Dust, dirt from nursery a nuisance to neighbors
Neighbors say dust, trash from Natorps is nuisance; owner agrees there's problem and will screen fence.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Residents living next to Ken Natorp's landscape farm at Socialville-Fosters and Snider roads want him to do something about the dust and litter that ends up in their yards.
They've been asking for three years since Natorp expanded his operations on the site.
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Residents Laura Smith, Christy Faulkner and Doug Rice claim their kids are getting sick because of dust and dirt stirred up Natorp trucks in the spring and summer.
They've asked Natorp to do something and have complained to Deerfield Twp. officials, too. The township's response: Local government has not authority because Natorp's land is zoned for agricultural uses.
Natorp now says his company will add to the fence that separates his property from the residences.
"We have ordered some materials to put on the fence to help with the dust," he said. "But I don't know how successful that will be. I would consider paving the lot, but that would cost $150,000 to $200,000 so that is probably not in the immediate future, that's for sure," Natorp said.
Natorp said his company planted trees to screen the farm from neighbors' view last year, but because of the drought they didn't survive. He said he'll consider planting more trees this fall and watering trucks will spray the gravel when it's dry and windy to cut down on the dust.
The neighbors also complained to Deerfield Twp. officials, who said they cannot do anything because Natorp's land is zoned for agriculture. The township has contacted Natorp about giving the neighbors some relief, but they can't force the issue.
"We don't believe we have the authority to do anything," said Lois McKnight, community development director. "
Before Deerfield Twp. took over zoning in 1997, Natorp asked the Warren County commissioners to rezone 7.68 acres of the 145-acre parcel from rural residential to B-2 business to build a retail garden store. Natorp received approval, but then asked the commissioners to rescind the approval because, according to meeting minutes from a public hearing on March 18, 1997, "he is looking into the possibility of placing a retail garden store on the property and feels that having the property remain Rural Residence 'R-1' is the best way to protect the neighbors."
Natorp, who purchased the property in 1992, didn't build a garden store, but did put up buildings, where employees punch in and out and work on landscaping materials. A gravel parking lot was added. Because the land is zoned for agricultural, Natorp was not required to get government permission to build the buildings and no building permit was needed.
Peggy Kirk Hall, the attorney for The Ohio State University's Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, said there are instances where agricultural uses can be regulated, but generally agricultural zoning laws were put in place to protect farmers.
"When the law went into effect, it would have been a very different landscape than it is now," Hall said. "So we have a problem now with using this older law that had certain intentions, to allow agriculture to continue. But we didn't foresee that situations like this would occur. Change is needed to better address that potential. In Ohio we are getting more and more of that."
Bob Craig, executive director of the Warren County Regional Planning Commission, said if Natorp's were subject to county zoning he would be required to have a "dustless" surface on his property, but Deerfield Twp. doesn't have that provision, he said.
Craig said the county gets complaints like this one "sporadically" from new residents of housing built next to existing farms or agricultural businesses.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.
