise
A glimpse into a better approach……. Every time someone has said something you oppose, pretend you are wrong and ask why you are so wrong. At that moment, you are on the edge of a better answer than yours or your opposition.
The Details
A lot has taken place at City Hall since our last newsletter. The City Council met on December 16 to select the new members for city boards and commissions. At least six new volunteers have been named and will join the boards and commissions tasked with running Harbor Springs.
We had hoped the council would take their guidance from the part of the Harbor Springs Handbook that reads:
“Working Successfully Together: City Council often chooses to appoint individuals to a board whose views, backgrounds, opinions and values vary widely from one another. The purpose of diverse representation on boards is to ensure that the entire community has a voice in decision-making.”
Unfortunately, most of the volunteers were not brought up for discussion. The City Council voting bloc of Jamie Melke, Michael Behrmann and Kathy Motschall control the council and did not permit those opposing their positions to be nominated and brought up for discussion. This, in a nutshell, will be the problem with Harbor Springs city government. It’s up to us now to engage and make sure our wonderful, seated volunteers hear our opinions and our input.
Thank you to everyone who volunteered to serve.
What is next
Some of us thought that after the referendum to repeal the zoning code passed our job was over. The truth is our job is just beginning. Now more than ever is the time for the Harbor Springs community to pay attention, educate themselves, and speak up to the upcoming agendas.
The next steps the City Manager will bring to the council will be continuing to push through very complicated and complex state-controlled programs for Harbor Springs. For years now the state has pushed programs like the RRC (Redevelopment Ready Community) on municipalities large and small. The state has unlimited funds and resources, and part of the State strategy is to offer funding that city officials believe valuable.
As we have pointed out, these programs are not suitable for very small towns like ours, and no small sum of state money is worth the strings and complexities that will be attached. We at WLHS believe that as we continue to provide the community with information about these programs, it will become clear that they are not in our best interests. Our community has the resources to move quicker and more effectively to preserve the best of Harbor Springs and adapt to what needs to change.
As we see it going forward, we have several long-term goals:
Improve communication so that the City Council acts with guidance from voters, property owners, seasonal residents, and area townships.
Be prepared to initiate a property petition if the zoning is rushed. A property petition is easier than a referendum and mandates a supermajority of City Council for a zoning change.
Build a list of solid candidates for next November’s election that will break up the current council voting bloc.
Each person who applied to a Board and Commission, WLHS is asking you to attend the meetings, be in the audience, write reviews, and become known to the commissions, councils, and committees as an individual who is educated, passionate, and ready to serve, so that you can be elected or selected next November 2025. Help the Boards and Commissions act in the community’s interests.
Moving Forward Now
After the holiday, individuals must engage. Please speak out every chance you get at council and planning meetings. Public forums and town halls will be held about zoning options. Make your questions, opinions, and decisions about the state-based bureaucratic programs the city supports heard. We must remember that the City works for the community.
The City Council was elected to represent the community as a whole. We at WLHS are part of the community, and we will keep speaking out. As a reminder, our community goes far beyond the 1.3 square mile border of the city limits. If you live outside the city limits, your voice is still needed. Whether you live on Main Street, Birchwood, in a township, or out-of-town, you still shop in town, eat in local restaurants, may pay city taxes, and have always been a vital part of Harbor Springs. Do not let yourself become discouraged or dismissive because of petty personal politics or attempts to divide and conquer based on so-called divisions such as ‘summer’, ‘second-home’, or ‘not-a-voter’ labels. This is not helpful, and please ask that this polarization be ignored moving forward.
What we ask of the community
We will continue our outreach to the community via this newsletter. We will continue to be a reliable news source and provide opinions on zoning developments. We will continue to publish, both here and on social media, in-depth information needed to understand the complexities of zoning. We’re a small town, but these are not small issues. Remember the Steamroller article?
We also ask the town’s newspaper, Harbor Light, to once more take up its role as a community platform. In times of intense community debate, particularly as we on both sides have been taking steps to elevate our discussion and see ‘less heat and more light’, it is not the time for the town paper to recuse itself.
We Love Harbor Springs will continue to work for the protection and preservation of our community. We will continue to respond to all efforts by city officials to push through state-mandated programs that determine, limit or block local zoning decisions. We have options and work ahead of us. We have the support of the referendum results, as well as the support and input of numerous property owners. We are encouraged by ongoing discussions and an increased willingness to listen to each other. Send us emails. Let’s meet for donuts.
We will continue to speak up for preserving the character and traditions of Harbor Springs. We will continue the stewardship of the area that began over a century ago. We are not going anywhere and invite you to come along.
Conclusion
We will see you again, when the holiday ends, after the start of the New Year. We hope that this time-off from weekly meetings will be the time to refresh, join friends and family if you are lucky – ski, hike, walk, bake, eat cookies, drive the streets to view the home lighting displays, skate at the rink, walks your dogs, take long or short drives – and find your peace during the 2024 Christmas Holiday Season. Happy Holidays to all, new friends and old friends – the No’s and all the Yes’s – we are all in the same holiday boat!