Zoning dispute around Eben Ice Caves
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ROCK RIVER TOWNSHIP -- Rock River Township, which contains the Eben Ice Caves, has recently been receiving state-wide attention for a proposal to repeal its zoning ordinance.
A nearly five-hour-long meeting of the Rock River Township Planning Commission ended Monday night with the commission voting to recommend that the Rock River Board of Trustees send the issue to the township’s voters as a ballot measure.
The situation has drawn not only criticism but accusation of “dirty politics,” as some members of the township government were involved in a lawsuit against the township regarding zoning just a month before the petition to rescind the ordinance arose.
Within Hiawatha National Forest is the Rock River Canyon Wilderness, home to popular winter attraction Eben Ice Caves. The Forest Service has spent the last couple years developing a “sustainable recreation strategy,” deemed necessary to correct issues that stem from “increased visitation, low visitor preparedness, low familiarity with wilderness values, a lack of secure long-term access, increasing resource damage, and safety concerns in the (Eben Ice Caves) area,” the Forest Service States.
In 2022, Wilderness Canyon Properties, LLC -- which was formed to “own and maintain recreational properties,” paperwork filed with the Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs states -- built a 250-car gravel lot near the caves for visitors. A kiosk they installed at the site was ordered removed.
The company’s owners are James Rondeau, a township trustee, and Jon Rondeau, who is on the township’s planning commission. It was formerly owned by their father, Mickey Rondeau, who serves on the Alger County Board of Commissioners.
Now, the LLC is interested in opening up a warming shelter and potential convenience store at the site. However, current Zoning Administrator Mark Maki denied a permit request and questioned whether the current parking lot conformed to zoning rules.
Then arose the lawsuit: plaintiff Wilderness Canyon Properties, LLC vs. Rock River Township. The company was arguing against the Zoning Board of Appeals denial of their application.
Shortly after the suit was filed, an initiative began -- citizens "formally petition[ed] the Rock River Township Board to initiate the legislative process to completely repeal the Rock River Township Zoning Ordinance and transition our community to a non-zoned township."
The township’s legal council, Roger Zappa, had advised the commission that Jon Rondeau not vote on the matter, due to a potential conflict of interest created by his company and its current legal action -- if the ordinance were repealed, his zoning case against the township would cease to be.
“Repeal of the zoning ordinance would arguably advance the interest of Wilderness Canyon LLC under the allegations contained in the lawsuit filed by Rock River Township,” said the letter from Zappa, read aloud by Commissioner Olivia Kingery during a township board meeting on Monday. “If Jon Rondeau and James (Jim) Rondeau do not hold an ownership interest in Wilderness Canyon LLC, the above provisions would arguably not apply to them … if either holds an ownership interest in Wilderness Canyon LLC properties, this presents a closer question.
“On one hand, all members of the planning commission and township board are presumably Rock River Township property owners. To this extent, all planning commission and board members would possess a personal interest in the decision of whether to retain, repeal or amend zoning ordinance.
“On the other hand … none of the planning commission or board members (other than Jon and Jim Rondeau) would hold an ownership interest in an entity engaged in litigation with the township, or would directly benefit from repeal of the ordinance.”
Well over 50 people packed the Rock River Township Hall, in a township with a population of approximately 1,200. The meeting’s original agenda, which included votes on 2026 commission officer elections that has been pushed off since January and several work sessions on zoning-related ordinances, was pushed to the next meeting to make room for the two public hearings — one on the repeal of the rental ordinance and one on the repeal of the zoning ordinance — in anticipation of what ended up being a lengthy and divisive public comment period.
The meeting nearly dissolved into chaos within the first 20 minutes, after Commissioner Victor Aho made an unexpected motion during the approval of the agenda to recuse Commission Chair Jon Rondeau and Commissioner Olivia Kingery from voting on the zoning ordinance repeal.
Aho claimed that Kingery’s business (Pileated Farms), like Jon Rondeau’s, was in violation of the zoning ordinance due to Kingery’s lack of submitted zoning permits and that to be fair, she should be recused as well. Kingery said that her business did not need zoning permits, as it was covered under cottage food laws and she had never put up a new building or engaged in any activity that required a zoning permit.
Commissioner Tammy Shega questioned Aho’s motives for motioning to recuse Kingery, saying “I don’t think your intent is that honorable.”
In the end, commissioners voted to recuse both Jon Rondeau and Kingery from voting, but not before zoning administrator Mark Maki was removed from the meeting by two Michigan State Police troopers and an Alger County police officer for speaking out of turn.
“This is crazy,” said Maki, referring to the recusal vote. Several other audience members began addressing the commission out of turn as well, protesting Maki’s removal due to his position as zoning administrator when zoning was the topic of the hearing, as well as protesting Kingery’s recusal from the vote. It took several minutes for Jon Rondeau to get the meeting back under control.
With the updated agenda, the commission moved on to the rental ordinance repeal hearing.
Rock River Township has spent several years attempting to deal with the issue of short-term rentals and in that process had passed an ordinance specific to rentals. However, there is also a section of the zoning ordinance that covers short-term rentals, so the commissioners were seeking to do away with the redundant ordinance.
The public hearing for this agenda item lasted approximately one hour and included discussions about whether the ordinance was even enforceable due to Maki’s position being part-time and whether the vote made sense at all, as the next agenda item was to repeal the zoning ordinance.
During discussion, there was some back-and-forth between Rondeau and Kingery about whether Rondeau had a copy of the updated, working zoning ordinance, with Rondeau claiming that he had repeatedly asked for it and not received it and Kingery claiming that she had repeatedly sent it to him and that he was listed as an editor on the document, which is kept in a Google Drive.
Ultimately, all commissioners voted in favor of repealing the redundant ordinance.
By this point, the meeting had been underway for over two hours and it was approximately 9:30 p.m. Rondeau excused himself from the meeting altogether and Kingery took a seat in the audience.
Public comment for the zoning ordinance repeal hearing lasted well over an hour, with strong opinions expressed on both sides. Ultimately, over 50 people spoke either in person or via letter. The ratio of comments in favor of repealing the zoning ordinance vs. against repealing it was approximately 1 to 3.
Many people in the audience called for the debate to be given to the people of the township and put on the ballot.
“I am opposed to repealing our township zoning ordinance for many reasons, the strongest being that it is a decision that would directly harm our township, community, land and future land use,” said Kingery in a public comment. “...What opportunities that we do not have as landowners right now will suddenly become available, versus what will we lose?”
“...We will have a Dollar General on (M)94, condos near small farms, a data center, a solar farm or a battery storage facility near the MSU Extention (North Farm). That is all quoting from an MSU Extension planning expert. He said those things will happen if we repeal zoning.”
Other concerns from those against repealing the ordinance were that property values would go down, that big corporations would come in and price out local businesses and that the vote to repeal the ordinance had come too quickly.
Several people acknowledged that there were issues with the zoning ordinance, but that those issues should be addressed instead of repealing the entire ordinance.
Proponents for repealing the zoning ordinance, on the other hand, voiced concerns about property rights, the cost in local taxes of maintaining and enforcing the ordinance and housing prices increasing due to certain zoning restrictions. Several people said that the zoning ordinance was beyond fixing.
“We cannot enforce these zoning ordinances,” said a member of the crowd who would not give their name to the commission. “In the last four years, there’s been a willy-nilly, biased application (of the ordinance) … If you want zoning … let’s raise just your taxes and you can pay for it.”
When it came time for commissioner comment, “This is not an extreme measure,” said Aho. “There are other townships out there (without zoning ordinances) right next to us. The sky is not falling … to say that this place is just going to die is unbelievable. It’s just not true.”
Aho said that he had been contacted by people who supported repealing the ordinance, but who hadn’t attended the meeting.
“Repeal of zoning will eliminate setbacks and minimum parcel sizes for certain developments, allowing industrial facilities and single-family, residential neighborhoods and other potential incompatible uses that are currently regulated by zoning,” said Shega, reading the recommendation from the township attorney.
“Large developers searching for favorable venues for large wind and solar facilities, or similar projects, generally find municipalities with liberal zoning foundations much more favorable.
“While it’s legally permissible to repeal the zoning ordinance, these and all other relevant considerations should be weighed and deliberated before recommending the repeal at the planning commission level.”
Shega urged Aho and commission Vice-Chair Eric Artress to push the vote until they had time to consider more information. Aho called the letter “biased.”
The accusations of “biased application” of the ordinance were restated during the commissioner comment period by Artress, who said that “if this (the zoning ordinance) is going to be there, you better be enforcing it equally across the board.
“I’ve done too many instances where there’s been, ‘oh, I lost this conditional use’ …or ‘it’s gone missing, it disappeared,’ when it should all be held here (in the township hall). Lots of malfeasance going on … not doing your due diligence.”
Shega responded saying that if there were accusations of malfeasance in the enforcing of the zoning ordinance, that constituted a serious accusation and should be investigated before any vote took place. At this point, Kingery and several others were asked to leave the meeting for speaking out of turn. Artress had to pause discussion several times to ask people to stop talking amongst themselves.
Ultimately, the commission voted to recommend to the Board of Trustees that the zoning issue be placed on the ballot.
“(That would) give everyone a voice, not just five or 10 people,” said Artress.
By the time the meeting adjourned, it was nearly midnight.
On Tuesday, the board of trustees declined to put the township’s zoning ordinance on the night’s agenda. The vote will therefore have to wait until a future meeting.
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Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.
R. R. Branstrom, who added to this report, can be reached ta rbranstrom@dailypress.net.