ARTICLE XII. Moratorium on the Acceptance, Processing, and Approval of Applications for New or Expanded Detention Facilities1
42-277 Purpose and findings.
(a) The City of Pontiac has determined that an emergency interim zoning ordinance is necessary to ensure that the City has adequate time to study and consider appropriate zoning and land use regulations for new or expanded detention facilities within the City.
(b) The City has a substantial interest in protecting the public peace, property, health, safety, and welfare of its residents, and in ensuring the orderly development and use of land within the City. The City has further determined that new or expanded detention facilities may create significant land use impacts, including, but not limited to, impacts on public safety, emergency services, transportation, parking, construction staging, utilities, water and sewer capacity, wastewater systems, public health, and compatibility with surrounding land uses.
(c) The City Code and Zoning Ordinance do not currently contain regulations specifically addressing detention facilities as a separate land use. The City has determined that additional study is necessary to evaluate whether and how detention facilities should be regulated through the City’s zoning and development review processes, including the appropriate zoning districts, approval standards, site design requirements, public safety access, buffering, parking, traffic circulation, utility impacts, and other land use considerations.
(d) The City has considered the consequences of having no moratorium, but has determined that a temporary moratorium is necessary to preserve the status quo while the City studies and considers appropriate zoning and land use regulations for detention facilities. The City further finds that an emergency ordinance is necessary because delay could result in the filing, acceptance, processing, or approval of applications for new or expanded detention facilities before the City has adequate regulations to evaluate the land use impacts of such facilities.
(e) This article is adopted as an emergency interim zoning and land use regulation and shall temporarily supplement the City of Pontiac Zoning Ordinance and all City application, permit, site plan, special exception, certificate of use, occupancy, building, and development approval procedures for the duration of the moratorium.
(f) This article is intended to operate as an interim zoning and land use regulation. It is not intended to regulate detention operations, custody decisions, immigration enforcement, criminal justice operations, conditions of confinement, or the internal operations of any Federal, State, county, or other governmental entity.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-258), 6-16-26)
42-278 Moratorium.
(a) The City hereby places a temporary moratorium on the acceptance, processing, review, or approval of any application, permit, site plan, special exception permit, zoning approval, building permit, occupancy permit, certificate of use, temporary use permit, or other development approval for the establishment of a new detention facility or the expansion of an existing detention facility within the City of Pontiac.
(b) During the moratorium, no City department, official, employee, board, commission, or body shall accept, process, review, approve, or issue any application, permit, approval, or authorization for the establishment of a new detention facility or the expansion of an existing detention facility, whether the proposed use is principal or accessory, and whether the proposed use is permanent or temporary.
(c) For purposes of this article, “expansion” means an increase in the size, area, capacity, number of beds, intensity, quantity, or scope of an existing detention facility use.
(d) Any application or request submitted during the moratorium that seeks approval for a use or activity prohibited by this article shall not be accepted or processed. Any application accepted as a result of error, omission, vague description, or incomplete or inaccurate information shall be null and void and shall have no legal force or effect.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-259), 6-16-26)
42-279 Moratorium term.
(a) The moratorium established by this article shall remain in effect for a period of one year from the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article, unless repealed, shortened, or extended by subsequent action of the City Council as permitted by law.
(b) During the moratorium, the City Administration, Planning Division, and any other appropriate City officials or consultants shall study and make recommendations concerning permanent zoning and land use regulations for detention facilities. The study may include, but is not limited to, analysis of the following:
(1) The potential land use impacts of detention facilities;
(2) Appropriate zoning districts for detention facilities, if any;
(3) Whether detention facilities should be permitted as a principal permitted use, special exception use, conditional use, or other regulated use;
(4) Site design, access, circulation, parking, loading, security, buffering, screening, lighting, utility, water, sewer, wastewater, emergency access, and public safety considerations;
(5) Construction staging and temporary impacts associated with the development or expansion of detention facilities;
(6) The relationship between detention facilities and surrounding residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, civic, and public uses;
(7) Whether different types of detention facilities should be regulated differently based on their land use impacts; and
(8) Any other zoning, planning, public safety, infrastructure, or land use considerations determined to be relevant.
(c) No later than nine months after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article, the City Administrator or designee shall transmit the results of the study, together with any recommended ordinance amendments, to the City Council for consideration.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-260), 6-16-26)
42-280 Definition.
(a) For purposes of this article only, “detention facility” means a facility used for the secure confinement of persons who are detained pending adjudication, detained pending civil immigration proceedings, or serving a sentence of incarceration.
(b) For purposes of this article only, “detention facility” does not include:
(1) A facility operated solely for the detention of juveniles for rehabilitative, counseling, treatment, mental health, educational, or medical services under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Family Court or the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services;
(2) A temporary holding cell within a police station or courthouse used exclusively for pre-arraignment, in-custody court appearances, or other temporary law enforcement or court-related custody lasting less than 72 hours;
(3) An influx care facility for unaccompanied noncitizen children operated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement; or
(4) A receiving center for commercially sexually exploited children under Michigan law.
(c) For purposes of this article only, the terms “jail” and “jail farm,” wherever used in the Pontiac City Code or Zoning Ordinance, shall be treated as detention facilities.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-261), 6-16-26)
42-281 Existing lawful uses; governmental uses; preemption savings clause.
(a) This article shall not prohibit the lawful continuation, maintenance, or repair of any vested and otherwise lawfully established use, structure, or development existing as of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article; provided, that such use, structure, or development is not expanded during the moratorium.
(b) This article is intended to regulate land use and development approvals to the maximum extent permitted by law. Nothing in this article shall be interpreted or applied to regulate the conditions of confinement, detention operations, immigration enforcement, criminal justice operations, law enforcement operations, or any Federal, State, county, or other governmental function in a manner preempted by State or Federal law.
(c) Nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit, restrict, or impair a Federal, State, county, or other governmental entity from carrying out a governmental function where the City lacks authority to apply its zoning or land use regulations under applicable law.
(d) Nothing in this article shall be construed to prohibit ordinary maintenance, repairs, life-safety work, security improvements, code compliance work, or other work required to protect health, safety, or welfare at an existing lawful facility, provided such work does not expand the detention facility use unless otherwise required by law.
(e) To the extent any application of this article to a particular facility, person, governmental entity, or circumstance would be preempted by State or Federal law, or would otherwise be unenforceable under applicable law, the article shall be applied only to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the invalid or preempted application shall not affect the validity or enforceability of this article in any other respect.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-262), 6-16-26)
42-282 Validity and severability.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, word, or application of this article is held invalid, unconstitutional, unenforceable, or preempted by State or Federal law, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or applications of this article, which shall remain in full force and effect.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-263), 6-16-26)
42-283 Conflict with other ordinances.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this article are repealed only to the extent necessary to give this article full force and effect during the moratorium term.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-264), 6-16-26)
42-284 Emergency clause and effective date.
(a) The City Council finds and declares that an emergency exists because any delay in the effective date of the ordinance codified in this article could allow the acceptance, processing, review, or approval of applications for new or expanded detention facilities before the City has adequate zoning and land use regulations to evaluate the impacts of such facilities on the public peace, property, health, safety, and welfare.
(b) The ordinance codified in this article is declared to be an emergency ordinance necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health, safety, and welfare of the City of Pontiac.
(c) This article shall become effective immediately upon adoption as authorized by Section 3.112(e) of the City of Pontiac Home Rule Charter.
(Ord. No. 2497 (§ 42-265), 6-16-26)
Code reviser’s note: Ord. 2497 added the provisions of this article as Article XI, Sections 42-258 through 42-265. The sections have been editorially renumbered to prevent duplication of numbering.