Lakeview Hill Farm, Elmwood Township Clash Over Zoning Issues

Lakeview Hill Farm & Market is clashing with Elmwood Township over zoning rules, with the dispute headed to the township’s zoning board of appeals (ZBA) early next month.

The battle concerns Lakeview Hill’s “mobile bakery and kitchen,” a new element of the business that has been serving pizzas, hot sandwiches, and baked goods since mid-summer. Farm owners say the bakery falls under the existing special use permit for their farm market. Township officials disagree, arguing the use constitutes a major amendment to that permit and should have gone through a planning commission review before opening.

Last November, Lakeview Hill Farm received a $100,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture and its Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, “for processing local farmers produce into value added products.” According to Lakeview co-owner John Dindia, the business used the money to purchase a trailer and convert it into a mobile bakery that could make and sell value-added products “using 51 percent or more” ingredients from the farm.

“We brought the bakery to the property in April, and I think two weeks later, we received a notice of noncompliance, followed by a cease-operations order from the township,” Dindia tells The Ticker. “We unfortunately didn’t get to use the bakery at all until we submitted a ZBA appeal.”

The township flagged multiple issues with Lakeview Hill Farm’s property, including allegedly unpermitted expansions to the parking lot and driveway areas. But Dindia says the “main issue” is the bakery and whether it is allowed under an existing special use permit. That permit dates back to 2023, when Lakeview Hill Farm converted a historic schoolhouse into a farm market.

“We have a special use permit from Elmwood Township for that farm market, even though it's a state-protected Right to Farm Act activity,” Dindia says. “The special use permit gives us permission to operate a bakery as part of our farm market. But there seems to be disagreements about whether it's allowed or not allowed because it was not in our original plan, even though it's an allowed use on the permit.”

Sarah Clarren, Elmwood Township’s planner and zoning administrator, declined to comment for this article, saying she wanted “to be sure I don’t influence the review of this application in any way.” Instead, Clarren referred The Ticker to a letter she sent to Lakeview Hill Farm and its attorneys, dated May 29.

In the letter, Clarren wrote she would “have no issue approving a bakery under a minor amendment” to Lakeview Hill Farm’s special use permit if it were located inside the existing farm market building. Elmwood Township’s zoning ordinance gives the zoning administrator certain latitude to approve minor changes to special use permits without referring them to the planning commission.

“However, the desired operation is located outside, in a trailer, expanding the use from what was permitted by the planning commission,” Clarren’s letter continued, citing language in Lakeview Hill Farm’s initial special use permit application that claimed no changes to the exterior of the building were planned.

Clarren ultimately ruled that the mobile bakery represents an expanded use, and must therefore go through a formal planning commission approval process. Her letter also suggested the bakery has made Lakeview Hill Farm a restaurant use, which she wrote “is prohibited in the Agricultural-Rural Zoning District.”

While the bakery was forced to close due to Clarren’s ruling, it has been open since July and is allowed to continue operating while the ZBA appeal is pending. Dindia says the customer response in the meantime has been strong.

“Everybody really appreciates what we’re doing,” he says. “We're employing more people, we're providing more well-rounded offerings to our customers, and we’re using our own ingredients to do it. We’re making pizzas with our own dough that we’re making on site, and all the sauce is homemade with tomatoes grown on the farm. We bake all the bread we use for the sandwiches. And then all the veggies on the pizzas and sandwiches are also from the farm. It’s been a really great value-add.”

The Elmwood Township ZBA will consider the matter at a public hearing scheduled for 6pm next Wednesday, October 7, at the Elmwood Township Hall. If the ZBA upholds Clarren’s decision, Dindia says it “would be really difficult” for his business. And while Dindia insists he is “not here to pick a fight with the township,” he's adamant about protecting his farm’s rights.

“There's a lot of irony with the situation here, because the Right to Farm Act protects our ability to sell farm market products out of the mobile bakery; under state law, the township can’t really say we can’t do that,” Dindia says. “The township also gave us permission to have a bakery. So, the question becomes: Are you just going to stop us from baking stuff in there? Because then we could bake it offsite and then sell it through the same trailer, and they couldn't really say no to that.”