Township: Dismiss Farm Ordinance Suit With Prejudice

Attorney Carl Woodward filed a response Thursday to over the which demands for the dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice and the awarding of court costs and attorneys' fees.

The response denies several of the allegations made in the lawsuit, including the following:

• that the township's Master Plan does not say farming is "in any way [a] compatible or consistent use" of residential zones;
• that the market garden ordinance does not preserve farming activities already existing in town;
• that the market garden ordinance "is not compatible [and] fails to be substantially consistent with the Master Plan and its Land Use Element, and is invalid";
• that the ordinance "is clearly arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable"
• that the ordinance does not "advance the Municipal Land Use Laws [sic] declared purpose of promoting the public health, safety, morals and general welfare";
• and that the ordinance benefits one household in Green Village and is "entirely incompatible with the surrounding residences, ... constitutes spot zoning, and is invalid."

According to the township's response, the committee acted "in good faith" and within their lawful powers.

"All actions taken by the Township were legally justified, were privileged and represented the exercise of rights equal to or superior to the rights of the Plaintiff[s]," the response reads in part.

The adoption and enactment of the market garden ordinance "were in compliance with and undertaken according to law," the response states, and "were in furtherance of the valid, proper and lawful exercise" of municipal zoning law.

According to the response, the original complaint does not give a "cause of action upon which relief may be granted." It asks that the courts dismiss the lawsuit and award reasonable attorneys' fees and other costs to the township.

Residents who filed the lawsuit—Jim and Shirley Honickel, Richard Erich Templin, Chris and Kristen Struening, Michael J. and Nicole O'Connell and Vincent and Thea Bancroft Ziccolella—want the ordinance declared void and invalidated.

The lawsuit, Woodward said, is "pretty much a standard case and will follow a standard track." If it proceeds, he said, "there might be a very short trial, maybe one day."