Everything was pointed at October. We just needed Darla to do what Darla always did, swing big and miss in public.
Darla did not disappoint. In mid-September 2020, 6 weeks before the annual meeting, she made her largest move yet, having apparently concluded that local regulatory agencies were not working fast enough. She went regional. She contacted the Western Piedmont Council of Governments, a regional planning body that issued advisory opinions on land use, and requested a formal review of the Puit property's agricultural zoning classification.
The argument she presented was elaborate and in its way genuinely impressive in its misguidedness. She claimed that because the Puit property had not filed as an active farm under a specific USDA Farm Service Agency program, it had effectively abandoned its agricultural status. Therefore, she argued the property structures could now be subjected to the residential zoning standards of the surrounding development. She had done research. She had printed out USDA program guides. She had highlighted the relevant passages. She showed up to the council offices in the pressed khakis with the legal pad and she was very, very confident.
There was one foundational problem. Constance had anticipated this exact argument because it was the kind of argument that comes from someone who has read a lot of program summaries without reading the underlying law. USDA FSA program enrollment is voluntary. It confers benefits: crop insurance, loan access, conservation payments. But non-enrollment does not revoke agricultural status. Agricultural status in North Carolina is determined by the property's deed classification and actual land use. Period. The Puit land was deeded agricultural. The land had cattle on it. The land had always had cattle on it. End of analysis.
Constance wrote a four-page response to the Council of Governments citing seven statutes. The council issued a two-sentence opinion: "The property in question retains agricultural zoning classification under applicable state law. No further review is warranted."
Darla received a copy. So did the HOA board, the county planning office, and three local news outlets to which Constance had quietly forwarded a courtesy notification of the original filing.
A reporter from the Caldwell County Messenger, a weekly paper with a website and a surprisingly engaged Facebook following, called Dad the following Thursday. She had read the full documentation. She wanted to do a feature story. Dad told her he'd be happy to talk after the October annual meeting and suggested she might want to attend and bring a camera.