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It has been almost a year since 11 wineries on the Old Mission Peninsula sued Peninsula Township over “unconstitutional” orders.
“Everyone knows that the Constitution of the United States is the law in this country and that it cannot be violated by, in this case, a local government,” said wineries lawyer Joseph Miller Canfield Attorneys Infanta.
The trial has been going on for more than three years. Over the past decade, Old Mission wineries have met with the township to remove ordinances that prevent them from doing business the way they want. The original prescription, written in the 1970s, has not been rewritten since, although it has been amended.
“They’ve been trying to rewrite their prescriptions for three, four years,” says Infante. “They wouldn’t agree to stop reapplying the ordinances while rewriting them – they refused. We couldn’t just wait indefinitely for the ordinance rewriting process to take place while my clients’ constitutional rights were violated.
Some of the restrictions that wineries oppose include; the type of events they are allowed to host, whether food can be served, what types of products can be used to make wine, and the types of business marketing according to Infante. He says the orders violate First Amendment rights, the Commerce Clause and Michigan liquor laws.
“They want to be able to use all their constitutional rights
and operate their businesses and be able to serve their customers, ”says Infante. “Right now they are hampered in what they can and cannot do. “
The township and the cellars have been in dispute for a year. Infante says there have been 5 separate meetings and he estimates 25 hours of litigation to reach a deal.
He says at Wednesday’s special meeting he expects to hear their arguments read in the lawsuit by township attorney Greg Meihn. Infante says he was not allowed to present his clients’ side, but was instead told he could present for 3 minutes as during a public comment. There will be an in camera session where a resolution can be found.
“We are going to the meeting tonight with the intention of signing the settlement agreement tonight,” Infante said.
Meihn did not attend a scheduled meeting with 9 & 10 News to discuss the township’s position.
Earlier this year, Meihn made a statement on the status of the trial:
“We believe this is a contractual agreement between the township and the wineries, whereby they were granted the right to build and operate in an agricultural district in exchange for their agreement to not only abide by the terms findings of facts and documents of creation, but the zoning ordinance.
If the settlement is not reached behind closed doors, the parties will begin to take depositions which will be brought to justice.
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