Registration Or Regulation? The Ongoing Saga Of Empire's Short-Term Rental Ordinance

The Village of Empire is arguably the hub of Leelanau County’s tourism industry, situated as it is right next door to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Despite its national and global pedigree, though, Empire is one of the only communities in Leelanau County that does not have an ordinance regulating short-term rentals (STRs).

That could change in the near future. Since last November, a four-member committee made up of representatives from Empire’s village council and planning commission has been working to draft an ordinance that would impose new rules for local STRs. But after eight months, 15 meetings, more than a dozen different drafts, and repeatedly missed deadlines, that committee is split on how to proceed, and has yet to finalize an ordinance for the village council to adopt.

How did we get here – and what comes next? Read on for a timeline of Empire’s ongoing STR saga.

2019/2020: The Empire Village Council executes an STR study, but ultimately decides against implementing any sort of regulatory ordinance. The study indicates that Empire has 49 STRs, 18 long-term rentals, 161 homes occupied by year-round residents, and 115 seasonal homes – meaning that STRs represent roughly 14 percent of the village’s housing stock.

July 2023: The village council appoints three councilmembers – trustees March Dye, Meg Walton, and Linda Chase – to a “Short-Term Rental Committee of Council,” which is charged with reviewing findings from the 2019/2020 study, undertaking a 2023 update, and examining the overall STR environment in the village.

November 2023: Dye, Walton, and Chase present their findings, which indicate a notable increase in STRs since 2020. The new data shows that 147 Empire residences are full-time, 131 are seasonal, 22 are long-term rental, and 63 are STRs. STR density in Empire is now 17.3 percent.

“The Short-Term Rental Committee of Council finds that short-term rentals of dwelling units in the Village provide value to our community,” the trio write in their report. “However, the increase of seasonal units, the decrease in year-round units, and the increase in STRs reinforce the fact that Empire is increasingly a tourist destination and a seasonal community. These facts affect our housing supply for year-round residents, our labor force, the residential character of our neighborhoods, and the welfare of our community.”

In response, the village council forms a new “Village of Empire Short Term Rental Committee” to look into possible regulations for STRs in the village. Serving on the committee are Dye and Walton, as well as two members of village’s planning commission, Robert Chase and Carey Ford. The motion calls for the group “to draft a registration ordinance and any other forms” necessary to implement an STR ordinance, with a target deadline of early March.

January 2024: The committee, having reached out to other municipalities locally and throughout the state about their STR numbers and regulations, convenes to discuss the responses. Dye notes that the Village of Empire has a higher density of STRs than any other community in Leelanau County.

February 2024: The committee comes up with its first draft of the STR ordinance, which includes preliminary ideas for registration fees, safety guidelines, septic requirements, and penalties for violations. Despite the draft, committee members agree to ask the village council for an extension, “to get as much information as possible before submitting a draft ordinance.” In particular, the committee wants more public input – including from summer residents – and wants to research whether Empire should pursue its STR regulations by means of a zoning ordinance or a police power ordinance. The council ultimately agrees to extend the committee by two months.

April 2024: A rift forms between the two halves of the STR committee. Ford argues that the committee has “overstepped” its task and should only be creating a “registration” ordinance – or a system where local STR operators have to register with the village, but aren’t otherwise regulated; Chase concurs. Walton and Dye, meanwhile, are of the mind that the committee should prepare a more rigorous licensing and regulation ordinance, which would include more limitations on local STR operations. Unable to agree, the two factions decide to work in parallel to develop drafts of both ordinance options.

May 2024: Controversy around the pending STR regulations bubbles over at a contentious three-hour village council meeting on May 9. During public comment, several residents make a case against the need for more STR regulations, with one arguing that many residents initially found the area by vacationing here, and another suggesting that the STR ordinance discussions have created “nothing but pure contention and fighting between neighbor and neighbor.” Other residents contend that STRs are quickly overwhelming the local housing stock and now account for nearly one-fifth of all residences in the village. “We lived through a nightmare in Saugatuck where a village of 900 became over 50 percent short-term rental and hollowed out that community,” one resident states.

Committee members make similar arguments, with Ford defending STR owners as “families that have owned property and now are faced with trying to hold onto it,” and Dye pointing to a 28 percent growth in STRs since 2019 as a reason to implement regulations that can curb further expansion.

Despite the disagreements, committee members agree to continue working together in hopes of finalizing an ordinance by October, so that it can be implemented at the beginning of 2025.

At a May 29 meeting, the STR committee makes headway toward consensus, agreeing that capping STRs at 14 percent of the village’s total housing stock – “excluding the STRs in the M22 corridor and the Front St District” – is a fair compromise. According to meeting minutes, there are 14 STRs in those two districts. “That would bring the number of STRs to be included in the 14 percent [cap] down to 46,” the committee's meeting minutes state. “There are 373 residences in the Village according to the township assessor as of 5/7/24. 14 percent of 373 is 52. This leaves six [licenses up for grabs] for new STRs or for STRs that we missed.”

June 2024: At a council workshop session on June 13, Dye reviews the two competing “registration” and “regulation” ordinance concepts the committee has prepared, admitting that the committee has made limited progress toward a consensus and expressing a sense of futility. “I think that there is no sense in having this committee go forward anymore, because we are not going to reach an agreement on the ordinance,” Dye says. “I think it’s going to have to come down to the council deciding on where to go from this.” She encourages the council to hire a planner or an attorney to get feedback on both drafts of the ordinance, including a pros-and-cons assessment of both.

At a June 26 meeting, the council votes 4-3 to pursue a legal review of the two ordinance concepts. That process is now pending.