Politics & Government

Air Cannons: Avon Lake Residents Can Take Legal Action

Avon Lake residents can file an injunction against Avon farm, since agricultural district permit has expired.

The owner of a vineyard  that threaten his crop, might have his cannon silenced after the Avon Lake Law Director discovered his permit providing protection expired on Dec. 31, 2011.

Greg Zilka said at the Sept. 10 council meeting that residents of Avon Lake can now file an injunction to stop the cannons from going off all night long, since a permit is not in place.

The issue has come to a head in the past few weeks after residents in Avon Lake began complaining to not only members of Avon Lake City Council, but to the that the cannons, which go off every 50 seconds all night long, were keeping them up at night.

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The cannons belong to Schober Vineyards, located across from , between Jaycox and Lear roads and within earshot of southeast Avon Lake homes.

Avon Planning coordinator Jim Piazza said two weeks ago the vineyard owner, Ed Schober, was within his legal rights to used the cannon under the protection of a permit classifying the vintage as an agricultural district under the Ohio Revised Code.

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Avon Lake Law Director Abe Lieberman, however, conducted some research and discovered the Schober’s permit expired at the end of 2011.

Zilka said he called Avon Mayor Jim Smith to notify him of the expired permit.

“He said, ‘We’ll grandfather him in,’” Zilka said.

Zilka said, however, that it could take awhile before the permit was renewed and noted that  while the city’s government is powerless to do anything about the situation, an Avon Lake resident can file an injunction.

“(They) can take some action and get this reversed,” Zilka said, noting there was significant frustration over the situation.

He also noted the growing season is over in approximately 10 more days.

Lieberman said it would require an Avon Lake resident to hire a lawyer to file the injunction against the vineyard.

Developing story. Check back later to see if comments are available from Avon officials orSchober Farms representatives.


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