County cites farmer for too many vegetables

[harvey007]

Source: Atlanta Journal

DeKalb County has cited a man for growing too many vegetables on his own land, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/county-cites-farmer-for-612210.html

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http://www.wsbtv.com/video/24981915/index.html

[drdtroit]

1. How much more fucked up can our society become? n/t

[golddigger]

2. Oh for fucks sake.

[slackmaster]

3. When I rented my last house, and I mean the very last one, the landlord called after I moved in...

...to complain that I had "too many plants".

I asked him to point out which part of the rental agreement specified a maximum number of container plants I could have on the property.

His reply was simply "You just have too many."

I rearranged them and never heard of it again.

[Psephos]

13. what a tool n/t

[Warpy]

4. A certain zoning board needs to be turned out of office

Thank goodness this is an election year.

However, chances are they wouldn't have noticed had someone not complained.

Still, if he did get a zoning variance to expand his vegetable garden, one wonders what legal leg the board thinks it's standing on. Having someone paid to help him in the garden isn't any different from hiring a lawn service, after all, except that it's likely a lot more benign to the environment.

[The Northerner]

5. This seems too similar to the background leading up to the Wickard v. Filburn case

[JDPriestly]

10. No, in Wickard, the limits on growing the wheat had to do with

federal laws intended to stabilize prices. Here, the limits on growing vegetables have to do with local land use laws that are probably related to defining land as agricultural, residential, business or industrial. No issue regarding the authority of the federal government to regulate the land use is involved. It's a local zoning problem. Does the local government have the right to limit the amount of agricultural use on land zoned for other uses? That's the way I understand this anyway.

This is a good question. Sometimes local governments enforce these kinds of zoning regulations quite arbitrarily. And getting the zoning changed can cost a lot of money. Personally, and without knowing all the facts, I'm on the side of the farmer. Farming is in your blood, and you just can't get it out even when you live in a small apartment. You just yearn to be growing things and getting your fingers into the dirt.

[antigone382]

20. singl-use zoning is such an awful idea to begin with...

Having big blocks of agricultural land separated from big blocks of residential land separated from big blocks of commercial land just reinforces our dependence on fossil fuels and the car culture and prevents us from building strong, locally self-sufficient communities. What's worse is how quickly they'll re-zone good agricultural land to throw up some other shoddy housing development with no trees or sidewalks or community space.

It's time to promote mixed use zoning for commercial and residential areas, and preserve the integrity of land zoned for agricultural use. And for pete's sake, let people grow their own food!

[Art_from_Ark]

23. My sentiments exactly

"What's worse is how quickly they'll re-zone good agricultural land to throw up some other shoddy housing development with no trees or sidewalks or community space."

Absolutely. It is just insane to pave over good agricultural land.

[antigone382]

28. Yep, like my cousin said while driving through metro-Atlanta a few years back

"They still haven't figured out that land and water doesn't suddenly spring up on top of housing developments!"

This was after I hadn't been in the area for a few years. It was trippy to see five new subdivisions crammed where I didn't think one more would have fit years ago.

[JDPriestly]

26. I agree with you on this.

And have a very, very tiny garden of my own in pots and in the limited sunny tillable soil I have just a few miles from downtown L.A. So, I'm a fan of backyard gardens. I was just saying that this case poses a different question than the case that another poster mentioned earlier.

[antigone382]

27. I wasn't disagreeing with you, just riffing off of your post with my own commentary.

Sorry if I made it seem that way :)

[comtec]

6. how insane nt

[laconicsax]

7. While this is ridiculous, is seems there's more than meets the eye here.

The county says Miller grows more crops on his land than allowed under zoning regulations. Code enforcement officers began ticketing him in January for the zoning violation and for allegedly having unpermitted employees on the property.

(emphasis mine)

The video link makes it clear that this wasn't just someone with a backyard garden--he had a sizable operation going and has since had his property rezoned to make it legal.

The stupid thing is that he's actually being prosecuted for the old violations.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. I don't care how many crops he grows

for his own use, and to sell a little on the side, but if he was running a commercial operations he has to adhere to the law. Once you hire people to raise the crop, it isn't a "family garden" any more. This story has been slanted to generate controversy.

[antigone382]

21. Yeah, but what qualifies as "hiring an employee"

Say you hire a neighbor kid to weed a few hours a week; the same kid is hired by other neighbors to mow their lawn...what's the difference? If there's legitimate exploitation then there's a problem, but if it's a few community members coming to a mutual agreement, I don't see why anyone should get in trouble. Expecting small-scale farms to adhere to the same complex and often expensive regulations that massive agribusiness companies do is unrealistic, unnecessary, and counterproductive.

[Kelvin Mace]

29. The problem is the story doesn't tell us

The reporter or editor chose a slant for the story to generate controversy, then provided minimal information to properly evaluate the actions of the county or the farmer. More than one employee is mentioned, and they are mentioned as operating without permits. This very well could be "neighborhood kids" but some states require work permits for kids under a certain age (usually 16) to work certain jobs, or more than a certain number of hours per week.

Also, because of the use of pesticides and fertilizers (dangerous chemicals) zoning issues ARE germane).

I can see circumstances were the county would be perfectly justified in their actions, and other circs were this would be asinine, but we'll not be able to make this determination objectively until some actual journalist covers the story.

[Uncle Joe]

15. Perhaps this is the way; that county is addressing budget shortfalls from the economic downturn?

"The video link makes it clear that this wasn't just someone with a backyard garden--he had a sizable operation going and has since had his property rezoned to make it legal.

The stupid thing is that he's actually being prosecuted for the old violations."

[earcandle]

8. Duh? How stupid can DeKalb County be? He can help the homeless with his extra food.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. And this is DeKalb Co., GA. Suburban ATL and more fucked up than my own Fulton Co.

They need to start paying attention to the growing blight in DeKalb and lay off this shit.

[L0oniX]

12. Sick fuckas.

[jtuck004]

14. And the biggest meanest one of all looked at me and said...

"What're ya in for, kid?"

And I said "Growing too many vegetables on my plot".

And they all moved away from me on the bench, saying all sorts of mean, nasty, ugly things....


That has got to be one of the single, stupidest zoning restrictions I have ever heard of. Do they count how many carrots he has?
If the tax collections go down and they have to let zoning inspectors go, I hope this guy delivers a box of vegetables to the inspector's family.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. I hope this guy delivers a box of vegetables to the inspector's family.

Then they can charge him with bribery.

[jtuck004]

25. Sad -and likely n/t

[blueworld]

16. As a former reporter from NJ, I find this beyond hysterical (plus ridiculous)

In the good ol' Garden State, zoning laws restrict everything & I mean everything. "Farm" property is taxed at a lower rate than "residential" property.

I used to sit in monthly meetings watching the caterwauling because some buffoon with a few acres planted 20 lousy Christmas trees to "sell" & got the lower tax rate because he called it a "farm". Christie Whitman, former governor has done something similar for decades.

I hope this guy can use the property tax regulations either to invalidate the zoning BS or at least recoup some money. And I hope he doesn't get clobbered for the employee thing - that sounds bogus to me because of landscapers etc.

[Redstone]

18. Gimme a FUCKIN break, would you, here? This is beyond absurd.

Redstone

[Odin2005]

19. The Nanny-State Authoritarians will be here to defend this stupidity shortly.

:banghead:

[Old Troop]

22. Oh right. Like you folks aren't aware of the anti-government vegetable

conspiracy.

[MikeW]

24. OMG why do you need to consult a zoning board for a garden

Im glad I live in the country.