A property rights dispute between the owner of a 21-acre parcel of land and her neighbors in Orange County may have been settled with the recent approval of a rural special events permit.
The dispute began in 2015 when complaints were submitted by residents to county officials over a planned venue for wedding parties and retreats known as the Barn of Chapel Hill.
That venue is on property owned by Kara Brewer, who received orders last week from county planning supervisor Michael Harvey to desist from holding non-farm events at 7316 Morrow Mill Road.
According to Harvey, an educational workshop recently staged by Brewer on her property was in violation of county ordinances and requires zoning permits for which she had not applied.
Brewer responded to Harvey by submitting a rural special events application to county officials that specified how many events she would hold at her barn over the course of the year.
The application also includes stipulations for minimizing noise pollution, with an included timeline indicating that upcoming events would conclude between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM.
Harvey and his staff approved the application under the condition that the Orange County Fire Marshal inspects two tents that Brewer has for guests on her property during inclement weather.
Up to 12 special events may now be held at 7316 Morrow Mill Road this year, which bodes well for Brewer and the hospitality business that she has established around her barn.
Given that the Board of Adjustment and other county departments have been discussing Brewer and her situation over the past 18 months, the recently granted permit may soon be challenged.
Photo from barnofchapelhill.com
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I guess you didn’t get the memo. That permit was revoked yesterday.
The “Barn” in question is located in what is normally a peaceful quiet country setting. I imagine the majority of the folks
who live in the area where the Barn is located live there precisely because they do NOT want the noise and other associated annoyances that come with being in Chapel Hill and its bars and grossly immature student population. The owners of the barn must be real jerks if they continue to insist on trying to impose their business and the disturbances that will come with it on their neighbors.
They need to learn that part of being an adult is choosing to not do something that has a negative impact on others, EVEN IF you can legally get away with doing it. It’s called : “being a good neighbor”.
I can’t get an idea of whether the owners or the neighbors are being unfriendly from google maps. I sure don’t see the barn shown in the illustration (is that a representation or the real barn?). If in fact it is a wedding venue, then maybe all functions can end by 8pm, with a guaranteed visit (paid for by the owners) by the sheriff’s department. That might placate all concerned.
The Brewers do not live on their “farm”, nor do they live in Orange County.
The fact is that their “farm” is a shell for Southeast Property Group in Chatham County which is cynically taking advantage of a gap in a state law intended to support real farmers on real farms.
This is an event center pure and simple and must be treated as such from a special use perspective.
The Brewers recently used the event center without a permit, then applied for a “rural event” permit that turned right around a violated that permit showing exactly how much they respect their neighbors the law and the permitting system put in place over the years by the county voters. They are a stain on the farming community and their actions may hurt legitimate farms.