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By WENDY STIVER
LOCKPORT – When is a farm not a farm?
The question may be central to a disagreement between a Swissdale property owner and the Woodward Township supervisors. And the question may be going to court.
John Grand, who owns 62 acres on German Road, moved 400 piglets onto that property Friday afternoon, according to the township.
Neighbors are concerned about the large amount of animals. That section of the township is zoned “Rural Center” which apparently prohibits more livestock than can be claimed for personal use.
The township office was notified the same day the pigs arrived, and a special meeting was called for Thursday at 5 p.m. At that meeting, the supervisors voted twice to stand by their zoning. Both votes were unanimous.
Supervisor Kyle Coleman made the motion, seconded by Supervisor Brian Hoy, to follow the recommendation of township solicitor Robert D. O’Connor Jr. That recommendation is to file a complaint for an injunction against Grand for using his property to raise and sell pigs, and to ask the Clinton County Court of Common Pleas for a preliminary injunction in pursuit of a hearing to stop the pig farming.
About 50 people packed into the township building for the meeting. Some sat on the floor. Others stood in the lobby and listened through the meeting room’s open door.
There was some shouting, but for the most part, the meeting was formal and without any unexpected outbursts. The shouting mostly came from O’Connor. After the meeting, he apologized to Grand’s attorney, Marc S. Drier, for his fervor and they shook hands.
Out in the parking lot after the meeting, a red-faced Grand poked Swissdale resident Dave Hunter in the chest with his finger and shouted a few obscenities. The conversation quickly calmed down, and a group of people gathered to listen. Although township police officer Miles Houseknecht suggested everyone go home, saying nothing could be solved outside the building, people continued to linger and talk in a civilized manner.
The Rural Center zoning designation was applied to the area when the township completed a comprehensive rezoning project about five years ago, according to O’Connor.
Grand reportedly bought his property after the rezoning. However, his contention is that the land has always been used for agriculture, and therefore it is “grandfathered in” and not affected by the new Rural Center designation.
He has asked the state Attorney General’s office to rule on the matter, claiming that Pennsylvania’s Acre Act, which protects farmland, should come into play in this case.
According to O’Connor, the Attorney General had 120 days to answer. However that deadline has passed with no response from that office, he said. His own calls to that office have gone unanswered, he added.
The special supervisors meeting was held to determine if feeding “400 piglets” in a Rural Center neighborhood constitutes a violation of the zoning ordinance, O’Connor said at the beginning of the meeting.
The supervisors then went into another room for a closed-door executive session to discuss legal ramifications of the issue. After about 15 minutes, they returned and took their first unanimous vote.
They then asked for public participation.
Drier asked why the vote was taken before the public had a chance to speak, and O’Connor suggested a second vote could be taken. After hearing from the floor, the supervisors did take a second vote. It was the same as the first.
Drier, meanwhile, argued that the property in question has always been agricultural. Even if agriculture was not actively pursued for some years on the land, that use was never purposely abandoned, according to Drier, so it is still farmland, regardless of the rezoning.
Grand’s feeding piglets on the property with the intention of marketing some of them is not a violation, according to his attorney.
It also does not make Grand’s farm a Commercial Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), according to Drier, because the property contains enough acreage per animal to fall below that level.
As for needing a permit, he said, a service station that sells gas, then adds minor vehicle repair does not need a permit to do so because according to the township’s zoning ordinance, minor vehicle repair is allowed at such a business and is not a new use of the property.
Adding livestock to a farm is not a new use either, according to Drier.
O’Connor said, “If I may bluntly state, I think you’re wasting your breathe.”
He said Grand did not apply for a permit to start pig farming, then shouted, “He hasn’t done squat! He just moved it in! … He’s done what he wanted to do!”
Grand’s new barn replaced an old barn that also had contained livestock, according to Drier. O’Connor agreed that Grand applied for a permit to build the new barn in 2014.
Dave Hunter of Swissdale said the Rural Center designation calls for “the co-existence of low-density residential and agriculture” in the atmosphere of “a village.” A relatively large-scale pig farm does not foster such an atmosphere, he said.
He asked if the farm has added any jobs, and Grand replied that it employs five or six people.
Supervisor Chair Clyde Glossner explained that this neighborhood’s zoning was changed from Agricultural to Rural Center because there were plans afoot to develop housing. Those plans did not go through, but the designation remains, ready for the future.
“It’s all prime building land,” he said.
John Helbley said he is 63 and remembers that property from childhood because his grandfather owned it. He said his grandfather kept only a couple of cows and a couple of other animals. O’Connor said animals in those low numbers would be considered for “personal use.”
Paul Corman bought the property from Helbley’s grandfather and kept no animals on it at all, the supervisors heard.
Crops reportedly have been grown on the land, however.
“It’s been a farm for a long time,” Drier said after the meeting.
Another resident asked about Oak Hollow, saying he has heard that Grand plans to place another pig farm there. How will large livestock trucks access such a neighborhood, he asked.
Glossner said, “We’ll take Oak Hollow when Oak Hollow comes.”