After months of debate and meetings, the Banks Township board voted 3-2 to retain the township’s zoning laws on Thursday night.
The move to abolish all zoning in the Antrim County community was spearheaded by Marv Rubingh who been seeking approval for a gravel mine in the township since 2017.
He won election to the township board in 2024 and, in his first meeting, began making moves to clear regulatory hurdles for the mine.
After the vote, Rubingh asked the board to revisit the township’s mining regulations.
“We all live in the community. Everything we do affects our property and our lives,” Rubingh told IPR after the meeting. “Just because I made an application some years ago does not make it a conflict of interest.”
The planning commission will review his request to loosen mining regulations.
Opponents of removing the zoning in Banks Township organized a grassroots efforts to keep the rules in place.
“The public took an interest,” said Julie Waterman, one of the organizers. “This is good. Look at all the people who showed up. I counted at one point 135 people, something like that. It worked.”
This story will be updated.
