A West Michigan family on Tuesday could lose a special event permit for their business over alleged violations during a September rally with Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Chad Momber’s Apple Valley Events at Sunset Ridge in Sparta hosted the Trump 47 Committee and Vance on Sept. 17 for an event that was initially planned for outside, but shifted inside following an assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump.

“It was a historic event, everyone in the town loved it,” Momber told The Midwesterner.

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Nearly a month afterward, however, Sparta Township officials “reached out to me in an email, saying you’re in violation” of a special use permit for the 60-acre farm and event center, Momber said.

“It was just our zoning administrator and our clerk that directed our enforcement officer” to spy on the event, Momber said. “They sent him out to take pictures.”

The venue, which was rented by the Trump 47 Committee and the Secret Service, was ultimately cited for seven alleged infractions, from overcapacity, to having a food truck on site, to potential issues with traffic that didn’t exist.

Those alleged infractions came despite the campaign working with local fire and police officials to ensure the event was safe and secure, Momber said.

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About 1,500 people showed up to the rally, though only 300 were allowed inside due to capacity restraints, he said.

“It was just some miscellaneous stuff that could have been resolved,” Momber said.

Momber, owner of a local truck dealership, later received a notice of a public hearing for the Sparta Township Planning Commission for Tuesday to determine whether township officials will impose additional requirements or revoke his special use permit.

Momber posted an image of the notice, as well as a change of venue for the meeting to the Sparta Civic Center, on Facebook, where it generated hundreds of comments and shares, mostly expressing outrage directed at township officials.

“Township is such a mess,” Chris Hollis posted. “They have persecuted myself and many close friends. I’ll be there.”

“Time for some committee members to lose their titles and jobs,” Chris Lundquist added.

In the comments on the post, Momber identified Sparta Township Clerk Marcy Savage as the impetus behind the violations, though Savage disputed that assertion in a response that appears to have been deleted.

The Midwesterner left a message for comment with Savage that was not immediately returned.

“It’s a power trip, our clerk and zoning administrator had no authority to do what they did,” Momber said. “Our whole town has had issues with the zoning administrator and clerk.”

“It’s just a circus show … it was nothing, nothing went wrong,” he said.

Momber said his venue, which has operated for about two years, has never previously been cited for any violation, but he’s now forced to hire a lawyer to defend against the alleged violations that could put him out of business.

“They’re going to make a decision if they’re going to pull my use permit,” he said.

“We have well over $1 million into this building and we’re just getting rolling, booking a lot of events,” Momber said. “We have a lot of events on the books for the next year.”