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Lawsuit Over Shooting Ranch Continues
Flathead County District Court heard oral arguments from attorneys on both sides of the issue
A civil lawsuit filed by a group of property owners regarding a private shooting ranch continued last week, as Flathead County District Court heard oral arguments from attorneys on both sides of the issue.
The lawsuit, filed by Tally Bissell Neighbors, Inc. against the Flathead County Board of Adjustment, is part of a years-long battle regarding the Eyrie Shotgun Ranch, a private trap and skeet shooting ranch located off Farm to Market Road across from the Tally Lake Road turnoff, and the concerns of the neighboring property owners in the Tally Bissell Zoning District.
Eyrie Shotgun Ranch is part of the lawsuit as an intervenor.
Construction on the shooting ranch began in January 2007, and recreational shooting began that following August. The zoning district, designated SAG-10, was not in place until October 2007, essentially grandfathering the shooting ranch as a nonconforming use.
Initially, the neighbors filed complaints about the noise emitted from the shotgun ranch and sought to relocate it, according to court records. The focus of the neighbors eventually became the “extent of use” at the ranch, in particular alleging that the shooting use had expanded since the ranch’s inception and was illegal under nonconforming uses.
In 2009, then-Planning Director Jeff Harris determined that there had been nothing to substantiate a zoning violation for expanded nonconforming use. The neighbors appealed this decision to the county Board of Adjustment.
According to a staff report from the planning and zoning office, the board could have established the extent of use for the property. But the board did not take that action, and instead denied the appeal.
The issue went before District Judge Katherine Curtis, who ordered in March 2012 that the board “abused its discretion by declining to determine the extent of the ranch’s grandfathered nonconforming use” and that the board didn’t understand that the extent of such a use may not substantially expand.
Curtis also ruled that the board abused its discretion when it failed to consider the evidence, “none of which supports its decision that no expansion has occurred.”
Both parties presented oral arguments along with the additional evidence last week, and the court took the matter under advisement.
The lawsuit, filed by Tally Bissell Neighbors, Inc. against the Flathead County Board of Adjustment, is part of a years-long battle regarding the Eyrie Shotgun Ranch, a private trap and skeet shooting ranch located off Farm to Market Road across from the Tally Lake Road turnoff, and the concerns of the neighboring property owners in the Tally Bissell Zoning District.
Eyrie Shotgun Ranch is part of the lawsuit as an intervenor.
Initially, the neighbors filed complaints about the noise emitted from the shotgun ranch and sought to relocate it, according to court records. The focus of the neighbors eventually became the “extent of use” at the ranch, in particular alleging that the shooting use had expanded since the ranch’s inception and was illegal under nonconforming uses.
In 2009, then-Planning Director Jeff Harris determined that there had been nothing to substantiate a zoning violation for expanded nonconforming use. The neighbors appealed this decision to the county Board of Adjustment.
According to a staff report from the planning and zoning office, the board could have established the extent of use for the property. But the board did not take that action, and instead denied the appeal.
The issue went before District Judge Katherine Curtis, who ordered in March 2012 that the board “abused its discretion by declining to determine the extent of the ranch’s grandfathered nonconforming use” and that the board didn’t understand that the extent of such a use may not substantially expand.
Curtis also ruled that the board abused its discretion when it failed to consider the evidence, “none of which supports its decision that no expansion has occurred.”
Both parties presented oral arguments along with the additional evidence last week, and the court took the matter under advisement.
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