Grafton Township puts the brakes on a local music festival

Geri Ciacchi and her fiancée, Joseph Rocha, have been putting on the Lorain County Music Festival for 11 years. Rocha works in law enforcement, and spent eight years as a detective in Detroit. But he didn’t see this coming: a notice of violation from the Grafton Township zoning inspector prohibiting them from holding any more events.

Ciacchi and Rocha used to do the festival in Oberlin, where Ciacchi says they never had any complaints. The couple moved back and forth between Grafton and Oberlin before settling in Grafton. Five of the last ten music festivals were held on their roughly four-acre property in Grafton without incident, most recently in August of 2016.

The morning of the festival, Ciacchi came home from a meeting at the health department to find a handful of people at her home, including the fire chief, the zoning inspector, a Grafton Township trustee, and prosecuting attorney Tom Mangan.

Ciacchi said she was surprised at how aggressive they seemed, except for Mangan.

“The prosecutor even jokingly said, ‘Hey, don’t you have to save your voice? Don’t you have to sing tomorrow?’” Ciacchi said. Mangan declined to comment on the pending case.

A month before the event, Ciacchi got non-profit status for the music festival, which now acts as a fundraiser for a planned rock music camp for kids.

“All of this stems from me starting in music about 25 years ago,” Ciacchi said. “We have done so many fundraisers and benefits for people who have passed whose families did not have money for the services, or the funeral, or things like that. I’ve lost count.”

Minutes for the Grafton Township Trustee meeting in August show the trustees were not unanimous on the issue.

According to the minutes, trustee Dan Miller “wanted it on the record he struggled with not allowing the music fest.” Still, Miller voted along with the rest of the trustees to let the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office act on behalf of the township in addressing the matter.

Zoning inspector Tom Steigerwald couldn’t be reached for comment. According to his outgoing voicemail, he is only in his office for about three hours at a time, twice a week.

But in Grafton, a village of just under 3,000 people, Steigerwald seems to have earned a reputation. A bar just across from Ciacchi’s home serves a “Steigerwald burger.” It costs $550 and you can’t order it without a zoning permit.

For Ciacchi, part of this is personal. She’s been a musician for 25 years, and her family has history in Ohio.

“My grandmother and grandfather gifted the VFW to North Ridgeville way back in the ‘60s. My grandmother and my mother have both been presidents there,” Ciacchi said.

Adding to the irony is the fact that the home on the property in question was built by Seth C. Ingersoll, one of the original settlers of Grafton.

Ciacchi said she’s trying to relocate an upcoming event scheduled for later this month.

“We only have three weeks. But the issue is if it’s not a city or a township that has that ordinance for special events, we can’t apply for a permit.”

A hearing is scheduled for May 16th.