Agenda - Planning Commission - 01/05/2017

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Zoning Bulletin October 25, 2016 1 Volume 10 1 Issue 20 Citation: Black Earth Meat Market, LLC v. Village of Black Earth, 2016 WL 4468085 (7th Cir: 2016) The Seventh Circuit has jurisdiction over Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. SEVENTH CIRCUIT (WISCONSIN) (08/24/16)—This case ad- dresses the issue of whether a village's threat of litigation related to zoning violations violated a property owner's due process and/or equal protection rights under the United States Constitution. The Background/Facts: In 2001, Black Earth Meats ("BEM") purchased property in a`B-1 General Commercial" zoning district in the Village of Black Earth (the "Village"). Although an animal slaugh- tering operation was not allowed in that zoning district, the property had been used as a slaughterhouse and retail butcher shop for the previ- ous 60 years.Thus,BEM's use of the property as a slaughtering opera- tion constituted a legal nonconforming use. In 2008, Kemper Durand, Jr. ("Durand") purchased BEM. Within a year of that purchase, BEM's slaughter operations increased in both volume and frequency.That increase led to a large number of complaints from neighbors.A consulting firm hired by the Village to investigate the complaints found that BEM's slaughter operation was responsible for: "[i]ncreased truck traffic on local residential streets";"[i]ncreased noise due to trucks and slaughter operations on the premises"; "[o]ffal runoff from the property that goes into storm sewers and adjacent properties "[f]lies and other vermin due to offal runoff and outdoor storage of animal waste that is not promptly removed from the property"; and "[a]nimals escaping from the property."As'complaints continued from neighbors, the Village increased zoning enforcement efforts against BEM. Over a three-month period alone—in late 2013 to early 2014— BEM was issued nine citations for zoning violations. When the viola- tions continued, the Village Board gave BEM 120 days to present "an i acceptable plan for relocating its slaughter operation." The Village Board advised BEM via a letter that if BEM failed to timely present such a plan, the Village "intend[ed] to commence legal action to abate the nuisance and secure a court order enjoining slaughter operations." Meanwhile, Durand had been looking for new financing for BEM's operations. BEM secured a loan with a bank that required a guarantee from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Rural Development. The USDA would only give a guarantee condi- tioned on there being "[n]o . . . suits . . . pending or threatened" against BEM. BEM later alleged that, as a result of the Village's threat of litigation,the USDA refused to guarantee the loan from the bank and BEM lost its financing. By August 2015,BEM had closed and listed its facility for sale. In June 2014, BEM and Durand (hereinafter, collectively, "BEM") ©2016 Thomson Reuters 3