Sumpter delays rezoning after lawyer notes Open Meetings Act violation

At the beginning of the Nov. 25 meeting of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees, Jeffrey B. Schlussel, an attorney representing Carson-Fisher Group, asked the board members not to approve rezoning 90 acres, representing four of five parcels thought to be on the agenda before them.
He said he tried to find out exactly what the planning commission had recommended and asked for minutes of the Sept. 11 special meeting, but he said he was denied the minutes until after they were approved by the board. He said this is a sheer violation of the Open Meetings Act, along with other violations because minutes haven’t been published in the required number of days on other meetings.
He said he checked the township “newspaper of record” and township minutes haven’t been published there in a timely manner.
He said he sent a letter to the planning commission on Sept. 4 listing why it should not recommend rezoning of the property and he made sure the board members got a copy of that letter.
The minutes of the Sept. 11 meeting, now on the township website in draft form, states Schlussel spoke for the property owners, and said the 90 acres next to Rawsonville Woods was always intended to be used as a unified residential area.
The township’s planning consultant Joe Pezzotti submitted his rezoning analysis at that meeting and stated that there are currently 535 manufactured housing sites in Rawsonville Woods. The Master Plan Future Land Use map identifies the parcels in question as designated for future Rural Residential zoning, which would bring a low-density development as in one dwelling unit per acre.
At the Sept. 11 meeting, the commissioners approved recommending to the township board the rezoning of the MHP (Mobile Home Park) designation to RF (Rural Farm) for the following parcels:
• 81-071-99-0004-000
• 81-071-99-0007-000
• 81-071-99-0003-000
• 81-071-99-0006-000
• 81-071-99-0001-705
The ones attorney Schlussel objected to rezoning were the final four on the list.
After much discussion at the Nov. 25 meeting, the board voted unanimously to table the minutes of the Sept. 11 special meeting of the planning commission. The Sept. 11 minutes were put on the unfinished business part of the agenda of the Dec. 9 meeting.
(All the videos of regular board meetings were removed without notice from the township website as far as last April. Video of the Sept. 11 planning meeting is on the website.)
In other business at the Nov. 25 meeting, the board:
• Approved the meeting dates for 2026 for both the township board and the planning commission;
• Voted 6-1 against closing the township hall offices during the holiday season with employees using four benefit bank days for Dec. 26, Dec. 29, Dec. 30, and Jan 2. Treasurer Patterson cast the only yes vote;
• Approved a new construction checklist as submitted by Carlisle Wortman Associates;
• Approved purchasing eight vehicles for $96,120 to be included in the 2026-27 budget, per the agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management as approved by the board of trustees;
• Heard resident Kay Harris say the board is changing the emblem of the township. Its current emblem says Sumpter is “country living at its finest,” but there are already three to four junkyards in the township in residential areas. She said this is not “country living at its finest.” She said people don’t want to raise their kids in a junkyard. She said the township approves used-car sales, but the cars in these lots have no doors and the front ends are smashed in. She recalled someone coming to build a market in Sumpter and the township got a gas station;
• Heard Arcell Harris say that the property next to them at 25891 Sumpter Rd. no longer is Sammy’s Auto (run by Hassan Nassar). Arcell said Nassar was given the exception because it was Sammy’s Auto. The cars are still there and now it is under the name of Sumpter Property LLC. He said 100 cars are in the grass next to his home. He asked the board not to give final approval to the business next to his home until all the unoperational vehicles are removed. People aren’t following the rules, he said. Sammy’s cars are still there, he said. He showed the board pictures of all the unoperational cars in that lot;
• Hassan Nassar said the Savage Road location for his new business was his dream. He said the people going to the bakery drive on his property. He said an ordinance officer told him he cannot open there now because he has no license from the state. He said they now talk about asphalt behind his fence and to put the cars back there every night after he closes at 5 o’clock. He complained the bake shop sign is in the road right of way and blocks the sight; and
• Heard township manager Ken Marten say a new township website will go in place after the first of the year, he is looking forward to an urgent care in the downtown area, and he’d like them to schedule a workshop on the budget, possibly before the next meeting.