Arvon Township Planning Commission Quarterly Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 6 PM
Call to Order:
Roll Call: All present
Nancy Strohschein (Chair)
Joe Bollech
Bob Janda (Township Board Rep)
Jay Loman (Zoning Board of Appeals
Chair)
Donna Preston
John Salisbury
Recognition of visitors:
Kathy Salisbusy, Whitey Soli, Al Preston, Pat Janik, Diane McQueen, Nancy Kurkowski
Pledge of Allegiance: Done
Comments on agenda: None
Approval of agenda: Motion to approve by Bob Janda. Second by John Salisbury. All in favor.
Approved as presented.
Approval of minutes from July meeting: Motion to approve by Donna Preseton. Second by Jay Loman.
All in favor. Approved as presented
Public comments: Pat Janik asked if the Planning Commission would have any role in the discussion
about an easement across township property that abuts the property of Kurt Becker on Vicks Road.
Nancy Strohschein answered that there does not seem to be any role that the PC would have in that
discussion as there are no provisions in the Zoning Ordinance for establishing easements. There are
requirements for building and development within specified distances from easements and rights-of
ways, but nothing about establishing an easement.
Chairman Comments:
- Notes from Monday 10/6/2025 Board Meeting
a. Nancy continues to work with the board to update our building and zoning fees.
b. Nancy obtained permission to communicate with attorney Tinti on removing Short Term
Rentals from our Zoning Ordinance and updating the language to support Civil
Infractions for non-compliance. - Master Plan update – Not needed now. PC members agree that we do NOT need to update our
Master Plan in 2025. - Recreation Plan update – Not needed now. PC members agree that we do NOT need to update
our Recreation Plan in 2025 since there is no update from the Recreation Committee. - Reminder to Planning Commission (PC) members and public that this is a meeting to conduct
business as a board. - PC Member terms: All terms were recognized. Joe Bollech would like to officially step down in
June, 2026. Until then, we will consider Joe a member and ask him to attend whenever we
may need a quorum, especially during the winter when members may be absent. Donna plans
to renew her appointment.
a. Joe Bollech – 1 Year, expires June 2026
b. Bob Janda – per term on township board
c. Jay Loman – 10/2024, 3 years, expires 10/2027
d. Donna Preston – 10/03/2025, 3 years, expires /10/03/2028
e. John Salsbury – October 2024, 3 years, expires October 2027
f.
Nancy Strohschein – August 2024, 3 years, expires August 2027
1
Old Business: - Planning commission comments/concerns
o Donna Preston asked if we have any updates on the geodesic dome project on
Liimatainen Rd. John Salisbury reported that there has been no substantial progress.
No construction of road or septic field has been done. - Bob Janda: Report from Township Board Rep. Nothing to report.
- Jay Loman: Report from Zoning Board of Appeals – Jay reported that The Finns want to do a
20 x 30 extension on the front of the building. This would encroach on Skanee Rd setback.
Buddy Sweeney (Zoning Administrator) denied the request. The ZBA was contacted to consider
the request. Jay is making sure the ZBA follows all the regulations for meetings and decisions. - Buddy Sweeney: Report from Zoning Administrator
o Report of recent applications per email. See page 4 of this document - Accomplished in 2025 Quarterly Meetings:
o Reviewed Master Plan – April 2025
o Reviewed Recreation Plan – July 2025
o Reviewed Zoning Ordinance changes – Ongoing - Tracking Zoning Ordinance APPROVED Changes (PC has discussed and agrees)
o Change 1: Use of campers on property for occasional use
o Change 2: Minimum acreage for Forest Resource. Should be 10, not 40
o Change 3: Amend section 404 with definition of “high water mark”. This still needs to
be defined. Each PC member should review the information previously provided and be
able to discuss at the January meeting.
o Change 4: Page 38 “Section 602” typo
New Business: - Discuss article in MTA magazine about civil infraction. Nancy reviewed the article with the
PC and referred to section 1401 in our Zoning Ordinance. Nancy will have attorney Tinti
look at our language and make sure it is written properly. - Discuss Part 7 of Green Book, Planning and Zoning Issues, pages 201 through 249. A quick
review of this section was done as part of the PC’s continuing education. The topics were
the Land Division Act, Preserving Farmland, Rural Character and Open Space, Mineral and
Resource Extraction, Waterfront Overlay Zoning and Current Planning and Zoning Issues.
An outcome of this review is for Nancy to contact Jim Fedie and get a copy of our Land
Division procedure or guideline. - Review possible ZO changes.
a. Definition of “high water mark” and change in section 404. Yes, we should do this.
b. Consider changing water setbacks. Jay suggests we use the definition used by
Chassell.
c. Consider how to clarify section on fences. Height, permission from neighbors,
property line. – There was discussion on this point and it was decided that each PC
member needs to read our ordinance and come prepared to make changes at the
April 2026 meeting.
d. Remove STR section per direction from board. PC agrees to remove this per the
request from the Arvon Township Board.
e. Strengthen civil infraction language in enforcement section after consultation with
township attorney.
2 - Determine schedule to update the Zoning Ordinance with the approved changes. The
decision was made to make the changes at the April 2026 meeting. The January meeting
will be less well-attended due to PC member time away in the winter. Each PC member is
to look into each change independently and come prepared to discuss changes. - Set quarterly meetings for 2026. Quarterly meetings will be held on the 4th Thursday of
January, April, July and October in 2026. Meetings will be at 6 PM at the Fire Hall. - Do we need to set a special meeting for zoning ordinance (ZO) changes? It was decided
that we will NOT schedule a separate meeting for ZO changes at this time. We will use the
April 2026 meeting to make the changes.
Topics for Next Meeting: - PC Education? No additional education assignments from the green book were made. Instead,
each member will look into ZO statements on fences and consider what changes we need to
make, if any. This is based on Buddy Sweeney (Zoning Administrator) comments. - Spend time looking over the current ZO in sections where we need to consider changes.
Upcoming meetings:
- January 22, 2026 at 6 PM at the Fire Hall
Adjourn:
Meeting was adjourned at 7:19 PM
3
Information from Zoning Administrator
July 7, 2025:
A25-001 Lee Luft Off St.Cyr rd.
22X30 cabin
A25-002 Mark Buzenski Lakewood Dr. 32 X84 Home
A25-003 Sue Hoban Pt. Abbaye Rd. 16 X 14 cabin
A25-004 Ted Bocek Liimatainen Rd. 20 X 20 cabin
A25-005 Lee Prost Witz rd. 34X 49 garage ( ZBA Ruling)
A25-006 Dave Goodreau Bayview Dr. 16 X24 Sauna/ storage
A25-007 Brian Rule Pine Beach Dr.
14 X50 cabin ( EGLE Flood Plain ruling)
October 6, 2025:
A25-008 Kurt Allert 13934 Bay View dr. 28 X 36 home.
A25-009 Rodrigo Oyarzun 11643 Liimatainen rd.
A25-010 Bucky Marcotte 20025 Skanee Rd 20X32 band shell
A25-011 Frank Cangemi 24375 Huron Rd. 16X21 addition
A25-012 Mike Mainville 23384 skanee rd 8X8 shed.
A25-013 Ray Went 20714 Point Abbaye rd 10 X 20 Bunkhouse.
A25-014 Tony Filarski 19099 Ravenswood Ct. 12 X 28 cabin
A25-015 Bruce Pesola 14172 Bay View dr. 30 x 50 garage
A25-016 John Crissman 19060 Collins rd. 14 X 32 addition
A25-017 Mike Parnicky 22837 Skanee rd 16 X 24 Cabin
4
Water Setbacks
Portage Twp:
Chassell Twp:
5
Eagle Harbor Township:
Powell Township:
6