Dayton Daily News

Safety issues raised about wedding venue

- By Nick Blizzard Staff Writer Contact this reporter at 937-225-2166 or email Nick.Blizzard@coxinc.com.

Safety issues are being raised about a Miami Twp. wedding venue that’s the focus of two court cases and a Montgomery County order.

“Life safety” is a concern at the Stoney Hill Bed and Breakfast for the top building official for the county, which issued a stop work order for the operation at 7757 Upper Miamisburg Road, where wedding parties have continued to occur.

Stoney Hill’s facility has one swinging exit door, but it moves inward and “that’s not an approved exit” for buildings permitted to hold more than 50 people, Maury Wyckoff, the county’s chief building official, told the board of building appeals Wednesday during a hearing on the order issued June 25.

“On the very face of it, it shows a life safety issue that has been constructe­d inappropri­ately,” Wyckoff said to the Montgomery County Board of Building Appeals.

“And that doesn’t even get to whether or not there are exit signs or emergency lights and if you have if you have places of assembly ... of over 100 people you have to have a fire suppressio­n system,” he added.

The facility — a barn yet to be completed — has no oven, stove or grill, was built with the proper amount of drywall, and has fire extinguish­ers every 50 feet, Stoney Hill owner Darren Powlette, who said he has been building custom homes since 1994, told the board.

Powlette and his attorney, Greg Page, declined to comment or to address questions following the hearing.

The panel said it needs additional documents before announcing a ruling.

The county’s stop work order is one of three administra­tive or legal issues facing Powlette and his facility, which sits on a 26-acre site west of the Great Miami River outside of Miamisburg.

All three stem from Powlette’s belief that, under the Ohio Revised Code, his property has an agricultur­al exemption from township and county guidelines.

Powlette has been charged in Miamisburg Municipal Court with violating Miami Twp. zoning codes. He pleaded not guilty in May to a misdemeano­r criminal charge that the venue violated a permitted use in an agricultur­ally zoned district. He faces a Nov. 26 trial date, court records show.

Powlette has questioned the township’s jurisdicti­on because his business is qualified to operate under the ORC’s agritouris­m guidelines. Last month he filed an administra­tive appeal with the county’s common pleas court.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States