Land Conservancy in the Triangle

ORANGE COUNTY -- Conservation group sues Triangle farm to stop amphitheater, restore trees By Tammy Grubb
Updated August 18, 2025 12:17 PM
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"A Triangle conservation group is suing an Orange County farm over trees that were removed to build new roads and to block a controversial amphitheater it says violates a longstanding agreement. Union Grove Farm owner Greg Bohlen has been fighting neighbors for over a year to build the amphitheater, or farm stage, at the former Maple View Farm, west of Chapel Hill. The stage is proposed for land covered by a conservation easement with the Triangle Land Conservancy, which joined neighbors fighting the plan last year. TOP VIDEOS Orange County Planning Director Cy Stober denied the proposed stage in June, saying it is not a form of agritourism and could harm the rural community, which is a popular destination for cyclists and families enjoying ice cream at the Maple View Farm Store. Bohlen appealed the decision to the county’s Board of Adjustment, which could review Stober’s decision on Oct. 8. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, asks a judge to order Union Grove to replant trees it cleared for roads and to find that the proposed farm stage violates the conservation easement, blocking its future development. This is the first time the Triangle Land Conservancy, which holds easements for over 8,000 acres, has had to sue a landowner, executive director Sandy Sweitzer said Friday. The TLC has “never seen such egregious violations as these,” she said. “We are not happy to do it,” Sweitzer said in an interview. “We really prefer to work with landowners, but we hold an easement, and we hold that the value of that is crucial to our work, and it’s why people support us. We can’t let this kind of thing happen without fighting them.” The lawsuit also names Bohlen’s partner Meredith Sabye, who is co-founder and director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture, and EastWest Organics LLC and Harper Grace LLC, all of which own land covered by the conservation easements. Bohlen told The News & Observer last week that he thought the TLC had agreed to the farm stage when they shook hands earlier this year on expanding the farm envelope where building is allowed. ..."
 
donbosco said:
ORANGE COUNTY -- Conservation group sues Triangle farm to stop amphitheater, restore trees By Tammy Grubb
Updated August 18, 2025 12:17 PM
Gift Article
"A Triangle conservation group is suing an Orange County farm over trees that were removed to build new roads and to block a controversial amphitheater it says violates a longstanding agreement. Union Grove Farm owner Greg Bohlen has been fighting neighbors for over a year to build the amphitheater, or farm stage, at the former Maple View Farm, west of Chapel Hill. The stage is proposed for land covered by a conservation easement with the Triangle Land Conservancy, which joined neighbors fighting the plan last year. TOP VIDEOS Orange County Planning Director Cy Stober denied the proposed stage in June, saying it is not a form of agritourism and could harm the rural community, which is a popular destination for cyclists and families enjoying ice cream at the Maple View Farm Store. Bohlen appealed the decision to the county’s Board of Adjustment, which could review Stober’s decision on Oct. 8. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, asks a judge to order Union Grove to replant trees it cleared for roads and to find that the proposed farm stage violates the conservation easement, blocking its future development. This is the first time the Triangle Land Conservancy, which holds easements for over 8,000 acres, has had to sue a landowner, executive director Sandy Sweitzer said Friday. The TLC has “never seen such egregious violations as these,” she said. “We are not happy to do it,” Sweitzer said in an interview. “We really prefer to work with landowners, but we hold an easement, and we hold that the value of that is crucial to our work, and it’s why people support us. We can’t let this kind of thing happen without fighting them.” The lawsuit also names Bohlen’s partner Meredith Sabye, who is co-founder and director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture, and EastWest Organics LLC and Harper Grace LLC, all of which own land covered by the conservation easements. Bohlen told The News & Observer last week that he thought the TLC had agreed to the farm stage when they shook hands earlier this year on expanding the farm envelope where building is allowed. ..."
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The State of North Carolina has broadly expanded “what is a farm” and “what is an agricultural endeavor.”

The idea theoretically was to allow old-school farms new ways to make money.

Look up the “Barn of Chapel Hill at Flora Farm.” It’s on Morrow Mill Road. It’s 20 or so acres. It’s never been a farm. The owners have never been farmers. They aren’t farmers today.

They built a wedding venue. It’s a party/wedding venue. It’s not a farm. It conforms to NC law and Orange County zoning……..Orange County has been aggressively chasing wedding/party revenue (lots of taxes) for years.

Lavender Oaks “Farm” off Ferguson Road is a similar party venue built because it’s supposedly a “farm.”

The people who bought the old farm on Dairyland Road and are supposedly planting vineyards (they are planting - I highly doubt one can produce quality grapes in SW Orange County (good grapes need significant diurnal temperature swings - high daytime and low nighttime)…….

They want to build a 2,500 seat music amphitheater.

They’re using this BS agricultural tourism law/regulation to do so.

That’s how numerous “rural” party/wedding venues have been built in Orange County.
 
I grew up less than a quarter mile from Maple View, long before they pivoted to Ice Cream.

We’d walk, or drive over there and get milk directly from a steel tank, and leave $2 per gallon. My school visited the farm on a yearly basis, but I, and a friend, would often head over there and explore. The Nutter’s were always extremely kind, and patient with me, which was great, because I was a fairly lonely child, and there wasn’t much around to do.

I have mixed feelings about this development. The farm was sold a few years ago, although they still make and sell ice cream, now buying their milk from other places.

Honestly? It’s the perfect place for an amphitheater. There is plenty of land to build on, it’s beautiful, and despite recent housing developments that have been built up over the last few years, there aren’t a whole bunch of homes in the area. In addition, I’d love to be able to “go home” and hear a concert.

But that doesn’t mean that building an amphitheater there is the right thing to do.

About the farm -

The Farm – Maple View Farm

mapleviewfarm.com mapleviewfarm.com

My childhood home -

1755598941087.jpeg
 
Even with all the weirdness and transformation I have to say that I dearly love the Piedmont. Ralph Lane called the coast of North Carolina "Goodliest Soile under the Cope of Heaven" but to me, that IS that middle part of the state where I grew up. I can't say how many times I've driven the "back way" between Chapel Hill and #DeepChatham where I'm from, or the Old Football Road between Carrboro and Greensboro and thought those very words looking out across the fields and low hills.

I'd go back there in a heartbeat. I left Orange in 2008 so it has been 17 years now since it was home. Greensboro for four years was nice...I always said that it was a good time for me (and my family) but I was glad I hadn't lived there in my younger days. We lived over near the Guilford College part of the city, old dairy farm lands, and it was a beautiful setting and the campus at the old school there is sublime in its historical-ness. Then to Asheville, where we lived in the city briefly but soon to the small town of Weaverville. That was great and our house was walkable to great social spots like Blue Mountain Pizza. Alas, the rolling stones that are my wife and daughter pulled us to New York City and now I'm the man in constant motion, driving back and forth between a 22 story high-rise in Harlem and Asheville and a little mountainside home in Fairview.

I've experienced a lot of spaces and some beautiful and livable ones but that middle part of the Old North State is always going to be my heart.
 
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donbosco said:
Thanks @sringwal -- that's good history and helpful information to dig into. I appreciate your recollections a good deal.
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Happy to share. It isn't a place that I think about a lot these days, but when I do, I realize just how important the farm was to me as a child. I only have positive memories of the place, and there aren't a lot of places that I can say that about.

My favorite thing to do was to go and visit the young calves in their holding area. I think that was the happiest I was, as a child.
 
donbosco said:
Even with all the weirdness and transformation I have to say that I dearly love the Piedmont. Ralph Lane called the coast of North Carolina "Goodliest Soile under the Cope of Heaven" but to me, that IS that middle part of the state where I grew up. I can't say how many times I've driven the "back way" between Chapel Hill and #DeepChatham where I'm from, or the Old Football Road between Carrboro and Greensboro and thought those very words looking out across the fields and low hills.

I'd go back there in a heartbeat. I left Orange in 2008 so it has been 17 years now since it was home. Greensboro for four years was nice...I always said that it was a good time for me (and my family) but I was glad I hadn't lived there in my younger days. We lived over near the Guilford College part of the city, old dairy farm lands, and it was a beautiful setting and the campus at the old school there is sublime in its historical-ness. Then to Asheville, where we lived in the city briefly but soon to the small town of Weaverville. That was great and our house was walkable to great social spots like Blue Mountain Pizza. Alas, the rolling stones that are my wife and daughter pulled us to New York City and now I'm the man in constant motion, driving back and forth between a 22 story high-rise in Harlem and Asheville and a little mountainside home in Fairview.

I've experienced a lot of spaces and some beautiful and livable ones but that middle part of the Old North State is always going to be my heart.
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I love taking 54 into chapel hill.

49 the back way down to Charlotte.

64 between Asheboro and Raleigh.

73 between Concord and Albemarle

Rolling hills near my house in Union County.

As a car guy, there’s no place better than the NC piedmont. Convenient to some bad ass roads up in the mountains but equally amenable to a quick Sunday drive.
 
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