Michigan Townhips Association issued the following announcement.
The following statement from MTA Executive Director Neil Sheridan is in response to today’s Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on an MTA-opposed
substitute version of Senate Bill 431, which virtually eliminates local government zoning and oversight authority over sand and gravel mining operations in Michigan. A letter to
committee members from a coalition opposing SB 431 is also attached to this email.
The current substitute for Senate Bill 431 does nothing to alleviate local government concerns about this egregious and unnecessary overreach into the local planning and zoning
process. MTA—with a coalition of organizations representing local government, schools and the environment—had put forth a compromise as a good-faith effort to resolve issues,
but those provisions were not included in the substitute. It should go without saying that locally elected leaders can best respond to residents’ concerns and desires for what is right
for their communities, and have a duty to balance protecting their residents against impacts on their quality of life with the need for access to aggregate. This bill is a betrayal of the
zoning process and could result in detrimental effects to Michigan communities for decades to come. MTA urges senators to place people over profit, vote no on this bill, and allow
communities to continue to have a voice in sand and gravel mining operations in their borders. We, along with the coalition, remain ready and willing to work with lawmakers on this
issue that impacts residents and communities across the entire state.
Original source can be found here.
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