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Events at the farm.....
The beekeeper Picnic is code for the sex-trafficking.
;-)
Posted on 07/19/2018 2:37:17 AM PDT by a little elbow grease
July 18, 2018
The owners of a Pennsylvania farm have been ordered by the Sewickley Heights Borough to cease and desist holding Bible studies on their private property.
Borough leaders accused Scott and Terri Fetterolf of improperly using their 35-acre farm as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue. They were served a cease-and-desist order in October 2017, the Post-Gazette reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at toddstarnes.com ...
Then why not differentiate between them in the order? Or are the homeowners using the "worship" thing to garner sympathy? Did the township actually order them to stop the religious activities?
“The particular Zoning Code at issue has been in place since 1968, and it clearly and unequivocally prohibits the following uses within the Historical-Rural Residential District: “Place of Worship,” “Place of Assembly,” “Commercial Venue/Event Space,” and “Special or Studio School.”
“Like them or not, zoning codes that restrict or even prohibit certain uses are permissible under the 1st, 5th, and 14th Amendments to to the United States Constitution. As applied specifically to “places of worship,” a municipality, under the US Constitution and federal law (i.e., the Religious Land Uses and Institutionalized Persons Act), can completely prohibit religious uses in a zoning district as long as the municipality does not completely ban places of worship from all zoning districts within the municipality, treats places of worship the same as similar, non religious uses (i.e., non-religious places of assembly), and does not discriminate between religious uses. “
Seems to me that if you are going to nab them for singing hymns, you also need to prosecute any birthday parties, reunions, July 4 celebrations, etc.
4. Mrs. Fetterolf has said she intends to stand up for her rights as a farmer.
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I don’t see where her rights as a farmer are being denied. It
is the other activities she is doing that isn’t classified as
farming, or so it seems. Zoning and its implications can be
a hassle at times.
From what this article says, it sounds like they're using the "worship" angle as the basis for a civil rights lawsuit. The other commercial activities wouldn't be covered by those Federal statutes and the First Amendment.
There's another angle to this, too.
A municipality cannot completely prohibit religious uses in a zoning district if they routinely give variances for other non-religious uses.
That's how local municipalities ended up on the losing end of a couple of religious/zoning cases here in New Jersey -- one involving a mosque and another involving a yeshiva.
I don’t know much about how all of that works.
Here in WA state, small farmers in Snohomish and Skagit Counties are selling many things off of their farms. Some have corn mazes, pig races, etc.
For many, they create dozens of jobs and represent a good chunk of revenue, without which they’d likely fold.
A name I don’t here much any more is ADM. They bought up so many farms over the years and consolidated them. Cargill I believe did similar.
The last three letters of "F" probably are "eth".
See Post No. 37.
The Zoning Code defines "Places of Worship" as follows: " A building, structure, and/or lot where people regularly observe, practice, or participate in religious or spiritual services, meetings, and/or activities or that is designed (or adapted) for the assembly or collection of persons for civic, political, religious, educational, social, recreational, and amusement purposes. " The key word is "regularly."
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https://triblive.com/local/allegheny/13881739-74/couple-sues-sewickley-heights-over-order-banning-religious-activities-at-farm
Tom Davidson | Thursday, July 19, 2018, 12:30 p.m. Couple sues Sewickley Heights over order banning religious activities at farm
Updated 46 minutes ago
(snip) -- The owners of a historic farm in Sewickley Heights have been in a quiet, but lengthy battle over whether they’re allowed to host Bible studies and other religious events at the farm — something the borough contends violates its zoning ordinance.
The Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of Scott and Theresa Fetterolf alleging the borough’s attempts to keep them from using their farm for religious purposes violates their civil rights.
“The borough has no business overseeing a group of people reading and discussing a book together on private property — even if that book is the Bible,” Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the Independence Law Center, said in a statement.
(snip) -- The lawsuit said the 32-acre property has been used for such events by its prior owner “for many decades.”
That owner, Nancy Doyle Chalfant, one of the founders of the nonprofit Verland, “opened her home, and her beloved Dundee Farm, to church retreats, seminary picnics, youth groups and many other organizations she supported,” according to her 2012 obituary.
The Fetterolfs attended church with Chalfant and bought the property in 2003, Allegheny County real estate records show. According to the lawsuit, the Fetterolfs bought the property “to carry on the traditions started by Chalfant.”
They did so without incident until Oct. 5, 2017, when the borough served a notice of violation and cease and desist order on the Fetterolfs that said activities including a Bible study, worship night, religious retreats and fundraisers were not permitted in the borough’s historical rural and residential zone without a variance.
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_____________________
Events at the farm.....
The beekeeper Picnic is code for the sex-trafficking.
;-)
Sorry, I didn’t mean to direct this personally at anyone. Just a general observation. I should have made sure I wasn’t replying to anyone other than the initial poster. My “you” was not a personal “you”.
I was just pointing out that the headline was misleading. There was more to the story including commercial ventures on the farm.
Mine is large and pretty
“Go Forgive yourself.”
Pulling up their address on Zillow, and viewing the map, they’re surrounded by 1-2 million dollar homes. But they are also surrounded by tons of open and wooded land. Their farm is also large with great distances between their structures and other property lines. Street view shows a narrow back country two lane out in the middle of nowhere (albeit, an expensive nowhere).
Very nice people for the most part.
Yes ........ see post # 91.
Thanks for posting the events schedule which shows the zoning violations are not solely based on religious activities.
There are multiple wedding photos on their instagram. Looks like it’s also a wedding venue.
https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/869808107/dundee-farm-and-fields-llc/?hl=en
The ad for a Honey Festival at the farm has “Donation $10/car” at the bottom. Zoning don’t like that.
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