Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Jim Nilsen is not a member of the council at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pleasant Valley.
Montgomery County businessman Brian Pieri has lost his bid to have a series of large-scale public events on his Springfield farm along Route 212.
Zoning board members determined the two-dozen proposed events, some of which called for up to 100 guests and at least 10 employees, were not permitted under the ordinance’s farm accessory entertainment use because the number of workers on site was more than what was permitted, and the events would involve serving alcohol, late hours and the use of amplified music, which it said would exceed the noise of a typical agricultural use.
Citing testimony about a controversial October 2021 wedding and a subsequent sound test at the farm, the zoning board established that similar events such as wine tastings, retirement parties and birthdays would constitute an “unreasonable nuisance” to dozens of nearby residents because the applicant would not be able to control the noise thereby altering the character of the neighborhood.
The board also noted parking and traffic congestion issues, and limited access to the property, all of which was raised by opponents of the plan.
Crucially, the board found that Pieri failed to establish a hardship to get a use variance. It found no physical conditions that would prevent the property from adhering to the zoning ordinance and noted the property was currently operating as a guest house and that its produce was being sold at farmers’ markets.
One of the 275 opponents of the venue, Michael Clime, said he was elated by the decision and praised the zoning board’s hard work. The decision was not without precedent. A similar accessory use on Pleasant View Road was rejected in 2010. And last month, the township denied an unauthorized attempt by Kirkland Farm on Old Bethlehem Road after learning of its owner’s plans to promote the property as an events venue.
“...we do not plan to appeal and plan to seek alternatives to our application,” Pieri said in an email to the Herald.
In the weeks leading up to the ruling, his lawyer, Mark Danek, issued a cease-and-desist letter to two of the application’s most vocal opponents: neighbors Clime and Gerrianne Burke, accusing them of trying to disrupt his client’s business by contacting Springfield officials and other parties. The letter also insisted their claim that the Pieri property was subject to their subdivision’s deed restrictions was false.
The issue also caused friction with Supervisor Jim Nilsen, an active member of Trinity Lutheran church, which was reportedly trying to arrange shuttle parking for the multitudes of guests if the application got approved. Clime and Burke were adamant there was a conflict of interest.
“I don’t think you should have any involvement in that man’s application,” Clime told Nilsen bluntly at the May 9 supervisors meeting.
“You’re making a lot of assumptions,” Nilsen shot back, insisting he had been transparent throughout the process.
“We really don’t have a lot to say about it as supervisors,” he added before another supervisor cut off the increasingly tense conversation.
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