A proposed Agritourism Ordinance in Washington Township has drawn attention from some area residents and an organization. The North Macomb Association for Planned Growth (NMAPG) contends that the proposed ordinance will place restrictions that will put township farms at a disadvantage compared to farms in neighboring communities.
Specific concerns cited by the NMAPG include the ordinance's requirements that a farm's retail area be limited to 2,000 square-feet and that goods sold at the farm be grown or produced within six miles of the farm. [SOURCE]
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Township Attorney Christine Anderson praised the proposed Agritourism Ordinance from a legal standpoint.
"This ordinance in its present form tonight is the most defensible we've seen," she said.
She said there are still some areas to strengthen.
"This ordinance has come a long way," she continued.
Under the proposed ordinance, permitted uses include playgrounds, cider mills and wineries, farm markets, mazes, petting zoos, pony rides and U-pick activities. Uses permitted after special land use approval include fun houses, haunted houses, gift shops and kitchen facilities accessory to farm markets, wineries or cider mill activities.
Proposed prohibited activities include campgrounds, concerts with an audience exceeding 250 and firearm and archery shooting ranges.
I emailed Westview yesterday to get more information about what's going on and I thought I would share it with you.
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Hi,
Thanks for your interest and taking the time to e-mail us.
We are very concerned about this NEW ordinance that Helen Sergott of the Planning Commission wrote, 'agri-tourism ordinance'. It will severely restrict us and we will not be able to offer the activities, nor products that we currently do.
If you go to the township's website to Public Hearings, then Zoning Ordinances, pages 29-34, you can read for yourself the restrictions they propose. If this ordinance is passed, then we will be restricted down to only 2000 square feet of retail space, our current farm buildings will not be included under this ordinance to use for the public as we currently do, if we need to purchase peaches/apples/corn we are restricted to a 6-mile radius from our farm, if we want to continue to offer our 1869 schoolhouse as a museum/gift shoppe we would have to apply for and pay $10,000 annually to do so, if we wanted to continue selling jams. jellies, baskets, candy, toys they could only add up to 10% of our total sales. Last year we sold our end of the season apples for processing for 0.04 per pound. If we are restricted to solely growing apples and selling them at our farm market (like we did since 1930's - some 15 years ago) economically they do not generate enough revenue to support growing apples and other tree fruits with rising labor costs, fuel costs, insurance costs, taxes, etc.
We want to continue to grow our fruits and vegetables, and offer families a place to enjoy farm-related activities, such as U-Pick, petting farms, playgrounds, wagonrides, corn mazes and shopping opportunities that complement our farm.
I'll put you on our 'Keep Us Informed" List that I'll send cards to complete tomorrow night. Together, residents can make a difference and direct the planning commission to oppose this ordinance. This is NOT the ordinance that we had taken 3 years with lawyers and consultants to develop. The Township Board did not approve the ordinance that the residents had come out to support last year. They kept tabling it, because the township lawyer said that it was not enforceable in a court of law. But these same lawyers represent Bruce township and they passed a version of our ordinance. Interesting, eh? It depends who your township supervisor is whether or not a fair ordinance is passed. And there's only two of us directly involved, Miller's and ourselves. What big threat are we? We aren't doing anything illegal.
Anyway, see you tomorrow night.
Sincerely,
Katrina Schumacher
thank you, teresa. (and nicol, for bringing it to my attention)
i've sent a fax to the township office regarding our opinions. we won't be at tonights meeting so be sure to keep us updated!
thanks for the update, lisa.
300 people. damn, i'm glad my broken toddler (another story) and i didn't show up. i faxed a letter to the planning commission and cc'd westview instead.
ain't modern life great!
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