Craig v. County of Chatham

545 S.E.2d 455, 143 N.C. App. 30, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 221
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedApril 17, 2001
DocketCOA00-15
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 545 S.E.2d 455 (Craig v. County of Chatham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craig v. County of Chatham, 545 S.E.2d 455, 143 N.C. App. 30, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 221 (N.C. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

EAGLES, Chief Judge.

This appeal presents the issue of whether Chatham County exceeded its authority to enact certain swine farm regulations.

At the outset, we note that the Chatham County Board of Health and the Chatham County Board of Commissioners are not entities capable of being sued. See G.S. § 153A-11 (1999) (granting counties the right to sue and be sued). The present action concerns three sets of Chatham County regulations. The Chatham County Board of Commissioners enacted two ordinances, one entitled “Chatham County Ordinance Regulating Swine Farms” (Swine Ordinance) and another entitled “An Ordinance to Amend the Chatham County Zoning Ordinance to Provide for the Regulation of Swine Farms” (Zoning Ordinance). In addition, the Chatham County Board of Health adopted a set of rules entitled “Chatham County Board of Health Swine Farm Operation Rules” (Health Board Rules).

The Swine Ordinance and the Health Board Rules are identical. The Swine Ordinance and Health Board Rules each set up a system to regulate the operation, construction and expansion of swine farms in Chatham County. The regulations both define swine farms as, “any tract or contiguous tracts of land . . . under common ownership or control which is devoted to raising 250 or more animals of the porcine species.” Operators of farms meeting this definition must obtain permits to expand, operate or construct a swine farm. Generally, to obtain a permit the operator must show that he or she has complied with the minimum applicable state and federal require[32]*32ments for animal waste management systems and the other provisions of the swine ordinance.

The regulations do not merely establish a permitting system. They also establish various requirements for setback distances and buffer zones for farms and spray fields. In each category, the county’s regulatory requirements are more stringent than those of the State. Additionally, the county regulations contain a financial responsibility provision that requires an operator of a swine farm to guarantee “$2500 per acre feet of [the farm’s] waste lagoon capacity.” The purpose is to guarantee availability of funds to pay for any necessary clean up costs or to remedy any violations. The operator must guarantee availability of these funds through cash or a cash equivalent placed in escrow or through a promissory note or deed of trust. Finally, the county requires semi-annual tests on wells located on the property of a swine farm.

The Zoning Ordinance makes swine farms a conditional use requiring compliance with the swine ordinance. Unlike the other county enactments, the Zoning Ordinance defines swine farms as:

Any tract or contiguous tracts of land in Chatham County which is devoted to raising animals of the porcine species and which is served by an animal waste management system having a design capacity of 600,000 pounds steady state live weight (SSLW) or greater, regardless of the actual number of swine on the farm.

Plaintiffs, Timothy H. Craig and the Chatham County Agribusiness Council, allege that the State has preempted regulation of this area by “covering the field.” Specifically, plaintiffs cite to the Swine Farm Siting Act G.S. § 106-800 (1999), the Animal Waste Management Systems Act G.S. § 143-215.10A (1999) and the regulations of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources 15A NCAC 2H .0200 (2000) as demonstrating that the General Assembly has intended to preempt the field. Additionally, plaintiffs allege that the County Board of Commissioners and the Health Board had no authority to enact their respective regulations, that the Health Board went beyond its rule-making authority by considering non-health factors and that the regulations violated the Pollution Control Act, G.S. § 143-215.105 (1999).

The trial court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs appeal.

[33]*33Summary judgment is appropriate if (1) the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact; and (2) the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. G.S. § 1A-1 N.C.R. Civ. P. 56(c) (1999); see also Moore v. Coachmen Industries, Inc., 129 N.C. App. 389, 393-94, 499 S.E.2d 772, 775 (1998). The parties both argue and we agree that there are no issues of material fact. Therefore, our only considerations are whether the trial court erred as a matter of law in granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and in denying the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.

Plaintiffs contend that the General Assembly has preempted the field of swine farm regulation. Although plaintiffs acknowledge that the General Assembly did not include an explicit declaration of preemption in the text of the General Statutes, they argue that the General Assembly has created a “complete and integrated system of regulation.” This type of regulation would bar any local action regulating swine farms in the absence of an explicit statutory exception. Defendant counters that the county and Health Board’s police power and the county’s zoning power are sufficient to enable them to enact these regulations. G.S. § 153A-121 (1999); G.S. § 130A-39 (1999) and G.S. § 153A-340 (1999).

We note at the outset that our Supreme Court has already determined that the more specific police power limitations of G. S. § 160A-174 (1999) also apply to county ordinances. See State v. Tenore, 280 N.C. 238, 185 S.E.2d 644 (1972). G.S. § 160A-174 states that:

(b) A city ordinance shall be consistent with the Constitution and laws of North Carolina and of the United States. An ordinance is not consistent with State or federal law when:
(5) The ordinance purports to regulate a field for which a State or federal statute clearly shows a legislative intent to provide a complete and integrated regulatory scheme to the exclusion of local regulation.

In our analysis, Greene v. City of Winston-Salem, 287 N.C. 66, 213 S.E.2d 231 (1975) is instructive. Greene concerned a Winston-Salem ordinance that required sprinklers in all high rise buildings. The plaintiff argued that the General Assembly had preempted the [34]*34field by creating the State Building Code. Id. at 75, 213 S.E.2d at 237. The Supreme Court agreed and held that the General Assembly had created a “complete and integrated regulatory scheme.” Id. The Court arrived at this conclusion despite the absénce of express language from the General Assembly stating a legislative intent to preempt the field. The Supreme Court stated: “We do not think that the Legislature must retain sole authority, or completely delegate to one agency all authority, in order to provide a complete and integrated regulatory scheme which would exclude local regulation.” Id. According to the Court, a contextual reading of all the relevant statutes compelled the conclusion that the State had preempted the field. Id.

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Craig v. County of Chatham
545 S.E.2d 455 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
545 S.E.2d 455, 143 N.C. App. 30, 2001 N.C. App. LEXIS 221, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-v-county-of-chatham-ncctapp-2001.