Golf course owners appeal ordinance violation ruling

FARMINGTON — The owners of Valley View Golf Course were found guilty on Feb. 10 in District Court for violating a city ordinance to maintain real property and then appealed the decision to Washington County District Court on Feb. 16, according to court records.

Attorney James Hornsey of Fayetteville appeared on behalf of defendants, Joe Stewart, Jennifer Stewart, John Kenneth Lipsmeyer and Melissa Lipsmeyer, for the trial before Judge Graham Nations in the Farmington Division of Washington County District Court.

Nations found all defendants guilty of the misdemeanor citation, violation of the unsightly ordinance, Ordinance 5.9, according to court records. Nations ordered a total of $8,449 in restitution to Farmington. Each defendant also was ordered to pay other fines and fees.

The four defendants were cited by the city on July 8 for violating the ordinance that deals with unsightly or unsanitary conditions on real property. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the citations on Oct. 21.

Public works employees with the city spent 90 hours in October mowing the parts of the golf course it considered in violation of the ordinance within Farmington city limits.

Chapter 5 of the city’s Code of Ordinances states that all property owners in the city are required to cut weeds and grass. It says that “any plant that is not regularly cultivated which exceeds six inches in height shall be presumed to be objectionable, unsanitary and unsightly.”

The ordinance authorizes the city to enter on the property and cut or remove the vegetation in violation of the ordinance after the owner has been provided a five-day notice in writing by city officials. All costs will be incurred against the property.

The golf course located within Farmington is zoned R-1, for single-family residential. In October, Mayor Ernie Penn said the city had given the golf course owners four months to cut the grass, and they failed to do so.