Midstate vineyard owner says township is ‘bullying’ his business

From Bill Hartmann’s perspective, one can’t help but wonder why it seems North Cornwall Township is trying to stifle the growth of a local business.

After all, Hartmann’s Royal Oaks Vineyard & Winery, at 399 Royal Road, was welcomed to the community with open arms in 2014.

But for the past year, Hartmann has been forced to fight several legal battles — first a cease and desist order against his business in August 2017 and more recently an attempt to revoke his tasting room’s certificate of occupancy — from a township now seemingly determined to shut his business down.

“I feel the township is bullying me,” Hartmann said. “They’re not being satisfied in the legal route they’re taking, so they decided to resort to (this) to try to shut us down.”

A certificate of occupancy was granted to the winery, which is not affiliated with Royal Oaks Golf Club, by Commonwealth Code Inspection prior to its opening June 3, 2017, but the township issued a letter in early August 2018 requesting Hartmann to allow a third-party building inspector appointed by the township to re-inspect the building or face a court injunction that would have interfered with the Royal Oaks anniversary party scheduled for Aug. 18.

Hartmann refused to allow the inspector onto his property, but there was no injunction from the township and the anniversary party went on as scheduled and the winery remains open for business.

North Cornwall Township filed a cease and desist order against Hartmann’s winery Aug. 18, 2017 after it became aware of what Township Manager Tom Long called “unpermitted uses.”

Hartmann has been fighting ever since. A township zoning hearing began Oct. 18, 2017, went through four continuations and ended Feb. 8 with the zoning hearing board upholding the township’s cease and desist order.

That ordeal was followed by a legal battle in the Court of Common Pleas where Hartmann is trying to get the zoning hearing board’s decision overturned.

The case in the Court of Common Pleas is ongoing with no date set for closing arguments as of Aug. 29, according to Hartmann.

The unpermitted uses at the winery listed by the township in the cease and desist order includes indoor and outdoor recorded music, live music, catered meals, food truck vendors, retail sale of items other than wine grapes grown on the property and special events like terrarium parties, home brew fests and paint and wine nights.

The land development plan approved for the winery in 2014 states the accessory building would be used for displaying and selling wine produced on the site by grapes grown on site, according to the township.

Hartmann argues that the “agritainment” events and the other items he sells outside of the wine produced onsite are typical of all wineries and do not fall outside of the scope of what he presented to the township, and which the township approved, in 2014.

After the zoning hearing board upheld the cease and desist order, Hartmann filed a complaint against the township with the state attorney general’s office, which initially seemed successful.

“Municipalities may regulate agritainment operations, but to the extent the township is attempting to regulate the Royal Oaks Vineyards agritainment activities … violate ACRE (Pennsylvania’s Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment law),” a July 19 letter from the state attorney general’s office states. “The township cannot require a 10-acre minimum lot size or that 100 percent of the products sold at the winery be produced on site.”

However, a July 31 letter to both the township solicitor and Hartmann’s attorney reflected a change in the state’s stance following further discussion with both Hartmann and the township’s solicitor.

“I am denying Mr. Hartmann’s complaint and closing the case,” Senior Deputy Attorney General Tom Willig states in the letter.

In a separate letter to Hartmann, Willig explains his reason for denying the complaint.

“The 10-acre/100 percent issues are not at play either in the ordinances or in your case,” Willig says in the letter. “Townships can lawfully regulate agritainment activities.”

“(That letter) explained that the township is not going to pursue the Right to Farm Act issues which is all that office can do,” Hartmann said. “Deputy Attorney General Tom Willig is in charge of (overseeing) the Right to Farm Act and anything beyond that they have no jurisdiction over anyway.”

Willig based his decision in part on a letter sent to him from an attorney with the township’s solicitor, law firm Henry & Beaver.

“While Mr. Hartmann may be producing at least 50 percent of the agricultural commodities he is selling on the property … the township cannot verify this information as Mr. Hartmann has not applied for the necessary change of use permit that would enable the township to undertake an assessment in that regard before issuing a permit,” states the July 25 letter from the solicitor, provided to the Lebanon Daily News by Hartmann.

Hartmann said he has asked for the permits mentioned in the letter, but township officials told him there are no such permits.

North Cornwall Township has a listing of permits and applications on its