Texas Charter Township

There is no short-term rental ordinance in Texas Township, so whether a property can be used as an STR is a zoning question, not a permit question. The township has never adopted STR licensing, registration, density caps, or inspections.^[2]

What the zoning ordinance does do is define a short-term rental, lodging offered to the public for compensation for 90 days or less, and treat that transient use as separate from a single-family ‘dwelling’.^[2] The practical consequence: across the residential districts (Agricultural and R-1 through R-6, plus R-1A and Resource Conservation), the permitted use is a ‘dwelling’, and a fully transient, non-owner-occupied STR can fall outside that definition. The township has not built an enforcement program around this, but it is the open question every STR buyer should resolve before closing.^[2]

Because by-district permissions turn on the exact ordinance text and on your parcel’s zoning, confirm both. Check the parcel on the May 2024 zoning map, and read the use tables in the township’s consolidated ClearZoning zoning ordinance, which was last revised in April 2024.^[3][2] A newer compilation updated through February 2025 also exists, but it is posted as a scanned image without searchable text, so the ClearZoning version is the practical reference for actually reading the rules.^[6]

No. Texas Township issues no short-term rental permit, registration, or license, because the township has never created one.^[2] It also runs no business-licensing program of any kind, so there is no landlord license or rental certificate to obtain either.^[7]

That absence is not the same as a green light. If you want a definitive answer for a specific property, the useful step is a written zoning determination. Submit a Zoning Review Application to the Planning and Zoning Department and ask, in writing, whether your intended rental use is permitted in that parcel’s district. The township’s Zoning Administrator Review page lists this review at a $50 administrative fee.^[5] A written determination is worth far more than a verbal ‘probably fine’ if you ever need to defend the use to a lender, an insurer, or a neighbor.

For questions short of a formal review, the Planning Director, Kelly McIntyre, takes zoning calls directly at 269-548-4305, and the Township Hall office is open Monday through Thursday and Friday mornings.^[5][1]

Yes. An owner-occupied bed and breakfast is the one clearly permitted way to offer paid overnight lodging in Texas Township, and it is approved by the Planning Commission as a Special Exception Use.^[2]

The zoning ordinance sets three core standards for a bed and breakfast: the owner and/or an on-site manager must live on the premises; no more than six bedrooms may be devoted to lodging; and no meals other than breakfast may be served to guests.^[2] A bed and breakfast is allowed as a Special Exception Use in the Agricultural district, in the R-1, R-2 and R-3 residential districts, and in the CBD Corners Business District.^[2]

Getting there means filing a Special Exception Use Application with the Planning and Zoning Department, which is then reviewed at a public Planning Commission hearing.^[4] Application and escrow fees are set in the township’s Planning and Zoning Fees and Escrow schedule.^[10] One caution: this route works for a host who genuinely lives in the home. It is not a workaround for a fully transient, non-owner-occupied STR.

No. The zoning ordinance specifically prohibits using an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) as a short-term rental.^[2]

Under the ordinance, an ADU ‘shall not be leased or rented for less than 365 days and shall not be used as a short-term rental’.^[2] In plain terms, a backyard cottage, an in-law suite, or a finished space above a detached garage can be rented out, but only on a long-term lease of a year or more. It cannot be listed on a nightly or weekly basis.

This is worth flagging because it is the single most concrete short-term rental rule in the entire Texas Township ordinance, and it runs against a common investor instinct. Buyers often assume a secondary unit is the low-friction way to test STR income. In Texas Township the ordinance closes that door directly, so if a listing markets an ADU or guest house as ‘Airbnb-ready’, treat that as a claim to verify, not a fact.

Before you buy a Texas Township property intending to short-term rent it, verify five things, ideally in writing.

1. The parcel’s zoning and use status. Request a written zoning determination (a Zoning Review Application) confirming that transient rental use is permitted in that parcel’s district.^[5] 2. Water and septic. Many township homes are on a private well and on-site septic; Kalamazoo County Environmental Health permits and evaluates septic systems, and a system must be sized for the occupancy you intend to host.^[11] 3. Private restrictions. Deed restrictions, plat covenants, and lake-association or HOA rules are common around the township’s lakes, and they frequently ban or cap short-term rentals regardless of what township zoning allows. 4. Riparian rules. If the property touches a lake, the supplemental riparian regulations apply; see the Lakefront and Riparian section below.^[9] 5. ADU status. Confirm that any unit you plan to rent nightly is not an accessory dwelling unit, which cannot legally be a short-term rental.^[2]

None of these checks is exotic, but each one has sunk an otherwise-good deal. In a township with no STR ordinance, the cheapest insurance you can buy is a paper trail.