COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – An agreement has been reached between Batavia Township and Cornelius Farms Manager Fred Cornelius over a compost site near the intersection of M-86 and Hodunk Road.
The agreement was announced Friday in Branch County District Court two weeks after Judge Brent Weigle threatened Cornelius with jail for contempt if the property was not in compliance with an order he initially made last January.
It also came after the judge and lawyers for the two sides went out to the field on Friday morning.
Under terms of the agreement, there would be no more composting on the site. Cornelius would also maintain the property under township zoning ordinances and the right to farm act. He would still have to pay court fines and costs.
Weigle felt the resolution was fair and he gave Cornelius until August to get rid of anything not biodegradable.
The judge said there was substantial compliance but it wasn’t 100 percent.
The township took Cornelius Farms and Cornelius to court last summer.
The judge’s nine page ruling against Cornelius that was issued in January came after a formal hearing was held on December 8, 2020.
Weigle ordered the defendants at that time to remove the materials from the site and that they no longer would be allowed to retain compost matter, solid waste, food processing remnants, animal waste products or any other manufacturing by products on the property. No additional such product of any kind would be allowed according to the January order. The defendants were also ordered to maintain the property in full compliance with the Township Zoning Ordinance.
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