[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Board of Trustees of the
Township of Lawrence as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 3-26-2005 (Ord.
No. 20 of the 2005 Code)]
An ordinance amending, repealing, revising and rearranging all
ordinances of the Township of Lawrence into a two-volume set of compiled
ordinances, codified pursuant but not limited to the terms of Michigan
Public Act 78 of 1989. The Township of Lawrence, Van Buren County,
Michigan, hereby ordains:
This article shall be known as and cited as Ordinance No. 20,
the "Lawrence Township Code of Compiled Ordinances."
This article is intended to consolidate into a two-volume set
all ordinances of the Township of Lawrence as originally adopted or
as later amended; to provide ease of access to local rules and regulations;
and to provide a numbering scheme for the compilation of existing
ordinances as now or hereafter amended or as subsequently adopted
by the Lawrence Township Board.
The following ordinances, listed by present name and number,
shall be and are hereby are repealed.
A.
Ordinance Nos. 1, 28, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38 and 39: All zoning ordinances
and amendments thereto effective prior to November 9, 2002, are repealed
and were replaced by current Zoning Ordinance No. 44, the later being
renumbered herein as Ordinance No. 1.
B.
Ordinance Nos. 5, 23, and 27: All ordinances designating agencies
to enforce the state construction code or any part thereof or similar
state law were replaced and superseded by current Zoning Ordinance
No. 34, the later being renumbered herein as Ordinance No. 15.
Ordinances were adopted previously and assigned separate numbers
when the intent was merely to amend an existing ordinance. The following
amendatory ordinances are combined:
A.
Ordinances Nos. 2, 19 and 43. Ordinance No. 2, entitled "Junkyards,"
shall continue, as amended by Ordinances 19 and 43.
B.
Ordinance No. 35 and Ordinance No. 40. The land division ordinance,
former ordinance No. 35, as amended by Ordinance 40, is renumbered
herein as Ordinance No. 16.
C.
Ordinance No. 36 and Ordinance No. 41. The blight ordinance, former
ordinance No. 36, as amended by Ordinance 41, is renumbered herein
as Ordinance No. 17.
Present Ordinance No. 34, titled "Mechanical Codes," shall be
retitled "State Building, Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing Codes"
and, as provided herein, shall be renumbered as Ordinance No. 15.
All those ordinances which have not been repealed or combined
shall be renumbered and referred to by name or title, using the following
name and numbering system:
|
Ordinance No. Name/Title as Reassigned Assigned
|
Ordinance No. Previously
| |
|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Zoning
|
44
|
|
2
|
Junkyards
|
2
|
|
3
|
Boat Speeds on Reynolds Lake
|
9
|
|
4
|
Lawrence Economic Development Corporation
|
10
|
|
5
|
Division of Lots
|
13
|
|
6
|
Regulation of Outdoor Assemblies
|
15
|
|
7
|
Establishing Fiscal Year
|
17
|
|
8
|
Electric Franchise
|
18
|
|
9
|
Cable Franchise
|
20
|
|
10
|
Cable Franchise, Van Buren County Cablevision
|
22
|
|
11
|
Withholding of Insurance Funds on Fire or Explosion Damage Structures
|
24
|
|
12
|
Grant to Class Communications, Inc.
|
25
|
|
13
|
Grant to Consumers Power Company
|
26
|
|
14
|
Cost Recovery for Fires Involving Hazardous Materials, Hazardous
Conditions, Deliberate Fires and Negligent Fires
|
30
|
|
15
|
State Building, Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing Codes
|
34
|
|
16
|
Land Division
|
35
|
|
17
|
Blight
|
36
|
|
18
|
Electric Franchise Indiana Michigan Power Company
|
42
|
|
19
|
Dangerous Structures
|
45
|
Should the Lawrence Township Board adopt additional ordinances,
each shall be assigned the next consecutive number after the last
then presently effective ordinance. Page numbers shall be assigned
consistent with the numbering scheme used in the two-volume set of
compiled ordinances published pursuant to this article.
When one of the compiled ordinances is modified through the
adoption of an amendment, the language of the amending ordinance shall
be immediately included in the existing ordinance, adding, deleting
or modifying ordinance language as may be necessary. An ordinance
merely amending an existing ordinance shall be given no separate number
but shall be entitled "An Ordinance Amending Ordinance No. ___ of
the Lawrence Township Compiled Ordinances," providing the ordinance
number as appropriate. Any such amendatory ordinance shall be identified
by title and the date it was adopted by the Lawrence Township Board
but shall not be listed in the table of contents as a separate ordinance.
Ordinances adopted previous to this article make or may make
reference to other ordinances which have been repealed or combined.
To avoid confusion, references to these previously repealed ordinances
shall be deleted from the ordinances compiled pursuant to the terms
of this article. The deletion of these references shall in no way
undermine or impact the effectiveness of those ordinances, which expressly
continue in effect. The date a prior ordinance was originally adopted
or amended shall be placed at the end of any ordinance, which continues
in effect.
Zoning Ordinance No. 44, renumbered as compiled Ordinance No.
1 herein, became effective on November 9, 2002. The Lawrence Township
Board adopted amendments to the zoning ordinance by resolutions dated
November 13, 2003, October 14, 2004, and February 10, 2005, all of
which were previously published as provided by law. Ordinance No.
44, compiled and renumbered pursuant to this article as Ordinance
No. 1, shall include these zoning ordinance amendments.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 20, Code Adoption,
Art. II)]
This article shall be published as provided by law. Copies of
the proposed zoning ordinance shall be made available for review at
the Lawrence Community Services Building, 411 N. Paw Paw Street, Lawrence,
Michigan, on Monday through Friday between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
or at the Lawrence Branch of the District Library during normal business
hours.
This article shall take effect 30 days following its publication
after its adoption.
[Adopted 6-11-2020]
The ordinances of the Township of Lawrence of a general and permanent nature adopted by the Township Board of Trustees of the Township of Lawrence, as revised, codified and consolidated into chapters and sections by General Code and consisting of Chapters 1 through 31, together with appendixes, are hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the Code of the Township of Lawrence, hereinafter known and referred to as the "Code."
This ordinance and the Code shall supersede all general and
permanent ordinances enacted prior to the enactment of this Code,
except such ordinances as are hereinafter expressly saved from repeal
or continued in force.
This ordinance shall become effective upon publication after
adoption.
A copy of the Code in loose-leaf form has been filed in the
office of the Township Clerk and shall remain there for use and examination
by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance; and,
if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to
by the Clerk of the Township of Lawrence by impressing thereon the
Seal of the Township, as provided by law, and such certified copy
shall remain on file in the office of the Township Clerk, to be made
available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times
while said Code is in effect.
Any and all additions, amendments or supplements to the Code,
when passed and adopted in such form as to indicate the intent of
the governing body to make them a part thereof, shall be deemed to
be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the "Code of the
Township of Lawrence" shall be understood and intended to include
such additions and amendments. Whenever such additions, amendments
or supplements to the Code shall be adopted, they shall thereafter
be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted in the loose-leaf
book containing said Code, as amendments and supplements thereto.
The Clerk of the Township of Lawrence, pursuant to law, shall
cause to be published, in the manner required, a copy of this Adopting
Ordinance in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township. Sufficient
copies of the Code shall be maintained in the office of the Clerk
for inspection by the public at all times during regular office hours.
The enactment and publication of this Adopting Ordinance, coupled
with availability of copies of the Code for inspection by the public,
shall be deemed, held and considered to be due and legal publication
of all provisions of the Code for all purposes.
It shall be the duty of the Clerk or someone authorized and
directed by the Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the
book containing the Code required to be filed in his or her office
for the use of the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances
adopted subsequent to the effective date of this codification which
shall be adopted specifically as part of the Code shall, when finally
adopted, be included therein by reference until such changes or new
ordinances are printed as supplements to said Code book, at which
time such supplements shall be inserted therein.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be
purchased from the Clerk, or an authorized agent of the Clerk, upon
the payment of a fee to be set by the Township Board of Trustees,
or may be furnished electronically. The Clerk may also arrange for
procedures for the periodic supplementation of the Code.
It shall be unlawful for anyone to improperly change or amend,
by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code or to alter
or tamper with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause
the law of the Township of Lawrence to be misrepresented thereby.
Anyone violating this section or any part of this ordinance shall
be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment
for not more than 90 days, or both, in the discretion of the Judge
imposing the same.
This Code and the various parts, sections, subsections, paragraphs,
sentences, phrases, and clauses thereof are hereby declared to be
severable. If any part, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence,
phrase, or clause is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid by a court
of competent jurisdiction, it is hereby provided that the remainder
of this Code shall not be affected thereby and shall remain in effect
and valid. In the event this ordinance or the codification is declared
unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction,
the ordinances of the Township of Lawrence shall nonetheless continue
in force in effect. To the extent this ordinance or codification would
have repealed or amended any ordinances, they shall exist in the form
before this ordinance or condition. To the extent that later adopted
ordinances are incorporated into this codification, those ordinances
shall continue to have effect.
Each section of this ordinance is an independent section, and
the holding of any section or part thereof to be unconstitutional,
void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect the
validity or constitutionality of any other sections or parts thereof.
Repeal of inconsistent ordinances. All ordinances and parts
thereof not included in the Code adopted by this ordinance which are
in conflict in whole or in part with any of the provisions of this
Code are repealed as of the effective date of this Code, but only
to the extent of any such conflict.
The provisions of this Code, insofar as they are substantially
the same as ordinances previously adopted by the Township relating
to the same subject matter, shall be construed as restatements and
continuations thereof and not as entirely new enactments.
A.
Nothing in this Code (or the ordinance adopting this Code) affects
any offense or act committed or done, any penalty or forfeiture incurred,
or any contract or right established before the effective date of
this Code.
B.
The adoption of this Code does not authorize any use or the continuation
of any use of a structure, building, or premises in violation of any
Township ordinance on the effective date of this Code.
The adoption of this Code and the repeal of ordinances provided for in § 20-25 of this ordinance shall not affect the validity of following ordinances, rights and obligations, which are hereby expressly saved from repeal. The ordinances or portions of ordinances designated below continue in full force and effect to the same extent as if published at length in this Code.
A.
Any ordinance adopted subsequent to December 12, 2019.
B.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance promising or guaranteeing
the payment of money or authorizing the issuance of bonds or other
instruments of indebtedness.
C.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance authorizing or approving
any contract, deed, or agreement.
D.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance granting any right or franchise.
E.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance making or approving any
appropriation or budget.
F.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance providing for salaries
or other employee benefits or personnel policies not codified in this
Code.
G.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance levying, imposing, or otherwise
relating to taxes not codified in this Code.
H.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance adopting or amending the
Township Master Plan.
I.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance dedicating, accepting,
or vacating any plat or subdivision.
J.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance dedicating, establishing,
naming, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, repairing,
or vacating any street, sidewalk, or alley.
K.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance establishing the grade
of any street or sidewalk.
L.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance levying or imposing any
special assessment.
M.
Any ordinance rezoning property.
N.
Any ordinance regarding special districts.
O.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance that is temporary although
general in effect.
P.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance that is special although
permanent in effect.
Q.
Any ordinance or portion of any ordinance the purpose of which has
been accomplished.
A.
Throughout the Code, a reference to "Michigan Compiled Laws" shall
include all sections of law, as last amended, which are assigned a
compilation number by the legislative service bureau and are not subsequently
repealed.
B.
Unless otherwise specifically provided, a reference to all or part
of a statute, regardless of whether the words "as amended" are used
in the reference, shall include the latest amendments to the statute
or part.
A.
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for adoption and revision
as part of the Code, certain grammatical changes and other minor changes
were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of
the Township Board of Trustees that all such changes be adopted as
part of the Code as if the ordinances so changed had been previously
formally amended to read as such.
B.
In addition, the changes, amendments or revisions as set forth in
Schedule A attached hereto and made a part hereof are made herewith,[1] to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance.
(Chapter and section number references are to the ordinances as they
have been renumbered and appear in the Code.)
[1]
Editor's Note: Schedule A is on file in the Township
offices.
C.
Nomenclature changes.
(1)
In Chapter 1, Zoning, all references to the terms "Department of Community Mental Health" and "Michigan Department of Public Health" are amended to read "Department of Health and Human Services"; all references to "Soil Conservation Service" are amended to read "Natural Resources Conservation Service."
(2)
In Chapter 6, Outdoor Assemblies, all references to the term "Department of State Highways" is amended to read "Department of Transportation."
(3)
All references to "MSA" citations are hereby revised to their corresponding
MCLA references. All MSA references will be deleted.
This ordinance shall be published in the manner as required
by law. Except as otherwise provided by law, this ordinance shall
be effective on the day after final publication.
