[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The following ordinances, listed by present name and number, shall be and are hereby are repealed.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1, 28, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38 and 39: All zoning ordinances and amendments thereto effective prior to November 9, 2002, are repealed and were replaced by current Zoning Ordinance No. 44, the later being renumbered herein as Ordinance No. 1.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designating agencies to enforce the state construction code or any part thereof or similar state law were replaced and superseded by current Zoning Ordinance No. 34, the later being renumbered herein as Ordinance No. 15.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All those ordinances which have not been repealed or combined shall be renumbered and referred to by name or title, using the following name and numbering system: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.