Rauch v. Jefferson Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals

2018 Ohio 4233
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided October 19, 2018·No. 27743·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT MONTGOMERY COUNTY

STEVEN R. RAUCH, et al. :

:

Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross- : Appellate Case No. 27743 Appellant :

: Trial Court Case No. 2016-CV-4930 v. :

: (Civil Appeal from

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP BOARD OF : Common Pleas Court) ZONING APPEALS, et al. :

:

Defendants-Appellants/Cross- :

Appellees :

...........

OPINION

Rendered on the 19th day of October, 2018.

...........

SCOTT A. KING, Atty. Reg. No. 0037582 and TERRY W. POSEY, JR., Atty. Reg. No. 0078292, Austin Landing I, 10010 Innovation Drive, Suite 400, Dayton, Ohio 45342 Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant

JEFFREY C. TURNER, Atty. Reg. No. 0063154, DAWN M. FRICK, Atty. Reg. No. 0069068, and KEVIN A. LANTZ, Atty. Reg. No. 0063822, 8163 Old Yankee Street, Suite C, Dayton, Ohio 45458 Attorneys for Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees

.............

TUCKER, J.

{¶ 1} Steven Rauch filed a request for a conditional use permit allowing him to operate a commercial composting facility on his farm located in Jefferson Township. The Jefferson Township Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) issued the permit but included certain restrictions and requirements therein. Rauch filed an administrative appeal. The Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas affirmed three of the restrictions and reversed three of the conditions. The BZA, along with the Jefferson Township Board of Trustees and the Jefferson Township Zoning Director, filed an appeal. Rauch filed a cross-appeal. For the reasons outlined below, we affirm.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} Steven Rauch is the owner of a 161.322-acre property located in Jefferson Township. The property is zoned as agricultural. In March 2014, Rauch applied for a zoning permit to develop a compost production facility on the property.1 According to the application, the facility would produce commercial-grade compost for sale as well as for use on the farming portion of the property. The facility would be licensed as a Class II composting operation, regulated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (hereinafter “OEPA”). Ohio Adm.Code 3745-560-02(C)(2) provides that a Class II composting facility is one “where the owner or operator may accept yard waste, agricultural waste, animal waste, food scraps, bulking agents, additives, and authorized alternative materials.”

1 Compost is a “mixture that consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing and conditioning land.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 270 (1988).

{¶ 3} The application was denied, and Rauch appealed to the BZA. The BZA conducted a public hearing on the application. Dan Wampler, Rauch’s partner, provided information regarding the construction design plan. Rauch also presented testimony from Ryan Morrissey, a civil engineer who performed the site grading for the facility, and Mohammed Haque, an engineer with expertise in geo-technical engineering. Finally, Rauch presented a video presentation of his expert, Dr. Fred Michel.2 Michel was an associate professor at the Ohio State University Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering. His position involved research and teaching in areas related to solid waste management and composting. He had researched composting for 25 years, including visiting 50 composting facilities in the United States and internationally. Since 2000, he had taught a class entitled “Ohio Compost Operator Educator Course.” He had published peer-reviewed papers on composting and was an editor of a peer-review journal titled Compost Science and Utilization. Michel had also served as an expert witness in zoning board cases and had testified in state and federal courts regarding composting materials and odor production.

{¶ 4} According to the record, the site design plan provided that the Rauch facility would be limited to ten acres located in the center portion of the 161-acre property. The properties to the north, south and west of the Rauch property were also farms. To the east of the composting area was a large wooded area. Some single-family residences were located beyond the wooded area, approximately one-half mile from the proposed facility.

{¶ 5} The record contains evidence that the Rauch facility would accept

2 Michel was unable to attend the public hearing due to medical issues.

compostable materials, known as feedstock, from outside sources. Feedstock is defined as “a solid waste that will readily decompose during the composting process including but not limited to yard waste, agricultural waste, animal waste, food scraps, animal carcasses, raw rendering material, and mixed solid waste.” Ohio Adm.Code 3745-560-02(F)(1). The facility would also accept materials known as bulking agents from outside sources. Bulking agents consist of materials “added to a composting process to provide structural support, improve aeration, or absorb moisture and includes wood chips, straw, clean untreated wood, shredded newspaper, shredded cardboard, sawdust, shredded brush, compostable containers, and stover.” Ohio Adm.Code 3745-560-02(B)(2).

{¶ 6} The proposed composting facility consisted of a storage area for finished compost product; a feedstock and bulking agent storage area; and an active composting area on a concrete pad. The active composting concrete pad would occupy approximately three acres of the facility. The feedstock would be blended with bulking agents and additives and then placed in elongated rows, referred to as windrows, on the concrete pad.3 The windrows would then be covered with six inches of biofilter material, which is defined as “material consisting of bulking agents, shredded yard waste, or compost that is applied over the composting mixture to control odors, dust, or vectors.” Ohio Adm.Code 3745-560-02(B)(1). Materials would be brought in daily by as many as five trucks. Therefore, the facility would also have a wheel washing area for the trucks to ensure that dust, mud and compost from the facility were not carried off the property

3 Additives are a “supplemental material mixed with or otherwise added to feedstocks and bulking agents to create a favorable condition for the composting process and includes urea, crushed egg shells, earthworms, and bacterial or fungal inoculum.” Ohio Adm.Code 3745-560-02(A)(3).

onto local roads. The entire facility would be designed to drain into a two and one-half acre aerated leach pond. The pond would be constructed with a 3-foot compacted clay liner to prevent seepage out of the pond. The ten acres would also be surrounded by a four-foot berm constructed with a water-tight seal. The pond, along with the berm, would be large enough to contain two years of rainwater.

{¶ 7} After the hearing, the BZA issued a decision denying the application, and Rauch filed an administrative appeal in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. As authorized by R.C. 2506.03(A)(3), the court conducted a hearing during which Michel was permitted to provide sworn testimony. Thereafter, the court reversed the decision of the BZA and remanded the matter to the BZA with instructions to issue a conditional use permit to Rauch. The BZA filed an appeal with this court, which we dismissed for lack of standing. Rauch v. Jefferson Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 26941, 2016-Ohio-967, appeal not allowed, 146 Ohio St.3d 1430, 2016-Ohio-4606, 52 N.E.3d 1205.

{¶ 8} On August 18, 2016, the BZA held a public hearing, following which it issued a conditional use permit to Rauch with a list of conditions upon the proposed production site. The conditions relevant to this appeal are:

Site Conditions:

1. The applicant shall submit a final site plan that is approved by the Ohio EPA.

2. If there are any changes to the site plan during the licensing process, the Board of Zoning Appeals must review and consider any modifications.

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Operations Conditions:

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Rauch v. Jefferson Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 2018 Ohio 4233 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).

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