Key Takeaways
- A Michigan lakeshore township is fighting a federal lawsuit over its claim that short-term rentals were never legal under a decades-old zoning ordinance
- Property owners argue the town illegally reversed course after years of allowing STRs, attempting to retroactively strip “grandfathered” rights from existing rentals
- The lawsuit alleges the town violated the Fifth and Fourteen ammendments
A Lake Michigan beachfront township is now defending itself in federal court over its ban on short-term rental restrictions.
Park Township, a lakeshore community of roughly 19,000 residents situated just 35 miles east of Grand Rapids in Ottawa County, Michigan, is the defendant in a federal lawsuit filed in January 2026 by Park Township Neighbors, a nonprofit representing more than 100 property owners.
The lawsuit alleges the town violated the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by retroactively reinterpreting a 1974 zoning ordinance to eliminate short-term rental operations that township officials had previously told residents were lawful, according to WOOD TV’s reporting.
“The only way to accomplish the Township’s objective was to concoct an interpretation that short-term rentals were never allowed because otherwise the hundreds of short-term rentals could continue to exist as nonconforming uses (i.e., ‘grandfathered’),” the lawsuit says.
The Grand Rapids mayor is among the dozens of plaintiffs listed on the suit
The plaintiffs argue the township’s 2024 zoning amendment cannot be applied retroactively to strip existing STR licensing rights from hundreds of properties that had operated legally for decades.
It also claims township officials, including zoning administrators, had repeatedly told residents from as far back as 2003 that short-term rentals were permitted in residential districts.
The suit now seeks both monetary damages and a court order blocking the ban.
Related: Kentucky city weighs ban on one-night short-term rental stays after shooting
Meanwhile, the township has filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the federal lawsuit is an attempt to circumvent the unfavorable ruling in state court.
The township’s position is that STRs have been illegal in residential areas since 1974, a stance an Ottawa County circuit court judge backed in a November 2024 ruling that dismissed an earlier state-level case.
“In the case of short-term rentals, while the phrase ‘short-term rental’ was never a permitted use in Park Township, hotels, motels, and tourist homes were permitted in certain areas under prior zoning ordinances before February 1974,” the township’s website says
That ruling prompted the township to begin issuing citations and fines to operators who continued listing their properties on platforms like Vrbo and Airbnb.
Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand is listed among the dozens of plaintiffs in the federal case, a detail that signals the dispute carries political weight well beyond the township’s borders.
The federal court has yet to set a trial date, and the township has not publicly indicated whether it will seek early dismissal.
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