The Senate Energy and Technology Committee heard testimony this week on SB 493 (Sen Rick Jones), a bill prohibiting a local unit of government from adopting an ordinance that deals with amateur radios (called HAM radios) and prohibits locals from restricting antennas of amateur radios to heights below 90 feet unless they make certain proofs and sets unreasonable standards.  The League along with Tim Wolff, village manager for Lake Isabella, testified in opposition.

The HAM radio industry indicates they are codifying what the federal government already requires.  However, we feel this legislation takes that a few steps further because the federal guidelines do not have a 90 foot preemption or require the local unit of government to have “clear and convincing” evidence as to why they deny a HAM radio.

We do understand the importance this technology plays in safety when all other systems go down.  However, we have multiple concerns with this legislation. First, we have a concern for the preemption of local control.  These towers can be unsightly and can drive down the property values for those around, especially if not properly maintained so we need to ensure that the local unit of government is able to have a say in where they are placed so the location makes sense for the community.

Second, the League is concerned about the safety and property of those property owners surrounding the antenna.  Should that antenna fall, it should not be large enough that it cannot fall on the same parcel of property.  This would help ensure neighboring structures are protected and help minimize private property damages.

Third, we have concerns that the language in this legislation does not address collocation.  We wouldn’t want to see these amateur radio towers being used to host other things such as TV dishes.

We look forward to working with the sponsor and the industry to see if a solution can be agreed upon.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

 

With the passage of legislation earlier this year to allow for intrastate crowdfunding, comes the next step in helping crowdfunding take off: HB 5273, a bill to define and allow local stock exchanges.  We are very excited to see this idea to continue to move forward.  This would open the way for MI businesses to put themselves on a local stock exchange (regulated in HB 5273 and registered with the state) and allow MI residents to buy stocks from those businesses on the stock exchange list.

The larger stock exchanges (New York Stock Exchange, for example) are not reachable for the smaller companies.  Local Stock Exchanges would be a great way to afford a similar opportunity to these businesses who are not up to the large stock exchange level; those very businesses who are growing the Michigan economy.

Amy Cortese, Author of a book called Locavesting and an expert in crowdfunding provided testimony on the positive impact this could have on Michigan and how Michigan could become the leaders in this type of investment of small businesses.

We look forward to working with Rep. Nancy Jenkins on this legislation as it moves through the process and are excited to see this idea being discussed.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

The Senate Local Government and Elections today unanimously passed SB 631, a bill that would give local communities the ability to regulate carrier pigeons (currently they are not allowed to so).  The local community cannot ban them but could regulate them.  A resident in Allen Park testified in support of this legislation given the situation she is forced to live next to (200 carrier pigeons in a residential neighborhood, pigeons less than 30 feet from her home).  The city offered free land for the owner to house the carrier pigeons, which he refused.  The smell and feces droppings are affecting the resident’s quality of life surrounding the owner.  This bill would allow a local community to regulate the placement of these pigeons.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.   

This afternoon the Senate Finance Committee considered Senate Bills 754 and 755,  legislation that would accelerate the would amend the Use Tax Act and the General Sales Tax Act, respectively, to accelerate the schedule that excludes from taxation the value of a motor vehicle or recreational vehicle (RV) traded in for a new or used vehicle or RV; the bills would double the annual increase in the maximum dollar amount that may be excluded, and provide for no limit beginning in 2025, rather than 2039.

According to the non-partisan Senate Fiscal Agency, the bills would reduce State and local unit revenue through fiscal year (FY) 2037-38. In FY 2014-15, the bills would reduce State revenue by approximately $23.9 million, including a $19.5 million reduction to School Aid Fund revenue, a $1.2 million reduction in Comprehensive Transportation Fund revenue, and a $3.2 million reduction to General Fund revenue; and would lower local unit revenue by $2.7 million through reduced constitutional revenue sharing payments. Total State and local unit revenue losses would increase to $32.5 million in FY 2015-16 and $38.4 million in FY 2016-17. After FY 2024-25, the revenue losses relative to current law would begin declining, reaching zero in FY 2038-39.

Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote no this legislation that is harmful to local funding.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This morning the House Tax Policy Committee heard testimony on House Bills 5265, 5266 and 5267, bills that would reduce the state income tax. House Bills 5265-6 would reduce the income tax from 4.25 percent to 4.05 percent. House Bill 5267 would allow additional reductions of 0.1 percent if general fund revenue increased by $300 million or more in the preceding fiscal year.

The League opposes this legislation as we opposed similar legislation in the Senate several weeks ago. There need to be a comprehensive discussion about reinvesting in communities and infrastructure before passing income tax relief.

You can view the League’s letter of opposition here: Tax relief package letter to cmte 2_14

The committee did not vote on the legislation.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Earlier this week Suzanne Schulz, Director of Planning for the City of Grand Rapids, presented to the Senate Transportation Committee on complete streets.  The League worked several years ago to pass legislation for complete streets, and it is a vital part of our policy platform to creating vibrant communities.

We appreciate Suzanne’s continued education and advocacy regarding the importance of complete streets. You can view Suzanne’s presentation here: Senate Transportation Ctte 2-11-14

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This week the House passed Senate Bill 396, a bill that would amend the General Property Tax Act to provide that, after December 31, 2011, if a property is destroyed due to an accident or natural disaster, the taxable value of the replacement property would be the same as the year of the incident and not subject the Proposal A annual adjustment of the lesser of the rate of inflation of 5 percent.

This would apply to reconstruction properties if the rebuild is done with substantially the same materials as the original, the square footage is not more than 5 percent larger than the original property and it is completed no later than the December 31 in the year that is 3 years after the incident.

The League is opposed to this legislation that will now head to the Governor for his signature.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

The Michigan Municipal League’s Samantha Harkins was a guest today (Feb. 10, 2014) on the MIRSnews.com podcast and covered an array of topics including road funding, the importance of public transit, an update on the personal property tax issue and proposed changes Gov. Snyder wants to make to the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP). She even discusses Willie Wonka and the Eagles and Don Henley. This is a must listen for League members wanting to hear how the League is fighting for our communities in Lansing. Great job Samantha.

Her part starts around the 8:30 minute mark in the 20-minute weekly podcast. Listen here. Read more from Samantha Harkins and League staff on our legislative blog. Many of the topics Harkins discussed tie into the League’s placemaking message and how having vibrant communities will lead to having a better Michigan. Learn more about placemaking at placemaking.mml.org.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org and (734) 669-6317.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), in reviewing their Right to Farm Generally Accepted Agriculture Management Practices (GAAMP), is recommending new language that will give more local control to communities that are exclusively zoned residential.  If a community is zoned primarily for residential purposes, then it will be labeled as not acceptable for a livestock facility and there would be no Right to Farm protection for those individuals wishing to have livestock.  It would be left solely up to the local unit of government on whether or not they wanted to allow livestock in their community.   This is critical to ensure the  community is able to make ordinance decisions based on the needs and desires of their residents.

From Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development:
“Siting of New and Expanding Livestock Facilities: Currently the GAAMP defines livestock production facility as any site with 50 animal units or more.  50 animal units is a sizable number – 5000 chickens, 50 steers, etc.   The GAAMP was written considering livestock numbers in rural Michigan – so below this number a farmer did not have to voluntarily conform to any siting requirements to receive Right to Farm benefits.  If a farmer was above 50 animal units there are a host of standards they need to comply with to be in conformance with the GAAMP and receive the affirmative nuisance defense and freedom from any ordinances which might limit their operation.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in having small numbers of livestock in urban residential areas.  A number of communities have written exceptions to their ordinances which allows for the keeping of livestock, especially poultry, under certain conditions in urban settings.  More and more individuals are using the preemption language of Right to Farm to confine small numbers of livestock in urban residential areas which have not allowed for livestock in their ordinances.  The fewer than 50 animal units language in the Livestock Siting GAAMP allows for this to happen because of the small number of animals these individuals are raising- they do not have to conform to the siting GAAMP because it does not apply.   We are seeing increasing conflict between municipalities and townships and livestock owners in these urban residential areas. 

To address this issue, the commission, department staff, and the Siting GAAMPs committee chaired by MSU have been working on language for the last 18 months which would return control of livestock in urban residential areas to local government.  The risk of nuisance issues, conflicts and other environmental factors increase as housing density increases.   Because of these risks, bringing livestock into these urban residential areas should not be happening without local jurisdictional oversight.  

To be clear, the department supports the expansion of urban agriculture and livestock production across the state.  The expansion of agriculture, whether for personal consumption or for local sale/distribution, will provide an opportunity for people to be closer to local food sources.  It also creates an opportunity for the urban agriculture movement to be integrated with any local community’s plan for food hubs or farm markets.  We would like the local communities to be willing partners in this expansion.   It is important to allow the differences in these local communities to be expressed in how they create opportunities for livestock within their jurisdiction.  Currently, the department is assisting the City of Detroit in just such an effort.      

The keeping of livestock in areas zoned exclusively for residential use has never been a generally accepted agricultural practice.  If the proposed Siting GAAMP language is adopted by the Commission at their March meeting, for purposes of the Siting GAAMP, a RTF complaint or proactive request in urban areas will result in a program review of zoning for the location in question.  If the zoning is exclusively residential, then the site will be identified as not acceptable for a livestock facility under the Siting GAAMP.   A local community may determine to permit possession of animals traditionally used as livestock in this exclusively residential area but compliance with that determination will be left to the local community.   If zoning clearly identifies an agricultural use or a mixed agricultural use as its primary zoning designation (e.g., many locations use an agriculture/residential zoning designation), then the site is not zoned exclusively residential and department staff will evaluate whether the site complies with the other requirements of the siting GAAMP.   It is important to note in practical terms the changes proposed in the siting GAAMP will have no impact on the many small farm operations in existence in rural areas or suburban areas which are zoned rural residential, R1, R2 or R3 or other zoning designations which allow for some mixed use beyond exclusively residential. “

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

As reported in a previous post, the House Tax Policy committee took general testimony on TIFs and DDAs this week.  The committee was only about 35 minutes long because of caucus meetings and the Governor’s budget announcement, which didn’t give us a lot of time to present.  The Michigan Association of Counties started off the committee and their presentation by saying they are not looking to eliminate TIF districts but are looking for more accountability, transparency and partnership in economic development.  They dove into a particular example of a community (Union Township in Isabella County) who they feel is a “bad actor” and went through tax capture examples from their two DDAs and how much they were capturing verse what the DDA was capturing, as well as, what the county would say, is the inability of those DDAs to work with the other taxing jurisdictions.  It was then MML’s turn to close out the committee hearing and I was joined by Tom Dempsey (city manager, Portland) and Kris Larson (DDA director, Grand Rapids) to speak about the many benefits TIFs/DDAs provide to local municipalities/the region and the importance of having an all in sort of approach when it comes to economic development (not allowing opt-outs) so has to effectively create change in our municipalities.

The chair of the committee (Rep. Jeff Farrington, Sterling Heights) indicated that the committee would take the spring to focus on this issue (likely after their break in April).  As soon as we know when the committee meetings will be or when a bill dealing with TIFs and DDAs will be introduced, I will be sure to let you all know.

Again, I would stress the importance of contacting your legislators and not only discussing with them the benefit these districts have provided to your community but also inviting them to the district so they can see firsthand the positive impact.  Have them talk with business owners, residents, etc. to get their perspective of the positive impact as well as from the local community’s perspective.

This is the perfect opportunity for communities to show the benefits of their TIF districts and the great things that have happened because of them that not only benefit the local community but also the region surrounding it.  Discuss with them what an opt-out would do to the economic development efforts of your community and how useful these tools truly are.

A big thank you to both Tom and Kris for braving the nasty roads that morning and testifying and to all of you who have already taken the opportunity to discuss this with your legislators.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues. She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.