Letter to the editor: Lansing residents call for transparency, caution on proposed moratorium

We write to you as concerned residents of Lansing that would like to shed light on the lack of transparency between the Lansing Town Board and its own residents with respect to the push for an emergency, police-power action, land use moratorium for a full year with no definitive end date. 

As members of the Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC), we were appointed and given a job by the Lansing Town Board to help bring our individual input and experiences to the group as we update our new zoning law collectively. We had our first and only “organizational” meeting as a committee on September 2, 2025. Since that meeting we have had more than 2 months to review the comprehensive plan, current zoning code, gap analysis, and summary of recommended updates provided by Colliers (The firm hired by the Town to guide our zoning updates). 

The Town Board is setting themselves up to vote on one of the most divisive and consequential actions the town has seen in decades. The moratorium directly impacts the scope and purpose of the ZAC’s work. We were given zero notice of this moratorium and were never asked for any input by the Town Board. On top of this, the Town Board hasn’t listened to the recommendations of its own Planning board, Zoning Board of Appeals, town staff, own consultants, or voters. They have all recommended NO moratorium. The Town Board is there to represent the voters, not to have a select few members impose their own ideological views on us. This isn’t democracy. 

Now, they won’t even listen to the committee they appointed themselves to handle the new rezoning updates. We aren’t even allowed to meet before they will be voting on the moratorium. This is bad for the town, and wrong on many, many levels. 

Given the weight of the moratorium and its potential consequences for Lansing’s longterm growth and character, I’m urging the town board to slow down, and to seek and take valuable input from your own appointed boards and committees. It’s only fair and the right thing to do. This isn’t an emergency, so let’s think through the weight of our decisions fully, seeking input from others, not shutting everyone out. 

-John Duthie, John Hatfield and Lauren Baker, of Lansing