12/10/2020   Letter: Legislature should uphold local control in zoning decisions, The Detroit News

"Among the bills we should abandon this session is Senate Bill 431, a particularly outrageous attack on local communities’ ability to make local zoning decisions, and a threat to Michigan residents’ quality of life and to our environment. 

SB 431 was written by the sand and gravel mining industry to eliminate local units of government and residents from having any say on where and how industrial-scale sand and gravel mines can operate in our communities. This includes which roads heavy gravel trains travel and the hours the mines could operate; in fact, it would allow operations — blasting, digging and hauling — as early as 6 a.m., six days a week.

Under SB 431, a mining company could not be denied a permit if the company can demonstrate two things: that the mine will make money, and that the company would take any step at all to merely “reduce” risks to public safety created by their operation. That’s pretty vague."

 

Read the rest of the letter at the Detroit News link above.

 

Signed:

Neil Sheridan, executive director, Michigan Townships Association

Steve Currie, executive director, Michigan Association of Counties

Dan Gilmartin, executive director, Michigan Municipal League