Cornelius given until October to complete clean up of illegal compost thedailyreporter.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailyreporter.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Illegal nuisance compost dump not removed in Batavia Township
The Daily Reporter
Clean-up at the Cornelius Farms compost operation near M-86 still is not finished, after being ruled a nuisance in violation of a Batavia Township zoning ordinance.
Following a trial in December, District Court Judge Brent Weigle gave the company until March 1 to complete clean-up.
Batavia Township trustee Mike Crenshaw said additional loads of materials removed from the Mastronardi greenhouse operation were dumped on the land near Hodunk Road March 6 and March 13.
Crenshaw said he and two others who witnessed the now-illegal dumping and took photographs are preparing affidavits for the township’s attorney to present to Weigle.
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Branch County Court House and Clock Tower (photo courtesy Justin Lopshire, Midwest Communications, Inc.)
COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County District Court Judge Brent Weigle has ruled that a compost site on M-86 near Hodunk Road is in violation of Batavia Township’s zoning ordinance and he has ordered the site to be cleaned up by March 1.
The township took Cornelius Farms and Fred Cornelius to court last summer claiming the alleged commercial composting was not permitted in an agricultural district. The township also complained about the “obnoxious odors” which according to the plaintiff constituted a nuisance.
The defendants maintained that the Michigan Right to Farm Act preempts the local zoning requirements and therefore precludes a nuisance finding.