This is not a conflict that will be easily resolved. Story below:

LORDSTOWN, Ohio - An Ohio farmer is going to extreme measures to show he's not happy with some Trumbull County residents.

Harvey Lutz has planned to sell property to the company that owns TJ Maxx. But the people in Lordstown aren't happy about the idea of the traffic and put the deal in jeopardy.

"Fine. I'll raise chickens for Kentucky Fried Chicken instead," Lutz told WJW.

And, to give his neighbors an idea of what they would be in for, he dumped chicken manure on the land.

"Guess what? I'm allowed to build a chicken barn if I want, and that's my statement so I'm working with two barns, 650 feet long, 55,000 birds per barn. Wake up, smell the roses, maybe; hopefully instead of manure," he said.

Lutz says he's hopeful he proved his point and the original land deal will be given the green light. But, he says he's prepared to make good on his threat to become a mega chicken farmer.

http://wgntv.com/2018/04/27/ma...his-land-deal-fails/

At which point the county would pass a law regulating where chicken barns can be located.

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At which point the county would pass a law regulating where chicken barns can be located.

That would make sense. However being acquainted to some degree with politics, it sounds like the farmer may have some pull. I am hoping JALLEN will comment on this real estate situation as I am sure this sort of thing happens from time to time.

In my local area the residents objection to a large library being built close to a residential neighborhood was countered by stating that a developer was interested in developing the property into section 8 housing. Later that rumor was found to be untrue but the libary was already well under construction.

It likely comes down to zoning. If its zoned for agriculture use he would need to be re-zoned for retail to sell it to the developer which could be fought by neighbors. On the flip side, if they fight the zoning change and win he would be free to use it for agricultural pursuits, including chicken farming I suppose.

Back in the 50's or 60's my grandfather was working on zoning some property from farm to residential so that he could develop it. There were some minor disagreements between him and the city council that were holding things up.

While he waited for things to work out he erected a hog pen at one edge of the property that faced a busy road. As luck would have it city hall was right across the street. He placed several hogs in the pen. One for each member of the council, and one for the mayor. He even named those hogs after those individuals, and to prevent any confusion, had their names painted on them in large easy to read letters.

There is no telling what the outcome might be, as each state has different arrangements for local authorites.

In Whackyland where I practiced, the county had zoning authority, and could make life miserable, and mostly did, for land owners. Here in Texas, the county doesn’t have zoning authority, as far as I know.

The deal is that if the people really really don’t like something, the authorities have to come up with a way to deal with it, or they will eventually find someone who can. Those can turn out to be mighty expensive chickens while each side makes life miserable for the other, except the lawyers, of course.

All of is who practice law have had someone come to the office who wants to play “Remember the Alamo!” You remember the Alamo, don’t you? Victory, or Death!

After they feel the pinch of how expensive that is, they abate their wrath. Maybe those miserable pricks they were fighting with aren’t really as awful as they thought.

My Brother-in-law, a chicken farmer, had a very similar situation in reverse. A realtor trying to develop the property next to him raised hell about this smell from his chicken barns and threatened to report him to codes enforcement and sue him etc. Even threatened imminent domaine and such, real bully tactics toward what he thought was a hick farmer. The realtor was in cahoots with someone at the city who was going to annex the property and rezone it so a subdivision could be built.

But both properties were zoned agriculture.
My BIL, after consulting his attorney, started covering the field next to the proposed subdivision with chicken shit regularly. He usually spread it mostly on the more remote fields.

My BIL called his bluff... absolutly nothing they could do about the smell from a legal operation and they knew it. BIL told the realtor go ahead and build your houses, then asked if he thought he could sell them.

That was abut 15 years ago... the property next door is still a hay field.

EDIT to add:
BIL was 3rd generation on the farm and just didn't want a large subdivision next door. He knew if it was built they would likely find a way sooner or later to shut him down.

It's a common tactic. A local guy here did the same thing, when residents opposed his rezoning request because they "didn't want a business next to their neighborhood".

So he announced his plans to open a pig farm instead, which was allowed under the current zoning. Went to the news, made a big deal about it, etc.

The nearby residents eventually caved.

Let him sell to the store. You do not want a chicken farm nearby. We have one of those and 3 hog farms within 3 miles. When they mix the crap with some type of liquid and spray it on the surrounding farm fields, it is really hard to draw a breath outside on a hot day.

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Originally posted by JALLEN:
All of is who practice law have had someone come to the office who wants to play “Remember the Alamo!” You remember the Alamo, don’t you? Victory, or Death!

An attorney I’ve worked with on a few things here is wont to say, “Do you want to talk about what is right or do you want to talk about what we can get done?” He makes it very clear that one very rarely wants to go to court as a) it is very expensive, and b) you never know how the heck it is going to turn out. It is all about negotiating the best deal you can. Of course, having your ducks in a row and having the other side know it so they want to go to court even less than you do helps with the negotiating.

The TJ Maxx isn't interested in the area because of Harvey Lutz's farm. They're interested in it because the people of Lordstown have been encroaching on the farm country for the last decade. He's probably got any number of residential developments w/ an mile from him(I'm guessing).
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens after that. And w/ property taxes that keep going up, what's a farmer to do?

Then after he's gone, they'll bitch about the price of chicken or whatever he was growing.

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Originally posted by TXJIM:
It likely comes down to zoning. If its zoned for agriculture use he would need to be re-zoned for retail to sell it to the developer which could be fought by neighbors. On the flip side, if they fight the zoning change and win he would be free to use it for agricultural pursuits, including chicken farming I suppose.

Yes. My guess though, is if TJ Maxx wants to build a store there, that the land is already on a very busy road and not in the middle of nowhere and a quiet street.

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Originally posted by Aquabird:
Let him sell to the store. You do not want a chicken farm nearby. We have one of those and 3 hog farms within 3 miles. When they mix the crap with some type of liquid and spray it on the surrounding farm fields, it is really hard to draw a breath outside on a hot day.

Back in the 80's I lived in Shelby, Ohio and a favorite route to get down to Columbus was RT. 314. Lots of Turkey Farms on that road at the time and about Mid August the odor coming off the fields could almost make your nose bleed. However it's a very pleasant ride on a motorcycle and in time you do get used to the odor.

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Originally posted by BBMW:
At which point the county would pass a law regulating where chicken barns can be located.

Here in Ohio laws are already in place to regulate where chicken, cattle, and dairy barns are built and they are strict on manure handleing.And when done right you can barely sense any odor. The farmer in this thread is pulling a bluff.

This is about half an hour from me.
There is lots of agriculture in Lordstown with corn fields everywhere and quite a few farms.
The TJX deal fell through because a lot of the residents didn't want a big factory going up near them. One guy in fact said that it would block his view of the sunset.
Bigger problem here and what some county folks wanted was more jobs because the GM plant in Lordstown has gone down to one shift now. This is where the Chevy Cruze is made. Lots of people out of work now and Trumbull County has a pretty good unemployment rate with not a lot of jobs.
The chicken farm would be a helluva lot worse than a factory that said it would employ close to 1000 people.
A lot of the residents treated TJX like shit when they had the meeting to discuss them building there.

I hate people like this. Years ago, the state wanted to expand a four lane highway so that a couple of large manufacturers had to have to build plants that would employee a couple of thousand people. this was a requirement of the plants to have the four lane access, as well as service the large paper plant that already existed. You never heard the likes of the bitching and moaning. Two gas station owners were the loudest of the loud. They claimed that the road would be relocated just far enough away that they would lose business. The roadway never went in. The jobs never went in. And the paper plant went under. And guess what else? The two business owners? They went under too because there are no jobs in that county now, providing their customers with money to buy their wares.........

I had a co-worker back in the late 80's whose brother-in-law owned an Apple ranch in Rhode Island. Megalopolis began to edge up to his property, bringing housing development closer and closer to his long established farm. The local soccer moms began to complain about the effect of his pesticides (probably Alar) or his fertilizers. At a local community meeting, he told them that he would be transitioning to an all natural fertilizer. The soccer moms went home satisfied that they had won and that their children would be able to now live long healthy lives. When he began using chicken manure for fertilizer, the whole community, including the soccer moms, begged him to go back to the synthetic fertilizer. I don't recall how long he left them drifting in the manure laced wind.

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And, to give his neighbors an idea of what they would be in for, he dumped chicken manure on the land.

What an ass.

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Originally posted by radioman:

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And, to give his neighbors an idea of what they would be in for, he dumped chicken manure on the land.

What an ass.

Chicken manure is an excellent fertilizer. And piss on his NIMBY neighbors who don't own his land, don't pay taxes on his land, but want to tell him what he can do with his land.

He should have put in a hog farm instead.

http://www.wkbn.com/news/local...on-center/1150506188

Seems maybe some of them have wised up a little.
Chicken farmer was there also and wants the plant deal. Perhaps the manure had a little to do with it.