Sometimes it takes more than good fences to make good neighbors.
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The Hunter Family (Source: ludingtoncitizen.ning.com)
MATTAWAN, MI – For the past three years, the Hunter family has pursued their vision of happiness by building a hobby farm on their property. Although the family has complied with all regulations demanded of them from the township, complaints from well-connected neighbors have threatened to destroy everything they have worked to build. Kelly Vander Kley Hunter and her family have now been told to reduce the number of animals on the property or risk being shut down by the same zoning enforcement company that affirmed their compliance with township regulations.
“We feel like we’re under a microscope. We feel like everything we do, on our own property, we have to get permission from the township,” says Vander Kley Hunter.
The Hunters purchased the neglected property, zoned R-1, with the intent of returning it to its agricultural roots and realizing their dream of raising a family with the experience of farming and the traditional values associated with that lifestyle. An R-1 property, as defined by the Antwerp township zoning ordinance, permits “hobby farms, farms and similar bona fide agricultural enterprises or uses.” The intent of which is, “to protect and stabilize the essential characteristics of these areas in order to promote and encourage suitable environments for low density family life and to maintain and preserve the semi-rural character of the township.” The zoning ordinance is as byzantine as it is arbitrary, as Reason Foundation’s Adrian Moore states, “The local government can change the zoning of any parcel of land on a whim.”
Source: ludingtoncitizen.ning.com
On May 23 of this year, the Hunter farm was found to be in compliance with state and local ordinances, and, by their account, have had every step of the process approved by the township. Then, in late July, they received another letter from LSL Planning- the company that enforces zoning regulations for the township – stating that they were no longer in compliance and would need to remove over half of their animals within 90 days. Obviously shocked at this turn of events, the Hunters are now fighting the local government to preserve their chosen way of life, claiming that the township is reinterpreting the ordinance to find the family farm out of compliance.
At an August 7th meeting of the township planning commission, a crowd of about 60 community members packed themselves in to the Antwerp Township Hall in a show of solidarity with the Hunter Farm. Addressing the planning commission, Kelly Vanderkley Hunter stated, “We would like you to … retract that letter until the ordinance is fixed,” adding, “To demand us to do something based on a flawed ordinance does not seem to be in the best interest of this community.”
Planning commission chair, Leslie Cronenwett, retorted in typical bureaucrat fashion, “(The community) is simply wrong about what the ordinance says.” In another willful display of contempt and autocratic arrogance, Cronenwett went on to state, “We need to list donkeys and llamas and every other funky animal that people never used to keep and now they keep, we never know what we need to fix until we fix it.”
(Source: http://freedomwat.ch)
Defending the family from the complaining neighbor, one resident asked in the meeting, “Why did these people move here if they don’t want to live in a rural area?” He went on, “I think the farm is an asset to this community.”
So, how did we get here? How did the Hunter farm go from previously compliant to public nuisance in the short span of about two months? Well, it seems there was a catalyst for action in the form of an inconvenienced neighbor with a penchant for complaining. Enter Sandra Schaser, owner of the property adjacent to the Hunter farm. A letter to the editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette from July 29 names Schaser and Prudential realtor Linda Hazelhoff as the impetus for the township’s sudden change of mind. And there appears to be evidence to support this claim. Fox 17 news’, Jennifer Dowling, obtained this letter of complaint from the township through the Freedom of Information Act.
In her letter, dated July 12, 2013, Schaser appears to be on a first name basis with both LSL Planning representative and zoning officer Paul LeBlanc and LSL Planning Senior Planner Shawn Seymour. She also mentions Antwerp Township Board supervisor Dan Ruzick, referencing their previous phone calls. She goes on to inform them that while they await confirmation from the Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, she has already called ahead and found the answer for them and that it is their job to enforce local zoning ordnance. Schaser twice demands that officials force the Hunters to “comply” with her interpretation of the township ordinance. It may not be a coincidence that ten days later, on July 22, the Hunters then received their letter from LSL informing them that they were no longer in compliance with the township ordinance. There were no letters sent to the Hunter farm between May 23 and July 22 indicating that additional changes would be required.
Mrs. Hunter tending her animals (Source: reason.com)
Dowling reports that the township offices declined to answer her questions and directed them to LSL Planning. When confronted, Paul LeBlanc refused to comment on the situation and referred her back to Township supervisor Daniel Ruzick. The Hunters have experienced the same frustrating web of bureaucracy while looking for answers as to why their farm suddenly fell out of compliance between the two letters, though they added the additional fence requested by LSL in May. Ruzick stated to Dowling that there were other changes made on the Hunter farm but did not go into detail. A copy of the Antwerp Township Board’s official statement to Fox 17 News and Jennifer Dowling can be found here.
Perhaps the reason Mr. Ruznick did not go into detail was because the changes were not made to the farm, but to the arbitrary interpretation of the local zoning ordinances instead. The Kalamazoo Gazette letter charges that Sandra Schaser’s incessant nagging is what ultimately forced the township board to reverse its former decisions regarding the Hunter farm. The simple fact that Schaser opted to resolve her issues not in a court of law, but through crony politics, demonstrates that she is aware of the weakness of her complaints against the Hunters. She is clearly more confident in her ability to manipulate the township board through intimidation than she is in her ability to present a solid argument to a judge. This entire debacle is yet another example of how overzealous autocrats are prone to abuse their power and why matters of privacy and property are best disputed in a court of law presided over by an impartial official.
“You just can’t believe how many things you cannot do on your own property unless the government lets you,” said Mr. Hunter. “Forget about your property rights. They almost don’t exist.”
It will be an uphill battle to spare the Hunter family from being driven from the community. Public activism is perhaps the only thing that can counter the bureaucratic suppression of farming freedom. Resources to help the Hunter family are found in the section below.
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If you would like to voice your opinion with the Antwerp Township Board or share your support for the Hunter Family Farm, please use the resources below.
Save the Hunter Family Farm
Township of Antwerp
24821 Front Avenue, Mattawan MI
269.668.2615 Phone
269.668.5233 Fax
LSL Planning, Inc.
15 Ionia SW Suite 450
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
p. 616.336.7750
f. 248.586.0501
View Reason’s coverage of the Hunter family’s ordeal here: