Building/Zoning Permits & Information
Norman Township Zoning Administrator: Ben Townsend
norzoning@outlook.com
Office Hours
Tuesday: 1pm-5 pm
Friday: 8am-2pm
Ben was the long-time pastor of Bible Believers Baptist Church of Mesick. He retired as a result of Cancer and the treatments. Reworking his life and income, Ben was a county commissioner for 6 years in Wexford County. He was known as the “busiest commissioner on the Board.”
He is still on the Northern Lakes Mental Health Board, the MDHHS Board for Wexford/Missaukee counties, and a long-time member of the Networks Northwest Board, covering the 10 Northwest counties of Michigan, which includes overseeing the budgets of MIWorks and the Small Businesses. Ben represents Networks Northwest at several conferences and was interviewed on the Networks Northwest 50th Anniversary Commercial Video. Ben is also the Vice-President of the Wexford County Airport for the past 7 years.
As commissioner, he was known as the person who had the loudest voice in preventing Tippy and Hodenpyle Dams from being removed.
Author of six books, published by Adorn Books, his novel reached number 5 on the Amazon list of legal thrillers.
He is currently the Zoning Administrator of 11 townships, including Norman Township in Manistee County. Call Ben if you want any help with your building project.
State of Michigan Inspectors
Building Inspector: Chuck Erickson
231-360-7386
Electrical Inspector: Larry Singletary
517-242-4153
Plumbing Inspector: Craig Cole
906-235-8417
Mechanical Inspector: Michael Janowiak
231-690-8160
Zoning Forms/Applications
Land Use Permit – $50
Temp. Dwelling – $25
Frequently Asked Questions
720 Square feet of living space.
The ordinance does not say much about fences, but what it does say in section 1040 is that if a fence is over 6′ it has to be placed back to the setback of the District. Fences 6′ or less can be placed on the property line, but we suggest if you do not have a survey or know where your markers are that you place it a foot inside where you think the property line is.
Small sheds do need Zoning Permits to place them on the property. The reason for this is two-fold: 1) a zoning permit will position the shed the proper distances from the property lines and other structures on the property, and, 2) the assessor needs this information to assess the shed on the tax role and take a picture for their file. As a NOTE: you may not need a building permit unless you are going to put electric to the shed or anything else that would need a building inspector to inspect. You would need to call the state building office to find out that information.
Prebuilt sheds are usually made for storage of materials or vehicles. They would not pass State Building Codes for human occupancy unless they were built specifically for that purpose. The State would be the ones who would inspect a building to give an occupancy permit for humans.
A special thanks to Bob Hall, the Zoning Administrator of Norman Township for 15 years. We attribute all that was done for the betterment of Norman Township to Bob’s hard work. He helped redo the Master Plan and edit the Zoning Ordinance to better contain what the residents of Norman wanted in their ordinance.