- Date
- 1992-11-03
- Kind
- Election
- Where
- Beaver Island
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- governancehousingenvironmentcommunity
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
On November 3, 1992, Beaver Island voters upheld the R-1 zoning text amendments approved by the Peaine and St. James Township Boards in August. The November Beaver Beacon reports 194 votes to uphold the amendments and 124 to repeal them.
The amendments applied to Lake Michigan frontage property zoned R-1. The reported changes increased the side-yard setback from 10 to 25 feet, the minimum lot area from 20,000 to 100,000 square feet, and the minimum lot width from 100 to 200 feet. The October issue records the preceding Joint Planning Commission process, the petition effort, and the competing arguments: housing affordability and property-development expectations on one side, and lower density, infrastructure capacity, water quality, and natural-feature protection on the other.
Evidence and limits
This record establishes the reported referendum result and the text of the amendments as described by the newspaper. It does not establish the complete ordinance text, legal effective-date instruments, parcel-by-parcel compliance, enforcement, later amendments, or the outcome of any particular development application. The October article’s claims about support percentages and the November result are retained as newspaper reports rather than reconstructed from official election returns.
Open questions
- Can the adopted 1992 ordinance and official canvass be located?
- What later amendments, variances, permits, or court records changed the practical effect of the R-1 provisions?
- Which shoreline planning and infrastructure records document the conditions debated in the referendum?
Sources
- Publishes Curt Petrak’s advocacy against repealing the R-1 zoning text amendment, arguing that lower density would protect island infrastructure, water supply, wildlife, wildflowers, and the character of Beaver Island; it is an advocacy letter, not a neutral planning analysis. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1992-09_Beaver-Beacon
- The held twelve-page issue scan confirms the pre-referendum zoning letter.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1992-09_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports the November general-election vote of 194 to 124 upholding the Lake Michigan frontage text amendments to the R-1 zoning ordinance. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1992-11_Beaver-Beacon
- The held sixteen-page issue scan confirms the November zoning-result report.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1992-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Remote high-quality OCR derivative used for discovery and quotation checking; the held PDF remains authoritative. The article preserves the source’s advocacy and reported percentages as newspaper framing, not as an independent poll. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1992-10_Beaver-Beacon
- Held PDF of the pre-election issue. It describes the August-approved R-1 amendment, the Joint Planning Commission process, petition thresholds and signatures, and the competing development, affordability, infrastructure, water-quality, and natural-feature arguments; it does not establish the later vote result. The held sixteen-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and does not expand source-specific claims.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1992-10_Beaver-Beacon
- Remote high-quality OCR derivative used for discovery and quotation checking; the held PDF remains authoritative. It supplies the reported 194–124 result and does not establish later enforcement, permits, parcel compliance, or development outcomes. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1992-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Held PDF of the election-result issue. It reports 194 votes to uphold and 124 to repeal the text amendments and summarizes the 25-foot side-yard setback, 100,000-square-foot lot area, and 200-foot lot-width provisions. The held sixteen-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and does not expand source-specific claimsdata1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1992-11_Beaver-Beacon
Added 2 August 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island voters uphold R-1 shoreline zoning amendments, 1992”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-r1-zoning-referendum-upheld-1992/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Island Beacon, September 1992, “LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: OPEN LETTER TO ISLAND VOTERS.” (and 7 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Beaver Island voters uphold R-1 shoreline zoning amendments, 1992”RIS for “Beaver Island voters uphold R-1 shoreline zoning amendments, 1992”