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Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Court Dismisses Challenge to Village's Zoning Approval for a Gun Shop


We reported previously about a lawsuit challenging the Village of Niles' approval of a special use permit to allow the operation of a gun store and indoor firing range in the Village. In an earlier decision, the appellate court reversed the trial court's dismissal of the lawsuit based on lack of "standing", and sent the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.

After the case was sent back to the trial court, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint alleging that the Village's grant of the special use permit was unconstitutional. The trial court again dismissed the case for lack of standing, and the plaintiff again appealed. Last week, the appellate court upheld the dismissal of the case in People for a Safer Society v. Village of Niles.

The plaintiff had argued that the ordinance the Village approved to grant a special use to allow the gun store and indoor firing range was "arbitrary and capricious" and violated the plaintiff's substantive due process rights. The lawsuit also argued that the approval would reduce the value of neighboring properties. In its motion to dismiss, the Village argued that plaintiffs lacked standing because they did not own or reside in property adjacent or adjoining the property. The Village also argued that the complaint did not show any evidence of a special harm to the plaintiffs different than what the general public might suffer.

The appellate court applied a three-part test to determine whether the plaintiff "People for a Safer Society" had association standing to challenge the zoning approval. Although the court determined that the plaintiff showed that the group's interests in suing were consistent with its purposes and that the claim did not require participation of individual members, it did not meet the third factor - that its members would have standing to sue in their own right. Since plaintiff could not show that any of its members had individual standing to sue, plaintiff did not have the standing required to challenge Niles' zoning approval. As a result, the dismissal of the case was appropriate.


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