MONROE — Garver Family Farm Market says Butler County is not finished with a yearlong zoning fight that a judge threw out last month. In a video released Wednesday, fifth-generation family member Alayna Taylor said they learned the Butler County prosecutor is appealing Common Pleas Judge Greg Stephens’ August 27 ruling. That order dismissed the county’s challenge of a March decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals, which voted 4-1 to let the market keep its agricultural designation. The farm at 6790 Hamilton-Lebanon Road (State Route 63) has been in the Garver family since 1926. A seasonal roadside stand that began in 1991 became a year-round market and Coldwater Creek Winery in 2024, with a commercial kitchen, deli, coffee service and wines from grapes grown on the property. County building and zoning staff issued a violation in 2025, arguing the building goes beyond a roadside farm stand and that much of the space is used for commercial food service and entertainment. The family says more than half of its income comes from produce, pumpkins, flowers, wine and agritourism — the threshold Ohio law uses to treat a farm market as agriculture-exempt. Taylor said county officials originally told the family the project was agriculture-exempt, that a commissioner attended the grand opening, and that problems did not surface until the market had been open about a year. A packed Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on March 17 lasted more than five hours. Opposition included the local fire chief and an attorney speaking for unnamed nearby property owners. After the farm won at the BZA, Zoning Administrator Dennis Dickard appealed. Commissioners voted 2-1 in late July to keep the case alive. Commissioner Cindy Carpenter dissented and has said family farms need room to adapt as development takes farmland. Judge Stephens did not rule on whether the market is agricultural. He found Dickard lacked legal standing to appeal a decision that went against the zoning office. Prosecutor Mike Gmoser has said the August ruling did not address what he calls public-safety merits and that the county is not pursuing a personal campaign against the business. A notice of appeal to the 12th District Court of Appeals was filed this week. Taylor said the first round of litigation already strained a farm with about 80 employees and that another appeal could end the business even if the family wins again. She asked customers to buy local produce instead of grocery-store substitutes, contact the prosecutor’s office and county commissioners, and attend Tuesday morning commission meetings at the Government Services Center in Hamilton. The farm’s annual Harvest Fest is Saturday, October 3. The prosecutor’s office and commissioners have not issued a new public statement beyond the court filing and Gmoser’s earlier comments that the dispute is about applying zoning and safety rules.
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(Image Courtesy: Garver Family Farms)
