Shrimp farmer is found guilty of zoning violation

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Youngstown

Ronald S. Eiselstein, owner of a shrimp farm on the city’s East Side, changed his plea on a zoning violation from innocent to no contest and was found guilty Monday.

Eiselstein was in front of Judge Robert Douglas of Youngstown Municipal Court, where he was scheduled for a trial on a minor misdemeanor citation for failure to obtain a zoning permit for his farm.

He pleaded innocent to the charge May 24 but revised his plea Monday to no contest. The judge found him guilty and fined him $25 plus court costs.

Eiselstein’s attorney, Alden Chevlen, said they decided to change the plea because Eiselstein “physically did not have a permit in hand.”

Chevlen said the reason his client didn’t obtain a permit is because of a misinterpretation of the city zoning board’s approval of the business.

Eiselstein started his shrimp farm in June 2009 by putting 3,000 juvenile shrimp into a quarter-acre pond he created off Karl Street, and he ordered 40,000 shrimp this year. In this climate, the shrimp growing season is June through September, limiting growers to one harvest annually.