The state Attorney General's office has found that Newlin Township's controversial zoning ordinance places excessive regulations on farms and other agricultural businesses, thus violating the state's Agricultural Communities and Rural Environment (ACRE) law.
You may recall the issue: the new ordinance raised the ire of many township residents because it required the owners of many horse boarding facilities to seek an expensive special exception from the township's zoning hearing board if they wanted to continue the operations they'd been running for years (well, if they wanted to operate legally, at least).
In its Nov. 8 letter, the state Attorney General's office suggested numerous and substantive wording changes that the township supervisors need to make to bring the ordinance into compliance. The AG's office attached a stick, too: the supervisors were told that legal measures could follow if they don't amend the ordinance.
An open question is whether the farm owners who obeyed the law and paid for a zoning hearing could get their money refunded.
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