High court will hear winery-exemption case
YOUNGSTOWN
The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week in Cambridge on whether a small winery on the east shore of Lake Milton qualifies under state law for an agricultural exemption from Milton Township zoning laws.
The decision in this case will help define what does and does not constitute agriculture in Ohio.
The state’s top court will hear the case of Jenifer Terry, Milton Township zoning inspector, v. Gayle K. Sperry, operator of the Myrddin Winery, 3020 Scenic Drive.
The winery continues to operate under a stay the top court granted pending the outcome of the appeal.
The case is one of four the court will hear Wednesday at the Guernsey County Courthouse as part of its semiannual, off-site court program, in which the justices hear cases away from their Columbus headquarters.
The winery case was one of only nine cases statewide that the court said it would hear in an announcement last Aug. 25. On that day, the top court declined to hear 121 other cases appealed to it.
Myrddin, which grows some of the grapes used in its products near its retail store and tasting room, maintains that it qualifies for an agricultural exemption from township zoning regulations.
The winery appealed to the top court a 7th District Court of Appeals ruling that it must cease operating in a residential neighborhood.
In a 2-1 decision, that appeals-court upheld a ruling by Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that barred Sperry from operating the winery at her present location, which is zoned as a single-family residential district.
Noting that 95 percent of the wine Myrddin sells is made from grapes grown elsewhere, Judge Durkin rejected the winery’s claim to an agricultural exemption from the township zoning code.