06-08-2025
Small town locked in $50M brawl with wineries is forced to sell its beloved lighthouse to pay court fees
A township in Michigan is scrambling to gather cash after being ordered to pay millions in damages to local wineries for stifling their business.
Last month a judge ordered that Peninsula Township pay almost $50 million to the 11 local wineries of Old Mission Peninsula.
The order came after wineries won a five-year legal battle against the township over zoning regulations that they claimed affected their business.
Now, Peninsula Township officials are discussing drastic steps to find the money - including selling a historic lighthouse or suspending park and cemetery maintenance.
A lawyer for the wineries called the budget recommendations a 'PR stunt' designed to villainize the 11 plaintiffs who won the five-year legal battle against the township tle on July 7.
The saga began in October 2020, when a federal lawsuit brought about by the wineries argued that strict zoning rules stifled business and violated their constitutional rights.
According to the lawsuit, the zoning ordinances adopted by Peninsula Township regulated the vineyards' activities.
The zoning ordinances prohibited the hosting of 'weddings, receptions, and other social functions for hire' at these venues.
They also stated that a winery with at least forty acres may host a tasting room, but only with limited retail sales.
Peninsula Township attempted to negotiate changes because they understood that the ordinances were unpopular with the wineries.
However, when negotiations stalled the wineries initiated a lawsuit against the Township, claiming the ordinances were unconstitutional.
Now that the wineries have won the $50 million lawsuit, officials are publicly discussing how they can gather the money.
'Selling property and cutting back things in the office are two ways that we can immediately have money in place to be able to lessen the burden all around for the taxpayers,' Township Supervisor Maura Sanders told MLive.
A special assessment, or additional property taxes, will be added to the Peninsula Township tax roll to collect the damages.
Liability insurance will also cover some of the cost, but Sanders said the township is still unsure about how much will be paid by that.
The memo describing what cost-saving measures the Peninsula Township board will discuss at the upcoming August 12 meeting also suggested closing all township offices, as well as suspending planning and zoning.
It also mentioned the 'review and potential sale' of township assets - like the historic Mission Point Lighthouse, an iconic site built in 1870 at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula.
Other township assets listed include Archie Roadside Park, some lots at Haserot Beach and Bowers Harbor Park.
Sanders described the lighthouse as the 'crown jewel' of the township and said it would be devastating to sell it.
'Nobody in the township, the region and all the folks that we've had visiting from elsewhere would want to see that go into private hands,' she said. 'But the township needs to look at all potential opportunities to limit the burden on our taxpayers.'
Joe Infante, a Miller Canfield attorney who represents the wineries - including Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery, says the dramatic measures are being discussed to 'drive public opinion' against his clients.
'The township's litigation strategy for this whole case is really to try to rally the public against the wineries and (make the public) think the wineries are the bad guys,' he said.
'You read the judge's opinion and the bad guys are the township. The person who violates somebody's constitutional rights, that's the bad guy.'
He also said he's not sure how helpful it would be to sell the lighthouse.
'There's a lot of ways to do it, short of selling a lighthouse,' he said. 'Not sure there's much of a market for a lighthouse.'
The Peninsula Township board voted to dispute the judge's ruling in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and while the appeal is pending, the township on August 5 asked the court to pause any lawsuit payments.
