The Butler County commissioners kicked off their July 27 meeting by giving an outstanding volunteer of the year award to Margo Garver, a member of a family that has farmed in Lemon Township for over 100 years.
Later in the same meeting, the commissioners voted 2-1 to take that same family to court.
County officials say the two-year-old Garver Family Farm Market isn’t allowed on land zoned for agricultural use. The Garvers argue the market − which serves coffee, wine and food − should be permitted because it’s “incidental to agricultural use.”
“If the county gets its way, we will cease to exist,” said Michael Garver, also a Lemon Township trustee. He told The Enquirer the farm can’t afford to rezone to a commercial district.
The county’s board of zoning appeals ruled in the Garvers’ favor in March, but the commissioner’s July 27 vote directs the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office to take steps to overturn this decision.
Why is the county challenging the market?
The Garver family started farming in Lemon Township in 1926 and started a small farm stand in the 1990s.
The family built the new market to diversify revenue and stay in business, Garver said. The 10,000-square-foot market sits on about 83 acres of land, according to property records. Garver Family Farm Market has a deli counter, bar, retail displays and tables for seating. It also sells sweet corn, tomatoes, okra, fruits and vegetables that the Garvers grow on their farmland.
Garver said he gave Butler County officials plans to build a similar farm market structure on a different parcel of land around March 2021. He said the plans for that site were approved, but he decided to move the structure to 6790 Hamilton Lebanon Road to save money on construction. His contractor got approval from former Butler County Zoning Administrator Jim Fox for the updated plans, Garver said.
“I was working with the county,” he said. “I didn’t build this thing behind their back.”
Market activity ‘consistent with commercial’ use, county says
Butler County officials earlier said they never received plans for the Garver market with the new address.
Butler County Building and Zoning staffers visited the site in September 2025, where they observed activity “consistent with commercial, assembly and entertainment uses,” such as selling deli sandwiches and serving alcohol, according to meeting minutes from a March 2026 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
According to court filings, the building and zoning department sent Garver a formal zoning violation letter in January 2026, finding that the activities violate the county’s zoning resolution.
Garver appealed the violation in February, saying the facility was mainly used to produce and serve wine made out of grapes grown on the property.
During a Board of Zoning Appeals meeting in March, Building and Zoning Administrator Dennis Dickard said his department only received plans for the market after construction was complete. A Monroe Fire Department assistant chief also told the board his department asked the farm for plans and permits “two or three times” and never received any, according to meeting minutes.
Garver filed a motion to dismiss the case July 16. A judge will review Butler County’s appeal and the motion to dismiss, but no hearing has yet been scheduled for the case.
Other Butler County farmers weigh in
As the dispute plays out in the Butler County Common Pleas Court, other farms in Butler County are wondering what the case could mean for them.
Barb Knebel is the owner of Knebel’s Flower Farm, a small pick-your-own flower farm in Ross Township. She’s frustrated by the county’s decision to challenge the Garver Family Farm Market; she thinks it sends a message that officials aren’t behind farmers in the county.
“They don’t really see what we’re doing,” Knebel said. “If you work on a farm one day and see what work goes into it, you’ll have a new appreciation for it.”
While she isn’t worried that the county will challenge her farm’s zoning because it is smaller, she’s concerned for other larger farms in the area. Knebel said she doesn’t understand why county officials continue to pursue the case after the Board of Zoning Appeals ruled in the Garvers’ favor.
“Why are you picking on something that’s such a good thing for the community?” Knebel said.
Brian Theobald is the manager and co-owner of Bunk-N-Barn Farm Market in Trenton. He said the zoning dispute has been a “big deal in the Monroe area” and visitors will often ask him about his thoughts on the situation. He sees the county’s side of the debate. However, he said he feels for the Garvers, who are dealing with legal fees after they’ve already put in time, money and effort into their new facility.
Property records show the market, along with the Garver’s home that sits on the same land, is valued at almost $1.8 million.
“Nobody would want to go through that,” Theobold said.
“There’s always a fear,” he added, “someone will come in and say you can’t do what you’re doing.”
Is it technically agriculture?
Ohio law says county and township zoning officials can’t stop agriculture from happening. However, county officials and farmers might disagree on what is considered “agriculture.”
“If it is agriculture, (local officials) have to step away from it, they can’t prohibit it,” Peggy Kirk Hall, attorney and director of the Ohio State University Extension Agricultural and Resource Law Program, said. “But if it isn’t agriculture, then they can look at their zoning resolution and decide how they’re going to regulate it or if they’re going to prohibit it.”
Ohio law’s definition of agriculture is broad and allows for the marketing of agricultural products if it is “in conjunction with, but are secondary to” other production, Kirk Hall said. Ohio law also offers zoning exemptions and protections for agritourism, wedding barns, wineries and farm markets, she said. When the state Legislature passed exemptions for agriculture, it did so to protect farmers who feared they would be zoned out of expansion opportunities.
“The fear is exactly what you’re seeing here, that we’re going to do what we do in agriculture, and now along comes the government saying, ‘No you can’t do that. We’re going to tie your hands,’ ” she said.
If the county and courts find that the Garver Family Farm Market isn’t permitted, the family can apply for a conditional use permit or try to rezone the property, Kirk Hall said. But rezoning the property can cost thousands of dollars and the Garvers could lose income if they stop operations while waiting for the potentially monthslong rezoning process to play out, Kirk Hall said.
Commissioner: Vote ‘sends a wrong message’
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter voted against continuing court action against Garver Family Farm Market. Fighting the Garvers, especially at a meeting that took place at the Butler County Fairgrounds, “sends a wrong message to our farm families,” Carpenter said.
Farms are evolving more quickly than county regulations, in Carpenter’s opinion. She wants the county to work with families to find a solution, not punish them.
“As we see these farms struggle, they’re becoming more inventive, more entrepreneurial,” she said.
She also said county officials seem to have “no interest in making it right with the Garvers right now.”
“We’ve drawn a line in the sand, and we are not going to budge,” she said.
Commissioners Donald Dixon and T.C. Rogers did not respond to a request to explain their votes. The county’s top zoning official declined to comment.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser declined to comment directly on the Garver case but told The Enquirer that it has nothing to do with the family or farm “personally.”
“It’s how business is conducted under the law,” he said. “That’s the only issue.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Butler County is taking this century-old farm to court
Reporting by Mia Hilkowitz, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mia Hilkowitz, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
