Chris and Sheri Anthony, owners of Quiet Hills Lavender Farm, approached Lower Towamensing Township supervisors this month about their 35-acre farmette on Hemlock Drive.

The couple wanted to clear up issues about building and zoning requests.

“It’s our home,” Chris Anthony said. “It’s where we live.”

The problem, Duane Dellecker, zoning and code compliance officer, said, “They were issued a permit for a storage building for them to deal with their lavender, making their oils, and at the time it was not a public building, (but) has since morphed into extended uses and we’re not aware of those uses.”

Anthony said the couple started planting lavender on the farm in 2017, and now has one of the largest in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.

He told the board they have many hundreds of guests who visit the farm on a free basis.

The property was used for religious retreats before it was purchased by the couple in 2015.

Building plans

Anthony said they received a building permit in January.

“Since then, there seems to be a lot of concerns at the township meetings,” Anthony said. “We’re here to try to get some answers regarding the septic system application (they submitted in July).”

Anthony said that in the summer, Scott Brown, of Hanover Engineering, appeared on their property to say their septic system permit was denied, and that they needed to have a land development plan.

Since then, Anthony said the couple hasn’t received any communication from the township.

Township solicitor Jim Nanovic told Anthony that to his knowledge, the supervisors did not deny the couple’s septic permit, but that he could not comment on whatever Brown may have told them.

“We are aware of the application,” Nanovic said. “We were under (the understanding) that you were going to submit a land development plan.”

Nanovic said the board does not instruct the sewage enforcement officer how to do his job, and that a land development plan is needed.

“I just think we’re getting a raw deal here,” Anthony said. “We shouldn’t have to deal with it.”

Anthony emphasized that he wasn’t trying to be combative, and added that the building is a half-mile off the road.

Nanovic said that typically a developer prepares some type of plans which go to the township’s planning commission and engineer for review.

Township code enforcement officer Brent Green told Anthony that the township didn’t get any complaints, and added that he believes it was an oversight.

Green said that building permits do not come before the board of supervisors, and that whatever use they’re proposing goes to the state Department of Environmental Protection for their review.

Nanovic said no plan was submitted, but that if they want to have certain uses, they have to go to the zoning officer, and then to the zoning hearing board.

“They need to turn in some type of plan for all of the perspective uses that they anticipate going on inside that facility, with a list of all their expected or anticipated uses so we can say this is all part of your agricultural use building and we’re fine with that,” Dellecker said.

Sheri Anthony questioned whether it was the goal of the township to target and bully them so that they would have to sell.

Nanovic said he will respond to their attorney, but recommended they talk to the township’s zoning officer.

It was noted by the couple that the facility wasn’t built to serve as a wedding venue.

Supervisor Jay Mullikin shared his thoughts on the matter.

“I don’t think your intent has been made clear,” Mullikin said. “At some point, you need a full-blown land development plan.”

Green then weighed in on the situation.

“I think what we need is a list of all of the uses,” Green said. “I don’t think a wedding venue would be a permitted use in that zoning district.”

No land plan

The discussion turned heated at several points throughout, with township planning commission member Angela Farrell telling the couple that the planning commission did not receive any land development plan.

Board of supervisors Chairperson Connie Brown said “we (board of supervisors) didn’t even know anything about it.”

Township zoning officer Duane Dellecker said that a permit was issued for an agricultural building to grow/produce lavender.

Green told the couple that the township needs to know all of the uses the Anthony’s intend.

“You need all the uses,” Green said. “We really need to know what you want to do with the property.”

Farrell said that while she respects what the couple was doing, she didn’t feel it was fair for them to point the blame in the township’s direction.

“This is not anything personal,” Farrell said. “We still don’t have a clear idea what your intentions are.”

Lydia Anthony, the daughter of Chris and Sheri Anthony, asked for everyone to work together.

Brown stressed that the township wasn’t trying to stymie their progress.

“It’s not that we’re trying to stop anything,” Brown said. “We were not aware of it.”