UPDATE May 10, 2023: Hospice of the Chesapeake announced the planned Culinary Event will be held at a new location, The Hall at Huntingtown, 4030 Old Town Road in Huntingtown, Maryland.
The event will be held on the same date and time originally planned: 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 12. Registration is now closed for the event.
Full details here for their event.
UPDATE May 9, 2023: Running Hare Vineyard has released the following.
“We regret to inform you all that we will be unable to host the Hospice of the Chesapeake’s Annual Culinary Event scheduled for this Friday, May 12th, due to a ruling from the Calvert County Government.
While we have hosted this event for the past 8 years, having helped Calvert Hospice (now Hospice of the Chesapeake), raise hundreds of thousands of dollars, we will be unable to do so this year.
We are being told that charitable events are classified as public events, which we are currently unable to host due to a ruling from the Calvert County Government. We were previously told that charitable events were not classified as public events, and as such, would be allowed. We would not have scheduled this event if we did not believe we had the proper zoning to do so. We are currently permitted to host private events in our fully permitted Tuscan Villa which has no outstanding zoning issues.
We reached out to the current Board of County Commissioners for help regarding this zoning interpretation for this specific event. While we have not received any feedback from any members of the board directly, we were happy to learn and would like to thank Commissioner Todd Ireland for taking the initiative to bring this issue before the board for a vote.
Unfortunately, our understanding is that other members of the board ultimately voted to not allow this Hospice fundraiser to occur on our premise. While this decision certainly resides within their rights, we feel it ignores the importance of what Hospice means to this community, ignores the fact that the event was to occur in a fully permitted building with no zoning issues, and lacks sufficient rationale to justify the forcing of Hospice to find a new venue.
We are frustrated on a number of fronts.
We are first and foremost frustrated that Hospice has to deal with the ramifications of this decision. They do not deserve to be dealing with the challenge of finding a new venue less than a week before their scheduled event.
We are frustrated that we learned of this vote and its decisions not from the Board of County Commissioners, but indirectly.
We are frustrated that we have been able to host this event for the past 8 years, but now we are unable to support Hospice by hosting this event.
We are frustrated that businesses in Calvert County are limited or excluded from participating in fundraising endeavors, rather than being allowed and encouraged to help, simply due to outdated zoning laws.
This decision will certainly limit our ability to participate in fundraising events in the future. Other Calvert County venues have had to turn away Hospice from hosting their event due to similar zoning issues.
We are frustrated that the Zoning Ordinance of Calvert County has some flawed rationale as it pertains to the true purpose of any zoning ordinance which is the preservation of the land itself. This is due to a structural issue within the Zoning Ordinance of Calvert County that needs to be addressed.
While properties in the Calvert County Agricultural Preservation program can host an unlimited number of private events per year once their facility is approved, they are only allowed to host two public events per year. Because of our current zoning dispute with Calvert County, we are unable to host even one public event. The sad irony of this entire situation is that while we are not permitted to donate our space and assist in raising money for Hospice, we can hold a wedding for the same number of people, but because weddings are considered private events, they are allowed. It does not make sense that some types of events are ok and others are not in a fully licensed facility. We were told that this legislation would change to allow many more public events when we opened in 2008. Fifteen years later, it remains the same.
We hope to come to a resolution which will allow us and other venues and agritourism businesses to continue to support charities in Calvert County. We look forward to continuing to work with the Calvert County Government in order to get these issues resolved and to help make a Calvert County a better place to live and work.
If you would like to support Hospice of the Chesapeake, please click here.”
Running Hare reported they have been working with the County with these issues since 2020.
“We have been working through this with the county since 2020. Unfortunately, the process is extremely lengthy. We were allowed to operate while these issues were being addressed up until March of this year, when the new Board of County Commissioners decided that they want us to be in full compliance before opening. While it is within their right to do so, we feel that it is not in the best interest of our employees, our customers, and the business community of Calvert County.” They have been closed since March of 2023.
UPDATE on April 27, 2023: While we unfortunately have to report that we will still be closed this weekend (4/27-4/30) due to a county zoning dispute, we are happy that we are making progress towards hopefully being open by Mother’s Day weekend. We miss having you all at the vineyard and can’t wait to welcome you all back soon!
March 31, 2023: We received a final verdict today from the Calvert County Government that we will not be able to open to the public as scheduled due to a recent Stop Work order.
This decision was certainly unexpected, as we had scheduled staff, vendors, and musicians for this weekend. We certainly would not have done so if we had been expecting this decision. We thank all of those involved for being so understanding of our current situation.
We are working closely with the Calvert County Government to get this issue resolved and reopen as soon as possible.
We have cherished our role as members of the Calvert County business community since 2008, having raised millions of dollars for local charities and organizations while providing family entertainment and employment for our community. We are looking forward to continuing to do so in the near future.
Our private events, such as weddings, will continue as scheduled.
We will keep you all updated as we learn more. -Running Hare Vineyard
