This story was edited for clarity on August 10th.

According to court documents from last year, the charge asked that the court “mandates the Huffs to immediately restore and stabilize the land and vegetation they disturbed or removed, or caused to be disturbed or removed from portions of the Huff property that exceed 12 percent slope."

The county is currently in the middle of a hearing on the motion for preliminary injunction. Once completed, a ruling will be issued by Judge Holly Harvey who has been on this case. 

The defendant side includes land owner, (William) Joe Huff and his wife Nicole Huff. An aerial picture was taken April 22 of 2019, showing the clearing that had already begun on four of Huff’s two hundred and fifty acres. On May 16th, Monroe County filed a complaint against the Huff Trust for multiple violations of county ordinances, seeking an injunction against activities the county considers in violation of said ordinances.

According to court documents, the county said, "The Huffs have not voluntarily taken the steps necessary to achieve compliance with the Zoning Ordinance by obtaining the required approvals, but rather, through their attorney, have decided that the foregoing approval requirements apply to the Excavation Activities and to the Building Activities."

The county then asked the court to issue an injunction that, “permanently and immediately enjoins the Huffs and anyone in concert with them, from maintaining, using, or occupying the buildings and/or from allowing or suffering the same to be done by others, until all required approvals have been obtained from the Administrator.”

The county is also arguing that the Huff property is located in the Environmental Constraints Overlay Zone, established and regulated by the Monroe County Zoning Ordinance.

According to the plaintiff's side, Huff must need an Improvement Location Permit and a Land Use Certificate before proceeding with excavation activities on the property. The Huff Trust would also be required to submit a site plan to the county.

County attorneys have stated that with each day that Huff and/or contractors continue work without these approvals they may be subjected to fines.

If charged, fines would be $1,000 for the first day, $2,500 for the second day and $7,500 for the third and each succeeding day after if the violation continues.

In a separate lawsuit, the Huff Trust allegedly ignored a stop work order issued by Larry Wilson, county planning director, at the entries to the Huff property. According to the plaintiffs’ brief in support of motion for preliminary injunction, “On September 26th, 2017, the Huffs’ attorney acknowledged the Huffs’ awareness of the ‘stop work’ order and sought clarification of its purpose and the Planning Director’s authority to post the order.”

Planning Director Larry Wilson provided an explanation of the purpose of the order to the Huffs’ attorney. The explanation said, “in the absence of approved logging permits, we would treat any land disturbance or vegetative removal activity as Land Disturbing Activity.”

Wilson defined land disturbing activity as, “any man-made change of the land surface including clearing, cutting, excavating, filling or grading of land or any other activity that alters land topography or vegetative cover.”

Then, the county alleged that “The Huffs have not complied with the “stop work” order posted by the Planning Director.” The plaintiffs’ brief said the Huffs have “continuously (including during this litigation) engaged in development and land disturbing activities to accomplish the goals of their forestry plan for the Huff property without having been issued any permits or certificates required by the Zoning Ordinance...