By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

LAMAR, Mo. — Judge Carl Gum in Barton County Circuit Court has ruled in favor of hog farm Kenoma LLC and against the Richland Township Board.

According to a ruling Gum signed Monday and released Wednesday, the 2,400-hog farm has the right to operate, even if those operations violate the township’s zoning regulations that were adopted in April in an attempt to limit large, commercial farms.

The judge, who was appointed to hear the case after Circuit Judge James Bickel bowed out because of a prior commitment, cited a zoning exemption for “farm structures,” and an alleged violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law by the township board and zoning board as reasons for his ruling.

Francis Forst, owner of Kenoma LLC, was so confident he would get a ruling in his favor that he continued work on the $3 million hog farm even after the lawsuit was filed by the township. The breeding and birthing operation is on track to crank up in March.

“It’s a very good day for agriculture in Barton County,” Forst told the Globe on Wednesday. “I appreciate our legal system that protects what I can do on my private property.”

Zach McGuire, a member of the Richland Township Zoning Board, had not heard about the judge’s ruling when the Globe contacted him Wednesday afternoon, and said he did not have any comment.

Bruce Gardner, chairman of the township’s board, said the board hadn’t discussed the ruling or whether the township would appeal.

“I thought our attorney did a better job representing the case than their (attorney) did, but I’m not going to make a comment on the ruling until I can read it for myself,” Gardner said.

Attorney Robert Brundage, of Jefferson City, represented Kenoma in the case, and John Price, of Springfield, represented Richland Township.

No authority

Gum, a senior judge who works via appointment by the Missouri Supreme Court, ruled in line with a similar case in 1997 in Putnam County. In that case, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a township did not have the authority under Missouri law to regulate agricultural structures.

Gum wrote that his ruling “rejects plaintiff’s argument that it is regulating hog densities rather than farm structures. By regulating the number of hogs, whether confined or unconfined, plaintiff is regulating farm structures housing confined hogs.”

In the Putnam County case, the Supreme Court found that “farming,” “farm buildings” and “farm structures” included the raising of livestock, so the hog barns and sewage lagoons were exempt from zoning laws.