Sheik Island Farm, Inc.; Cypress Ridge Farm, Inc.; J. Patrick Michaels, Jr.; and Lisa Levatino v. Covington Farm, Inc.; James S. Stalnaker, Jr.; and Barbara Stalnaker

Summary

The Florida Second District Court of Appeal reviews a summary judgment favoring Covington Farm in claims involving nuisance and alleged violations of the Pasco County Land Development Code. The court holds that the property's agricultural tax classification was not dispositive under Florida's Right to Farm Act or the agricultural-building-code exemption statutes, and that genuine disputes of material fact existed regarding whether Covington Farm operated a qualifying farm and whether its wedding barn was a nonresidential farm building. The court therefore reverses the summary judgment and remands for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Summary judgment was improper because the evidence created genuine disputes of material fact concerning whether Covington Farm was a statutory "farm" or "farm operation" entitled to protection under section 823.14, Florida Statutes.
2. An agricultural or greenbelt classification under section 193.461, Florida Statutes, is not dispositive of whether property is a farm or farm operation under section 823.14.
3. Summary judgment on the Pasco County Code claim was improper because a reasonable jury could find that the wedding barn was not a "nonresidential farm building" used for bona fide agricultural purposes and therefore did not qualify for section 604.50's exemption.
4. Section 604.50 does not expressly preempt local regulation; it provides an exemption from specified building-code regulations.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Florida Right to Farm Act barred Sheik Farm's private- and public-nuisance claims as a matter of law based solely on the property's agricultural classification.
2. Whether the property's agricultural classification conclusively established that Covington Farm was a farm or farm operation protected by section 823.14, Florida Statutes.
3. Whether section 604.50, Florida Statutes, exempted Covington Farm's wedding barn from Pasco County Code regulation as a nonresidential farm building located on land used for bona fide agricultural purposes.
4. Whether summary judgment was proper when the evidence created a genuine dispute about whether Covington Farm operated a farm and whether its wedding barn qualified for statutory protection.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded