UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Union County officially withdrew its violations against Cross Creek Ranch.
Last January, the Union County Planning Department sent Cross Creek owner Jay Brown a letter informing him that the arena violated commerical building code under new state laws regulating farm buildings. A few months later, the General Assembly relaxed rules on equestrian facilities. Brown resumed holding rodeos.
In April 2011, county zoning administrator Lee Jensen sent Brown a violation letter after another rodeo was held. Jensen said Brown needed a county special use permit to hold events. Brown disagreed, citing North Carolina's agritourism laws that prohibits counties from regulating farms and farm uses.
After months without a resolution, Brown was still told he needed a county permit to hold rodeos. Brown filed a lawsuit in November and won a temporary injunction to resume events at Cross Creek.
Thursday, the county reversed its arguments that Brown's rodeos were not related to his farm operations. In a formal letter to Brown, Jensen withdrew the county's earlier violation notification.
"I have determined that the rodeo activity being conducted on your property ... is no longer in violation of the Union County Land Use Ordinance," Jensen wrote. "This is due to a change in the law that has occurred since the issuance of the Notice of Violation, and my review of information concerning the operation of your rodeo that you provided to the County Attorney after the Notice of Violation was issued."
Jensen goes on the explain that it is his job to enforce the county land ordinances. After talking to Brown about his rodeo events, Jensen gathered that the bulls and horses used in the rodeos were not all owned by Brown. Jensen said that showed a disconnect between the nature of the events and Brown's farm.
According to Brown's income tax returns handed over to the county as part of the lawsuit's discovery period, Jensen said he "determined that there is a nexus between your rodeo activites and the farming invome and expenses that you have been reporting on the Schedule F of your Federal Income Tax Return."
As a result, Brown's rodeo activites are now exempt from county regulation, Jensen wrote.
"It should be noted that this letter addresses only the Courty's authority to regulat the rodeo activites on your property under the Land Use Ordinance," Jensen said. "This letter should not be construed to the effect that the County does not have authority to regulate rodeo activites on your property through other laws and ordinances, such as the authority to inspect your bleachers under the North Carolina Building Code, and the authority to regulate the sale and service to the public under the Statutes regulating that activity."