Zoners say ‘I don’t’ to wedding barn venue near Slatington

Concerns among neighbors over a plan to convert a farmstead near Slatington into a wedding venue have been quelled, at least for now.

Washington Township’s Zoning Hearing Board ruled Wednesday that Blake Marles, representing David Lear, had not convinced members that his client’s 10-acre farm on Bottom Road should be granted a special exception use for wedding celebrations and banquets.

Lear, who’d applied for a use variance last year that was subsequently withdrawn, said afterward that he is undecided whether he will appeal the decision in Common Pleas Court, but was leaning toward that direction.

“Most likely yes,” he said. Marles said during the first hearing last month and the continuance Wednesday that an outdoor recreational facility is the nearest comparable to a wedding venue/banquet hall within the township’s rural village zone where Lear’s property is located, arguing it should be permitted as a special exception.

Since the township’s zoning ordinance does not provide for Lear’s specific use anywhere else, Marles argued, zoners must allow it or be legally challenged on the basis of exclusionary zoning.

In reaching its decision, zoning board attorney James Nanovic said the board determined that the intended use didn’t meet the definition of an outdoor recreational facility as a special exception use because the barn doesn’t meet the requirement of being no closer than 50 feet from any of the property’s lot lines, will not be a not-for-profit use, and doesn’t meet the requirement of not creating a nuisance to adjoining properties.

Zoners also ruled that denying it would not amount to exclusionary zoning — Nanovic pointed to the section of the ordinance pertaining to the village center and general commercial districts, which allow for restaurants, cafes, taverns “or other place(s) serving food or beverage with or without entertainment” as examples of similar uses to what Lear proposed.

“We’re saying that we do permit the use,” he said.

Lear, who resides on the property with his family, proposed year-round activity with single events on weekends from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The property would be booked for events only with no overnight accommodations. Food would be catered, and patrons would be permitted to bring their own alcohol. Lear said he would provide a smoking area to address neighbors’ concerns of people leaving the property to smoke.

He said the venue would be limited to no more than 250 visitors at a time, and was planning a parking area with up to 125 spaces.

Wesley Taylor, a Bottom Road resident and one of several neighbors who spoke against the proposal, said the creation of a wedding venue and the constant noise it would generate would destroy their pastoral quality of life.

“I don’t want 250 people plied with alcohol walking onto my property,” he said.

Their property value would plummet, he added.

“No one’s going to want to buy a property next to a wedding venue. … It’s going to affect everyone in this room financially,” he said. “It’s just not the place for it.”

Al Sotak, a retired police officer who has lived on Bottom Road with his wife, Patti, for 27 years, said Lear’s desire to enforce the decorum of his guests with his wife and daughters, and not hire security, was another concern.

He said state police will not respond to noise complaints, and that response to any other incident would not be expedient.

“For them to get to a disturbance in a proper response time is not going to happen,” he said.

Kevin Duffy is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.