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(Photo courtesy of Pender County)
The Pender County Board of Adjustment on Wednesday denied all of Surf City Farm’s appeals to overturn the county’s decision to uphold the bona fide farm standard. As a result, the business cannot resell produce grown elsewhere at its Hampstead location.
The county’s intervention was prompted by the new business’s choice to ship a portion of its sales — mainly Cisco delivery trucks — in another residential area. Surf City Farm used a 1,600-square-foot building at 101 North Escape Way to sell its own crops and other locally grown products, he said.
Delivery trucks on a 10-acre property just outside the city limits of Surf City have drawn ire from neighbors, who complain about the commercial activity in a residential area.
Reselling crops grown on other farms falls outside the legal definition of a bona fide farm, the county planning staff concluded, and the Board of Adjustment affirmed. “Goods for sale on the farm must be produced on the farm or through activities that add value to the goods produced on the farm or in connection with or incidental to the production of crops,” the county’s resolution says.
However, the farm can still maintain its integrity and carry out other authorized farming operations. Surf City Farm officials wrote in a Facebook post following the hearing that they still intend to work within state laws.
In North Carolina, trust farms are exempt from county zoning laws. They also have access to certain sales and property tax exemptions.
Since one of the permits for bona fide farms includes agritourism, the interpretation of the land use exemption and its modern interpretations have in some cases led to legal disputes and conflicts with neighbors.
“The scope of agricultural exemptions from zoning is sometimes controversial,” Professor David Owens wrote in an April UNC School of Government blog post. “In some cases, this has more severe or different land use impacts than traditional agriculture, with concerns about traffic, noise and similar land use issues in rural areas. In other cases, the surrounding farming community is concerned about ‘non-agricultural’ activities that are free to avoid regulation and disturb farmland.
“These concerns are often at odds with the interests of the landowner — sometimes a farmer and sometimes not — to get the land to a more profitable use,” Owens wrote.
State law specifically allows weddings, hunting, horseback riding activities and other similar services under the definition of farm tourism. But other interpretations of the business have pushed the boundaries. In the year In 2018, the NC Court of Appeals ruled that shooting range agriculture does not constitute tourism.
Pender County granted Surf City Farm a certified farm designation in 2019 after receiving a conditional farmer exemption from the N.C. Department of Revenue.
The county later received a complaint about the farm and, after questioning the practice, issued a zoning notice in March, requiring the farm to close daily to avoid fines.
Sherry Donahue, owner of Surf City Farms, told the Board of Adjustment in a quasi-jury hearing Wednesday that the shipping company, Fresh Point, is owned by Cisco and simply acts as a middle man between her and other local farmers. She told the board that she can select produce specifically grown in North Carolina through the company’s online portal and have it delivered in one day for just $5, saving her hours of travel between farms.
Her use of produce from other farms includes tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, peppers, strawberries and more. The business promotes weddings and events and has plans to install three hydroponic greenhouses.
Donahue told the board her farm was listed on the county’s tourism website, VisitPender.com, under the “agritourism” category, which lists other farms (the farm listing in that category has been deleted). The county’s tourism arm posted an article in Topsail magazine that included a photo of the farm’s barn interior, she said. “Pender County is taking every opportunity to promote my agritourism,” she said.
Several neighbors objected to the business at the hearing. “This is a retail, commercial market that was established under the name of Honesty Farm,” said Linda Davenport.
According to Davenport, delivery trucks are a major source of stress. “This farm has stripped every property owner in the Village of Marsil of their basic home ownership right, and that is the right to quiet enjoyment of your property,” she told the board.
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