Investigation Reveals Dissatisfaction with Union Township Land Requirements

Michigan Capitol Confidential ran two investigative stories in October looking into reports that government interference is stifling the real estate market in Union Township in Isabella County.

CapCon spent months traveling to Union Township, walking property lines and talking to more than 20 residents about their frustrations with the local officials.

Many interviews stayed off the record, with residents saying they feared retaliation.

Developers, business owners and residents often struggle to sell land in the Mid-Michigan township housing over 11,000 people. Three brothers tried to divide and sell land. But the township blocked the sale unless the brothers extended a road and added a cul-de-sac costing about $100,000, all for land valued at $60,000. The would-be buyer told us officials also demanded a new water line be installed.

Planning commissioner Doug Labelle resigned in frustration.

“There are numerous people leaving the township for other areas that are more amenable,” Labelle wrote in a 2023 email to Township Manager Mark Stuhldreher. “[They] are going elsewhere due to these ongoing difficulties.”

A 2018 lawsuit filed by Lux Family Properties argued that the township had “required and assessed taxes disguised as sewer connection fees and water benefit fees totaling $18,625.”

According to the lawsuit, Lux paid the bill in protest because it knew the township could use “withholding of building permits as a mechanism to require Plaintiff ’s payment of the disputed fees.”

CapCon has just scratched the surface. After we published two stories on the township, at least five more sources reached out with evidence that the local government strangles development at the cost of its residents.

While other news outlets spoon-feed press releases from government officials, CapCon drives the miles, interviews the sources, and gets to the bottom of stories that matter to local residents. We’ll have more to say about Union Township in the coming months.

If you know of a local government overreaching and you have evidence, tell CapCon.