Aug 24, 2019 3 min read

“Party” can mean a social gathering, but in litigation, it can also mean “participant.”

According to documents in Washington County Court, Willow Creek Manor in the Eighty Four area has achieved both, because the venue for weddings and other social occasions is also the topic of a dispute between its owners and Nottingham Township.

In 2017 and 2018, before purchasing nearly 100 acres of property on Sundust Road, Tom and Marla Ward said in court documents that they and their real estate agent tried to determine if the site could be used as a business that would host social events.

The Wards contend they found no ordinance or other barriers in Nottingham that would prevent them from renting the property to people celebrating weddings, graduations or showers, for example.

The Wards purchased the land in March 2018 for $1.25 million and began remodeling, sinking another $228,500 into what became known as Willow Creek Manor.

The township adopted an ordinance in July of last year regulating wedding barns and similar venues, and the Wards’ attorney, Charles E. Kurowski, noted in court documents that his clients received no notice of the pending ordinance despite having inquired into this subject.

There were no similar venues in the township, leading to the conclusion the township was directing its actions at the Wards, Kurowski wrote.

Nottingham won a round against the Wards earlier this year before District Judge Jesse Pettit, and the state’s online court docket shows the Wards appealed his decision to Washington County Court.

The Wards also took the matter before Nottingham’s zoning hearing board, but last month, it denied the couple’s request to operate the event barn. Additional information had not yet been communicated to them when the Wards sought redress in Washington County Court last week, asserting that their business would not or does not harm the neighborhood.

They said in court documents that the property is no longer used for agriculture and won’t be because of “change in the economy,” but that “entertainment farming” is a natural expansion.

Township Solicitor James P. Liekar earlier this month filed for a court injunction against the Wards and Willow Creek Manor.

Before the Wards bought it, the property was used as a single-family residence.

Nottingham Township officials contend a special event barn is permitted in a residential zone only if it obtains a series of approvals. The tract boasts, according to information the township filed about the Willow Creek Manor Facebook page, a “rustic barn and quaint pool house including an indoor pool with an extended back porch.”

Kurowski called the ordinance allowing just two events per month “absurd” because limited use won’t cover the Wards’ investment, and if they knew of this restriction in advance, they would not have purchased the property.

No court date has been set, but Liekar said the litigants want the same judge to hear both the township’s injunction request and the Wards’ land-use appeal.